CROSS COUNTRY: BARTLESVILLE, CANEY VALLEY, OKU, WCS, CANEY VALLEY (KAN.) STATE AND REGIONAL REPORTS
Caney Valley High School’s girls’ cross country coach Deric Longan talks with his team prior to last Saturday’s Class 2A state tournament.
Courtesy photo
By Mike Tupa
Oct. 27, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Well, the dust has settled for area high school cross country runners — some of them trailing glory.
Meanwhile, Bartlesville’s pacer machine still has a flicker of life with only one runner qualifying for next weekend’s Class 6A state meet.
Among the top performances, Caney Valley sophomore Presley Smith smoked the course for an All-State finish at No. 14 in the Class 2A girls final.
Following are more about area regional and state competition Saturday.
(Note: North Rock Creek High School hosted the Class A-4A state meets. Owasso hosted the east side Class 5A-6A regionals.)
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BARTLESVILLE boys (6A regional, 5K)
The Bruins will have to wait another year to earn a team medal.
They will be represented by just one runner — junior Preston Shoesmith — at next weekend’s state meet.
Smith qualified with an outstanding showing at Saturday’s regional, finishing 30th overall (17:19.6) and sixth out of the seven at-large qualifiers.
Shoesmith is the only Bruin runner — including both the boys’ and girls’ teams — to qualify for state.
Bartlesville’s second-fastest runner Talmage King gave it a good shot at 18:51.4, but finished 81st overall and a few places away from making it in the at-large category.
Rounding out the Bruin regional contingent were: Grayson Ellis (86th, 19:01.4), Jackson Boudreaux (88th, 19:03.2), Peter King (92nd, 19:16.9), Wesley Pierce (95th, 19:21.8) and Jim Dudley (96, 19:31.5).
David Ayres is the Bartlesville cross country head coach.
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BARTLESVILLE girls (6A regional, 5K)
The good news is this is a very young Lady Bruin team and will be boosted next season by strong talent coming up from the middle school team.
But there will be no Lady Bruin representation at this year’s state meet.
Eliza Miller turned in the team’s fastest time at the regional (48th, 21:27.2), followed by Isabella Prentice (56th, 22:01.9).
Rounding out the squad were Katherine Manley (67th, 22:28.4), Afton Miller (68, 22:31.2), Hailey Taylor (71st, 22:54), Emma Kuntz (72nd, 22:55.8) and Madilyn Malcom (83rd, 23:34.9).
Manley and Taylor were the only seniors among the group. Both have been stalwart distance warriors for the Lady Bruins.
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Caney Valley High School’s Presley Smith earned 14th place at the Class 2A state tournament last Saturday.
Courtesy photo
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CANEY VALLEY girls (2A state, 3.2K)
A year ago Smith was sinking three-pointers for the Dewey High basketball team.
This autumn she’s now attending Caney Valley and has honed her athletic skills to become one of the top female runners in the state.
On Thursday she burst to 14th with an outstanding time of 12:46.0, to earn All-State recognition, which is bestowed on the Top 15 finishers.
Not only that but Smith helped Caney Valley — which revived its girls cross country program following about a 25-year lay-off.
For their first state meet in many years the Lady Trojans displayed some spunkiness — 10th place out of 15 teams.
Rounding out the Caney Valley schedule were: Roxy Hawkins (43rd, 13:48.4), Harper Watts (76th, 14:39.4), Joclynn Chancellor (15:32.6), Abby Daigle (16:38.1) and Khloe Crawford (16:45.4).
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The Caney Valley High School girls' cross country team participated in the Class 2A state tournament last Saturday.
Courtesy photo
The Dewey High School boys’ cross country team participated in the Class 3A state tournament last Saturday.
Courtesy photo
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DEWEY boys (3A state, 5K)
Scott Horton finished 73rd (19:23.7) to lead the Dewey contingent, followed by Ryan Frisinger (84th, 19:42.8) and Austin Eastman (91st, 20:01.0).
Rounding out the Dogger crew were Zach Renfroe (21:10.9), Kooper Crawford (21:13.5) and Tra Hicks (21:51.6).
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Dewey High School’s Adrianna Hicks was the lone girls’ cross country runner at the 3A state tournament last Saturday.
Courtesy photo
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DEWEY GIRLS (3A state, 3.2K)
Representing Dewey as an individual runner was freshman Adrianna Hicks.
She did the team proud, pounding to 30th place (13:37) out of 122 runners.
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The Oklahoma Union girls and boys cross country teams participated in the Class 2A state tournament last Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Megan Robbins
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OKLAHOMA UNION girls (2A state, 3.2K)
The Lady Cougars pounced to fourth place out of 15 teams, finishing just 20 points away from second place.
Oklahoma Union’s first four runners finished in the Top 30 — Raiden Kuehn (17th, 12:52.6), Makenna Goemmer (18th, 12:55.1), Lauryn Jackson (20th, 12:56.9) and Sawyer Jackson (28th, 13:21.5).
Rounding out the team’s finishers were Taylor Dixon (31st, 13:25.7) and Cooper Robbins (15:47.4).
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OKLAHOMA UNION BOYS (2A state, 5K)
The Cougars roared to ninth place out of 16 teams.
James Bottoms finished on top for Oklahoma Union, coming in 40th (19:19.8), followed by Koen Lowery (61st, 19:41.7).
The rest of the squad featured: Jimmy Williams (64th, 19:52.5), Jeston Martinez (70th, 19:59.2), Holden Rouse (86th, 20:19.5), Travis Williams (21:49.1) and Tegan Weber (22:56.8).
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WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN BOYS (A state, 5K)
Jesse Blakemore surged to 35th place (18:48) against the state's 100-plus top runners.
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WESLEYAN CHRISTIAN GIRLS (A state, 3.2K)
Freshman Eleanor Burns finished in 36th place (13:50.8) against 100-plus runners.
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The Caney Valley (Kan.) boys cross country team is Class 3A regional champs after dominating last Saturday. Simeon Sanchez came in 1st place. The boys’ team is headed to the state tournament.
Courtesy photo
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CANEY VALLEY (KAN.) BOYS (3A regionals, 5K)
The Caney Valley (Kan.) boys cross country team is headed to state after dominating last Saturday’s regionals in Neodesha, Kan.
Simeon Sanchez burst to 1st place (17:48.00), followed by teammate Cash Brown in 5th place (19:0.10).
The rest of the squad featured: Braydon Messner (10th, 19:14.28); Luke Heater (12th,19:40.79); Reuben Sanchez (13th, 19:42.13); Silas Good (14th,19:45.02); and Colton Brumbelow (70th, 24:25.20).
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CANEY VALLEY (KAN.) GIRLS (3A regionals, 5K)
Elyan Washburn finished in 11th place (23:23:52) in Neodesha, Kan., last weekend to qualify for state.
Becky Burch contributed to this article