Randall takes first at Prague meet

Meeker’s Riley Randall clocked a personal best of 16:28 to win first and the Meeker boys cross country team won the 5K meet at Prague on Saturday.

It was the first championship hardware in cross country in the school’s history, said coach Brady Dukes.

“They represent the school and the community of Meeker so well,” he said. “It’s exciting to see how they have become a force to be reckoned with.”

Meeker finished with 77 points, well ahead of second-place Bethel, which had 93. North Rock Creek finished fifth, with 150 points, and Prague was sixth, with 166.

In the girls’ two-mile event, Prague was first, with 49 points, easily ahead of OCA, with 78. North Rock Creek was seventh, with 148 and Stroud was eighth, with 162.

Randall, who was an All-Stater last year as a freshman, was in the top two through the first quarter-mile, then steadily pulled away from the field, building a 25-second lead halfway through the race. By the finish, his lead was 48 seconds over second-place runner Ty Bliss of Gore.

“We had time trials in practice on Wednesday and he was at 18 minutes,” Dukes said. “He told me, ‘coach, that’s not going to be me on Saturday.’”

Indeed it wasn’t. He looked strong and loose all the way to the finish and maintained his pace despite not having any competitors to push him.

Teammate Braxton Bussell came in fifth, at 15:51. Levi Watham and Clifford Standlee were 25th and 27th, respectively, at 19:50 and 20:04.

Cade Patterson finished with a strong kick to clock 20:36 and finish 33rd, with Cayde Kerensky and Ean Watham taking 34th and 36th, with 20:38 and 20:46.

In the girls two-mile run, Meeker’s Callie Sellers finished second with a 13:48, with Madison Ham of Stroud taking third with a clocking of 13:57