Oklahoma high school track & field: Washington, Douglass girls win state titles

CATOOSA — The 2024 Oklahoma high school track and field state meet for Classes 4A and 3A ended Saturday at Catoosa High School's Frank McNabb Field.

Here are some takeaways from Saturday.

More: Who was the best boys high school athlete in OKC area last week? Your votes decide

Washington girls win first track title since 1986

Most of the team races at the Class 4A-3A state meet were at least fairly close.

Some came down to the wire and included teams that were neck and neck throughout Friday and Saturday, but it was a completely different story in the Class 3A girls division.

Washington clearly stood out from that pack.

The Warriors blew past their competition as they claimed their second girls championship in school history and first since 1986, finishing with 110 points and 45.5 ahead of runner-up Idabel.

Washington had a dominant start Friday and only added to that on Day 2.

Sophomore Julie Hohner was the Warriors’ lone individual champion as she won the shot put with a toss of 38 feet, 9 inches, while her teammate, senior Emjay Lucas, placed second with a throw of 37-9.75. But Washington excelled in the relays and had several other standout individual performances that helped propel it past the competition.

More: Oklahoma high school track & field 2024 state championship results for Classes 4A-A

“We haven’t won one in a long time,” Washington coach Kami Beller said. “Our girls have been runner-up in a lot of things here lately, like runner-up in basketball two years in a row, runner-up in slowpitch two years in a row, we were state semifinals in fastpitch. To finally get the state championship is pretty big because the expectation at Washington is you need to win.”

Washington won three events at the meet.

Along with Hohner claiming the shot put title Saturday, the Warriors won the 4x200 and 4x800 on Friday.

Lily Hegeman, Rielyn Scheffe, Olivia Palumbo and Ava Salcedo completed the 4x200 in 1:44.73, while Kelby Beller, Aubrey Grimes, Shiloh Phelps and Scheffe won the 4x800 in 10:02.30.

Salcedo is just a freshman and placed fourth in the 100 (12.63) and third in the 200 (25.74) Saturday, while Scheffe – a junior – had an impressive performance in the 300 hurdles, placing second in 46.52.

Washington will have a lot of talented athletes returning next year, including Hohner.

She’s been throwing since she was in seventh grade and has made tremendous strides since then. Her victory Saturday wasn’t easy, but she did just enough to get the title.

“I got here thinking I’d probably do pretty well,” she said. “And after preliminaries, I was ranked second going into finals. I got a bit worried.”

More: Oklahoma high school girls tennis: Classen SAS' Sofia Acuña caps career with third title

Douglass claims Class 4A girls title

Coach Latesha Woods was already having a great year at Douglass before the track season began.

Woods had arrived from Harding Charter Prep and led Douglass girls basketball to its best season in decades, helping the Trojans win their first girls state tournament game since 1992.

But as much as Woods likes being the head basketball coach, that sport actually isn’t her favorite.

“I’ve always done track,” she said. “Track is my first love and then basketball is second to me.”

After Douglass placed 36th at last year’s state meet and finished with just one point, Woods took over the program and built it into a power, and now the Trojans are the Class 4A state champions.

Douglass won its fourth girls track title and first since 2012 on Saturday as it finished with 76 points, while Pauls Valley placed second with 71 and Weatherford took third with 70.

Douglass junior Brianna Jones won the title in the 400 (56.51), while Jones, Darriana Gates, Armani McCoy and Jordyn Anderson broke the Class 4A state meet record in the 4x400 with a time of 3:57.93.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said McCoy, who also placed fifth in the 200 (25.73), sixth in the 100 (12.55) and helped Douglass finish second in the 4x100 (48.41). “I’ve been here for four years and we finally did it.”

Douglass made a big jump from last year to this season.

Woods challenged her team each week, and the girls responded well to that.

“The conditioning was absolutely different,” McCoy said. “At first it was a struggle, but over time I kind of enjoyed it and I could see the results and I love her.”

More: Class A baseball: Amber-Pocasset defeats Tushka to win first state title

Millwood’s Xzavier Thompson wins 400 in Class 3A

Millwood junior Xzavier Thompson has developed a passion for track and field.

A standout receiver in football, Thompson is a key player for the Falcons on the gridiron, but he’s starting to make a name for himself in track, too.

Thompson won the Class 3A title in the 400 with a time of 49.00. He also helped Millwood win the 4x400 (3:24.82) as he competed with Logan Thomas, Zion Roberts and Xon Williams.

“It was a lot of adversity being the favorite to come in here and win the 4x2 and coming up short and the 4x1 we came up short,” Thompson said. “(The) 4x2 we messed up our handoff, but today we just bounced back and made it a better day. We just kept our mind on the goal. The standard is the standard, and we just came out here and performed.”

Thompson holds football offers from Arizona State and Oklahoma Baptist.

Strong track seasons can sometimes lead to more attention from football programs, so Thompson’s state performances could lead to more opportunities.

“It’s real slow, but I’m staying humble, staying patient because next year is my senior year and I know they’re going to come rolling in,” Thompson said.

More: Class B baseball: Fort Cobb-Broxton tops Calumet, wins fourth straight title in two years

Other standout performances

• Marlow won the Class 3A boys title. The Outlaws had 89 points, while Idabel was the runner-up with 72 and Millwood placed third with 65. This is Marlow's fourth championship in boys track.

• Ada claimed its seventh boys track championship. The Class 4A Cougars finished with 102.5 points. They were followed by Heritage Hall (93) and Cache (81).

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma HS track & field: Washington, Douglass girls win state titles