The Stroud Lady Tigers were in fourth place when they lined up for the final event at the Class 2A state track meet Saturday at Ardmore.
Watonga had already clinched the team championship, Regent Preparatory was second with 73 points, Hobart was third with 72 and the Lady Tigers were clumped in the distance with Luther and Ripley, all within a point of each other at 59.5, 59 and 58 points, respectively.
Stroud could finish anywhere from second to sixth, with the final result - and a possible state championship in the 4x400-meter relay - riding on the shoes of juniors KayLyn Baker and Brynlee Wages and seniors Macey Morris and Madison Ham.
It was the final high school race for Morris and Ham, and they had saved their best for last.
Stroud was in sixth place when Morris took the stick for the third leg.
She moved through the field with ease and was in third place by the time she handed off to Ham for the anchor leg.
Ham was 15 yards behind, but almost immediately picked off the number two runner, Hannah Harris of Oklahoma Union, and was gaining on leader Jocelyn Turney of Watonga, the entire lap.
With 200 meters to go, the question was: did she have enough track left to catch her.
Turns out she didn’t, finishing two seconds behind, but the legs that she and Morris ran had catapulted Stroud from a potential sixth-place finish to a spot on the awards stand with the state runnerup plaque.
“They have a lot of heart and drive to make that relay successful throughout the last four years,” Stroud coach Kelly Brown said of Ham and Morris. “They push each other and their teammates to be the best they can be and are self motivated and dedicated to everything they do.
“They showed great senior leadership in that race and it will carry over to the seniors next year as we carry on the tradition of Lady Tiger track in the future.”
The final race was a microcosm of the Stroud girls track program in recent years, going from a team with only three athletes nine years ago to one of the top groups in the state.
“This senior group the last four years, has gotten us here,” Brown said. “They are a good group of kids and work hard and show leadership.
“This group has taken the reins but the junior class coming up has the same potential.”
Stroud athletes spent a lot of time on the awards podium Saturday.
Sophomore Kileigh Mixon won gold in the high jump and silver in the 100 hurdles
Morris won the silver in the 300 hurdles.
Freshman Savanna Collins took third in the long jump.
Sophomore Kenlee Parrick won the bronze in the 100 hurdles amd Wages finished fifth in the high jump.
Ham had fourth in 400 and 800 runs.
On the boys’ side, freshman Drew Clovis finished second in the pole vault with an effort of 11-feet, six inches.
The pole vault competition was a long one due to complications from a booming south wind that frequently blew the bar of the uprights, but the unflappable Clovis calmly waited it out and brought home the silver medal.