On Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7, the Marlow High School track team traveled to Western Heights High School in Oklahoma City to attend the Class 3A State Track Meet.

The team left for the first day of State around 7:00 a.m. to arrive at Western Heights with enough time to warm up before their events started.

The first events of the day were field events, specifically long jump and discus.

Kicking off finals, senior Morgan Lucas, who has been doing discus for six years, came in sixth at State for girls discus. She threw a total of 102-feet and .02 inches and scored three points for the MHS girls track team.

“I kept myself motivated by just being in the amazing atmosphere of the people around me at track,” stated Lucas.

Across the field, junior Talon Sullivent placed eleventh with 19-feet and .25 inches as his distance in the boys long jump.

The first finals were the boys and girls 4×800-meter relay, with seniors Luke Tolle and Caden Kirkland, junior JordanBrown and freshman Jonathon Brite placing seventh overall with a final time of 8:33.82 minutes, scoring four points for the MHS boys team.

Next up, the boys and girls 3200-meter run began and senior Korie Kizarr placed first with a final speed of 11:49.04 minutes, scoring the MHS girls team ten points.

The last finals of the day were the boys and girls 4×200-meter relay, and seniors William Hewitt, Kenton Jones, Caden Kirkland and sophomore Cody Weber placed ninth with a final time of 1:32.66 minutes. 

After a day of hard work on the first day of State, the players left at 5:45 p.m. and returned to Marlow around 8:00 p.m. to rest for the next day.

On Saturday morning, the team left for their second and final day of State at 7:00 a.m. and arrived at Western Heights at approximately 8:15 a.m.

The first finals of the day were field events finals, specifically high jump, shot put and pole vault, which took place first at 10:00 a.m.

Sophomore Barron Gage has been doing high jump for one year and placed ninth at State with a distance of 5-feet and 10-inches.

“To prepare myself for State, I practiced hard and gave myself rest days when I needed them,” stated Gage.

In the boys shot put, junior Ayden Williams placed fourteenth with a distance of 39 feet and .25 inches. 

Senior Adlee Ellsworth placed second at State in the boys pole vault with a score of 14-feet and earned the MHS boys team eight points.

For the girls pole vault, junior Kennedy Kizarr placed first with 10-feet and 6-inches, which earned the MHS girls team a total of ten points.

“I feel honored getting first place in pole vault and  to have another title,” expressed Kennedy Kizzar. “But my main goal is to set more records for the school.”

The first finals event for running that the MHS track team participated in was the boys and girls 800-meter run.

Korie Kizarr placed fourth with a time of 2:24.07 minutes and obtained five points for the girls team.

“I’m really excited and happy that I got to end senior year with two state championships,” noted Korie Kizarr.

The second finals of the day was the girls 100-meter hurdles and Kendall Kizarr placed seventh overall with a time of 16:58 seconds, giving the girls team two points.

“My biggest accomplishment this year with track was growing as an athlete,” expressed Kendall Kizarr. “And realizing all you can do is compete against yourself and better yourself.”

The third finals that MHS took part in was the boys 300-meter hurdles.

Brite placed sixth at State with a time of 41.33 seconds and earned three points for his team.

Next up was the boys and girls 1600-meter run, in which Korie Kizarr placed first with a time of 5:34.62 minutes, gaining ten points for the Outlaws.

At 3:10 the last finals was the boys and girls 4×400-meter relay, and Rich, Jones, Kirkland and Brite placed ninth, with a time of 3:36.13.

The MHS boys track team finished fourteenth with a total of 17 points, and the girls team came in fourth with 52.50 points

A person who helped the girls track team prepare for state this year was Brian Miller, and he has been head coach of the girls for eleven years.

“The girls had improved each and every week for state, and we were where we needed to be to compete,” stated Miller.

With track season over, the participants will take everything they learned and use it to better themselves day by day.