Kaylee Davis

Writer

Dashing through the 2022 season, the boys and girls cross country teams attended the annual 4A regional meet.

The Regional meet took place on Oct. 22 at Waurika and was a very successful meet for Marlow. There were a total of 14 Marlow students who ran at the meet, with seven runners on both the girls and boys varsity teams.

The meet resulted in fifth place for both the girls and boys varsity teams, two students being awarded the All-Region Award.

One of these students is senior Kyah Blundell, who placed tenth with a time of fourteen minutes and twenty-two seconds.

Blundell began running cross country in seventh grade and fell in love with the sport soon after, but according to her this season was more difficult.

“This has definitely been a tough season since we moved up classes,” Blundell said. “Not placing as good as I have in the past definitely got into my head a little bit at the beginning of the season, but I learned just to put in as much effort as I could.”

The students’ mental and physical improvements have been aided by the help of their coaches.

One coach, Matthew Ivory, has served as one of the team coaches for 19 years, using this time to help the team grow and achieve their goals.

“The team has been working hard since June, and we started official practice in mid July. That work is really paying off, and we are seeing some really good times,” Ivory expressed. “I never fail to be amazed by the hard work of these athletes. 

One student that has made great improvements this season is Senior Jordan Tyler.

Tyler has run cross country for six years, placing 17th at the Regional meet.

“I think I have run well this season,” Brown stated. “Two weeks ago I made it in the top 15 personal bests from Marlow with sixteen minutes and fifty-three seconds. Before that my best was seventeen minutes and twenty-four seconds.”

The cross country girls and boys will continue to improve as they approach the state meet on Saturday, Oct. 29.