North’s Barrier, Norman’s Satterthwaite shine at state and set up great future battles
Norman North’s Dustin Barrier picked a perfect time to have the race of his life. And Tanner Satterthwaite capped one of the best late-season surges anyone will ever see in cross country.
Barrier, a Norman North junior, became the T-Wolves first All-Stater with his third-place finish at Saturday’s Class 6A cross country state championship in Edmond. While Barrier has been strong all season, he generally placed between fifth and 10th. To jump up to third at state, that’s saying something.
And North coach Mike Ramsey will bring all but one runner back next season, so the future looks bright. And Barrier will head into the 2010 season as one of the favorites to win the state title.
Satterthwaite, a Norman sophomore, charged up from the pack late in the season, getting better every week. He peaked last week with a 6A regional championship and he went to state with the top time of regional winners.
Satterthwaite placed fourth Saturday. Ironically, he and Barrier battled right to the line with Barrier coming in a mere second ahead. Expect some great races between these two standouts in the future.
Westmoore nets runner-up trifecta at 6A state meet
With the other favorites all falling back, Taylor Painter was at her best.
Illness made it impossible for Toby Bothwell to be his best, but he was still ever so close to being the state’s best.
As it was, the Westmoore teammates each garnered second-place finishes at the Class 6A cross country state meet at Mitch Park. And each felt a lot different about their runner-up status.
“I’m very thankful I came in second,” said Painter. “Last year I didn’t think this was possible. I feel like I am at my peak and I felt good running today. I think I hit the nail on the head.”
Though one of the top runners in 6A all season, Painter (nor champion Jacquelynn Skocik of Jenks) were expected to do this well at state. Norman’s Megan Johnson and Tulsa Union’s Sarah Daggett have been the state’s best performers all season and were clear favorites. Add to that mix Jenks’ Paige Barnes, last year’s 6A state champ.
But Barnes slipped to third, even with a great two-mile time of 12:03, because Skocik (11:49) and Painter (11:54) went under the 12-minute mark. Daggett fell to sixth, in 12:07. And a flu-ridden Johnson, who had posted sub-12-minute marks in all but two races, finished 35th in 13:04, more than a minute and 10 seconds slower than her usual times.
Painter got stronger rather than fading, posting her second-best time of the season. And Skocik had her best performance of her career.
Meanwhile, like Norman’s Johnson, Bothwell had the misfortune of getting the flu a week before the biggest race of his senior season. Nevertheless, having entered the race as the co-favorite with Ponca City’s Victor Others (the two split in head-to-head meetings this season), Bothwell nearly gutted out a state crown.
Others took individual medalist honors, covering the 5K course in 16:09. Bothwell came in just four seconds behind. To understand the magnitude of his performance, consider that Bothwell’s time in a weakened state was more than 16 seconds better than both the 5A and 4A champions.
“I definitely wasn’t 100 percent,” Bothwell said. “It was just bad timing to get sick when I did. It’s disappointing because I ran with everything I had, but I know I can be faster. I’ve been faster on a harder course. That’s just the luck of the draw I guess.”
Runner-up was a theme for Westmoore. The jags collected three as the girls squad was second in the team competition.
Edmond North repeated as girls tem champions and the Huskies’ boys squad was runner-up to Broken Arrow.
In the boys race, Norman North’s Dustin Barrier had his career-best performance , placing third, one second in front of Norman’s Tanner Satterthwaite, who came into the meet with the top regional-winning time in 6A.
Illness deprives Norman’s Johnson a likely state championship
Some horrible luck cost Megan Johnson a probable state championship Saturday. The Norman cross country star, who dominated Class 6A this year, fell ill early last week, had to miss several days of school and still had a fever just two days ago. When she took off at the start of the 6A state championship at Mitch Park Saturday, she knew immediately she wasn’t going to be able to perform at her usual level in her weakened state.
She ended up placing 35th and took over 13 minutes to finish for the first time in her career. This is a girl who ran every race but two in under 12 minutes.
Johnson and Tulsa Union’s Sarah Daggett were the favorites to win, but Daggett was off Saturday and placed fifth. How Johnson would have done if healthy is impossible to predict. But consider this: If she had posted the time she had in any race but two this season, she would have won. Those are pretty good odds.
Another shame is that a lot of people shrugged it off, saying “She’s just a sophomore. She’s got plenty of time to win a state title.” That’s not good logic. You never know what’s going to happen. The sport of girls cross country more than any other is littered with runners who excelled as freshmen and progressively got worse. It’s a common thing in the sport, unfortunately.
Now, that’s not likely to happen to Johnson. And, in fact, she does already have a state championship (in the 3,200 meters in track). But it’s just a case of misfortune that Johnson didn’t deserve. Those things happen in sports. True to her character, she didn’t make any excuses after the race.
But it would have been great to see what Johnson could have done full strength.
Upon further review: Norman North
People have said it’s amazing the way the season turned around in Norman in regards to the two high schools. With Norman North out of the playoffs — thanks to a 24-7 loss to Edmond Santa Fe Friday — and Norman having a good chance to make the postseason, playing a 3-win Lawton Ike team, the notion is that Norman has become the better team in town.
That’s not exactly accurate. The Tigers have improved greatly and Donovan Roberts, Jaime Myers and Greg Offenburger are standout talents. What’s more, the Timberwolves have declined since manhandling Putnam City North in week four. There’s little arguing that.
Still, it’s comparing apples and oranges, because the districts the two teams play in are by far the biggest reason for the change in fortunes. District 6A-1 is the toughest in 6A by a longshot, boasting four teams in the top 10 and seven quality teams. Southmoore, Mustang and Del City are among the top teams in the state. Lawton and PC North are strong. When Edmond Santa Fe and Norman North are bottom dwellers, that’s a vicious district. There’s only one easy game in that whole district.
Now, take 6A-2. Midwest City is a beast. After that, you have Edmond North and Edmond Memorial squads that are maybe the equal of PC North and Lawton. But while the Edmond schools are going to finish second and third, PC North or Lawton won’t even make the playoffs. Westmoore, Putnam City, Putnam City West, Norman and Lawton Ike all have losing records — five of eight teams. Only two of eight teams in 6A-1 have losing records, Santa Fe and Moore. And even the upper echelon of each conference don’t compare: two teams in 6A-2 have seven wins; four teams in 6A-1 reached at least that many and another team has six wins.
In other words, put each team in the other’s district and the big swing in momentum wouldn’t have happened the way it did. Now that’s not to say Norman wouldn’t like a crack at North now. No doubt the Tigers figure they would fare much better than the blowout loss they suffered to the T-Wolves in opening week.
But putting the teams on the field together would be the only accurate way of determining if Norman has come so far and North has fallen off so much. And that’s not going to happen until next season. So, no use in making the comparisons when there really isn’t a comparison there.
As far as North is concerned, though. The T-Wolves could sure salvage some pride with a win at Lawton. It would make a huge difference even with the postseason out of the picture. Because a win means a winning record and going out on a high note. A loss means a losing record and closing the book on a season with five straight losses. So, plenty to play for for North this week.
Upon further review: Norman
Rotten timing for Norman to travel to Midwest City. The Tigers were feeling good, on a roll and confidence had reached a new high. Then they lose 63-7 to the Bombers.
Now, in reality, the loss doesn’t mean beans. Because if Norman beats Lawton Eisenhower this week in the regular-season finale, it will be headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. And before the game with Midwest City kicked off Friday, everyone already knew about the winner-take-all game for the last playoff spot in District 6A-2 between the Tigers and Eagles. An upset of Midwest City would have assured things for Norman, but very few people outside of the Norman locker room really expected that upset to occur.
Given that, Friday’s game was meaningless in terms of altering the stakes vs. Lawton Ike. And things would have been fine had Norman gone in and dropped a game by a reasonable score. But falling by 56 points and having 63-unasnwered points scored on you does tend to rattle confidence. That’s the last thing NHS needs right now. No, actually the last thing the Tigers need are injuries to key players — and that’s what they got in Midwest City as well.
Running back Donovan Roberts left the game and did not return, apparently with a hip injury. His status for the game against Ike will be crucial. Playing without Roberts, who essentially is the running game, would be brutal.
And linebacker Greg Offenburger, one of the Tigers’ best defenders, has missed two games with a knee injury. They need him back as well.
But, in the meantime, this is one of those burn-the-tape games. Don’t even review it. Move on. No need to re-live that when the players need to be thinking positive heading into the biggest game of their careers.
SMQ: Edlam (North vs. Memorial)…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
I’ve talked to Jordan Marczewski, Blake Umberham, Adrian Shoecraft and Nelson Medeiros. They’re all in agreement. That was the best defensive performance they’ve ever been a part of.
Alright, well maybe that was just the heat of the moment. So I called head coach Justin Merideth and asked the same thing. Since he was the defensive coordinator all those years, knew he would have some perspective.
Nope, all in agreement. With what was on the line (Edlam, city championship, second place in the district), Merideth cannot remember a better outing. In a game those Memorial kids will remember, the defense played lights out in a 10-0 win against North.
Memorial 10, North 0 (more…)
SMQ: Anadarko vs. Tuttle
So even without Ethan Biddy, one of their best offensive linemen and several other starters missing from the lineup Tuttle still had no problems winning their district in convincing fashion with a 31-0 rout of Anadarko.
Tuttle
What went right: Just about everything. The most amazing thing to come out of this game for me was Bobby Stonebreaker’s 52-yard field goal. That’s such a rarity in high school football where kicking games range from bad to downright awful, generally speaking. Stonebreaker is an elite talent at the position and it’s a complete joke he hasn’t been snagged by a Division I school yet. He already has more range than current OU kicker Jimmy Stevens has on his best day…with hurricane force winds at his back. Moving on, Tanner Koons and Dylan Coppenbarger helped Tuttle rush for nearly 300 yards. The defense pitched a shut out, even without Biddy, as guys like Cole Gracey harassed Anadarko’s ball carriers all night long.
What went wrong: There were a couple of fumbles and Koons threw an interception. Outside of that, a near flawless performance.
Anadarko
What went right: Not much. The good news for Anadarko is they’re getting a little healthier and did a great job on Tuttle defensively in the second half. Also, this is a young Anadarko team that returns loads of starters next year. You can see the potential of this group that should be fully realized in 2010. Hopefully they’ll get a taste of the playoffs this year.
What went wrong: Plenty. Anadarko had a fumble but really never came close to getting anything going on offense as Tuttle limited them to under 150 total yards. Defensively, Anadarko couldn’t stop the rush but did a decent job otherwise, particularly in the second half.
Rankings preview: Nov. 1
Here’s the weekly preview for the rankings.
Class 6A
1. Jenks (1)#9-0
2. Tulsa Union (2)#8-1
3. Broken Arrow (3)#7-2
4. Southmoore (4)#8-1
5. Midwest City (6)#7-2
6. Bartlesville (7)#8-1
7. Mustang (9)#7-2
8. Del City (5)#7-2
9. Lawton (10)#7-2
10. Edmond Memorial (NR)#6-3
The main shift here came with Del City dropping three spots to No. 8. Midwest City and Bartlesville move up a spot each, while Mustang jumps up two spots. Edmond North drops out after losing for the second time in three games, and not looking particularly impressive in the one win during that stretch. Lawton moves up a spot to No. 9. Edmond Memorial makes its debut. I considered Owasso for that spot, and went back and forth but Memorial’s streak and the way the Bulldogs’ defense has played this season, even in losses, wins out over the Rams.
Edlam: North vs. Memorial – Game Blog…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
MEMORIAL 10, NORTH 0 – FINAL
Wow. Wow. Wow.
It deserves three of them. What a defensive outing by Memorial. Wow, OK, a fourth.
Nelson Medeiros clinches the game with a 49-yard INT return for a touchdown with 2:21 left in the game.
That defense is a bad man, I tells ya, holding North 75 total yards and picking off Travis Townsend three times.
Medeiros was lifted onto the shoulders of his teammates in a truly great visual (and video) moment as I havta eat crown on this one. Look for another vid with Medeiros this weekend.
Wow, OK, a fifth time. (more…)
Game capsule: Southmoore at Moore
Southmoore (7-1, 4-1 6A-1) at Moore (0-8, 0-5 6A-1)
When: 7:30 p.m. tonight
Where: Moore Stadium
Southmoore
Why the SaberCats can win: Southmoore has scored 217 more points, or 27.1 points per game, than Moore this season.
Moore
Why the Lions could win: The Lions won this game last year. Anything is possible.
Key matchup: Southmoore vs. its own intensity. The SaberCats could be thinking ahead to next week’s showdown with Mustang that will likely be for the district title. But if the players have any revenge for last year on their minds, they will be adequately focused.
The pick: Southmoore 52, Moore 17.
Southmoore’s defense has given up the fewest points in the district. Moore’s offense has scored the fewest points.
