It started out like any other cross-country meet.
Chandler seniors Kaylee Choate and Tatum Crouch set out on the course at the OBU meet, which took place at the Gordon Cooper Technology Center last Thursday. They were both having a great run, according to their coach, Connie Davis.
Along the 800 and mile, the course went back into an area that didn’t get many spectators. That day, there was no one really there. It was then that they looked up and saw a runner from Henryetta down on the course.
The two had a choice keep running and medal or stop and help. They both chose to help.
“We were together at that point, and we were going pretty fast, and then all of a sudden, I looked up and saw there was a girl on the ground,” Tatum said.
She said they stopped to ask if she was okay, but the girl wasn’t responding. Kaylee said that she helped the girl sit up so she could breathe and got her to take some deep breaths. She then ran for the golf cart that usually runs the course, but there was no one. Which meant that Tatum had to sprint for the lead cart.
“I sprinted up to them, but I don’t know if they didn’t hear me or what, but they weren’t responding. So, I had to go a little further to where there was finally some people cheering, and there were two coaches there,” Tatum continued. She said the coach she grabbed told her to finish the race, but she didn’t.
When she returned to the girl, two more Chandler runners - Rhett Haley and Cooper Snovel - had arrived to help. Kaylee had run to get her father, Brian Choate, to help.
“I just remember that I was, I can’t leave this girl here. I feel like it’s so wrong. Just like, leave her on the side of the course,” Kaylee said. “I was like, I’ll help her.”
She added that she emailed the Henryetta coach the next day and found out that the girl was doing much better.
Both girls ended up finishing the course; however, they weren’t near the front of the pack as they had been. Tatum said her final time was around 20 minutes, even though she managed to pass two people.
Coach Davis said at first, she was worried when she saw all the other Chandler girls run by, but not Kaylee and Tatum. When she finally saw Kaylee, she looked winded.
“I kept waiting on Tatum. Tatum’s not there. Tatum’s not there. I get a little worried,” she said. “But then the other kids have gone on, and I’ve got to get back over to the finish line. And then I saw Brian Choate, our trainer and Kaylee’s dad, walking down to that south area.”
She went ahead to the finish line, knowing that whatever was happening, they would be in good hands. It wasn’t until after the race was over that she learned about the girl going down and Kaylee and Tatum helping.
“It makes me want to cry. I’m proud of them,” Davis said. “I can’t be more proud of them.”
CHS Principal and Athletic Director Geoff Metheny said that Henryetta plans to come to Chandler next week so they can present a special award to Kaylee and Tatum.
“I think it supersedes anything that we’re doing on the field. I think the off-the-field stuff is the most important thing they should learn,” he said about the students’ actions.