News

We have made it to (potentially, unless our girls go to NXR and kick major booty) the last week of ORXC for the 2024 season! It’s been a great year with some fantastic performances, a lot of fun, and way too many fart noises. Thank you again to everyone who helped with and attended our end-of-season banquet last week. I only cried once, and I only put my foot in my mouth 2-3 times, which is 2-3 times less than usual. Thank you all for a great season!

As we transition to the Track season, we will take the entire week of Thanksgiving off from practice. Runners can run if they choose to, but there will be no workouts sent out and no organized practice. We’ll pick things back up on December 2nd with our first Track practice for the 2025 season! Track works a little differently than XC but, for the most part, the XC kids will continue with similar workouts and a similar workout schedule as the XC season. We will have Saturday Long Runs, weight room, and practice daily from 2:00 – 4:30.

We will also start back to practice with our JH XC runners from 3:15-4:30. Those kids will run on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday each week until the start of the JH Track season in February. Coach Clark and I will be primarily working with those runners. We want them to stay in shape and be ready to crush it when Track kicks off. As soon as I have confirmed the buses for the 7th Grade Runners, I will send out another schedule for our JH kids.

Don’t forget about the Hog Jog next week! This is one of the season’s biggest and most fun fundraising events. We had over 600 runners last year, and it looks like we’ll have at least that many this year. Come out and earn your turkey this year!

Here is the sign-up link…

https://runsignup.com/Race/OK/Owasso/HogJog

Thank you again for an amazing XC season! Our program works best when parents help, are involved, and support their kids. We had tremendous parent support this year!

Thank you for all you do…GO RAMS!!!!

ORXC Week Sixteen Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SxgyV7EpcNglMEPSAvVrJgO4nfUZoaNnxpf2aoXBrlo/edit?usp=sharing

Good evening ORXC fam! We have a fairly relaxed week before we head into NXR and the Hog Jog for the next couple of weeks. Our end-of-season banquet is Tuesday night from 6:00 – 8:00 on the 3rd Floor of the Wellness Center on the north end of the OHS football stadium. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, please do so through the following link…

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386246-2024

Our next volunteer opportunity is on Thanksgiving morning when we will hold our 22nd annual Hog Jog! Last year, we had over 600 runners and raised a good amount of money for the program for the Track season. If you aren’t competing in the event, please come and be a course marshal and cheer the runners on! The sign-up link is here…

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386245-2024#

Thank you for all you do to make your athlete and our program successful. We’ll see everyone on Tuesday night! GO RAMS!!!

Week Fifteen Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yxKKfzPuuxGJ3tARhpyoI7H89STB-DIsbGAqBWmlwLU/edit?usp=sharing

Woah. I’m not sure what else to say, but “Woah.” That was a wild XC season fam! Thank you so much to everyone who made the trip down to Edmond yesterday to support the Varsity teams at the State meet! Special thank you to Keith Nelson, who drove the spirit bus; to all the parents who decorated the fieldhouse and put together goody bags; to Kelly Yost’s class, who made letters for the runners and coaches; to all the girls who made signs and t-shirts, the alumni who showed up and celebrated with the team, and all the JV runners who got up super early to come down and cheer their faces off!

Yesterday, the boys capped their season with a 12th-place finish. One thing we always say is to “beat your ranking” at State. They were ranked 14th and finished 12th, so that was awesome! Evan Carter led the boys with a 22nd-place finish. Noah Nelson and Colton Correa were the next two to come through the line, followed quickly by Nos Graham, Brady Hugueley, Brendan Payne, and Collin Yost. These guys worked incredibly hard all season. They showed up and put the miles in and by the end, 6 of the 7 boys ran lifetime PR’s this season. That’s fantastic!

The ladies came into State ranked 2nd, having won several races this season but never beating Piedmont. We had a game plan for how we might take them down, and the girls executed the race plan to perfection! Led by Bella Nelson, who secured her second straight individual state title, Ava Cornelius, Quinn Thomason, and Lilith Johnson all finished with All-State honors! Bijoux Milien and Stella Jones worked together amazingly well throughout the race, but the performance of the day belonged to Audrey Toews, who started the race in 44th place but passed 22 runners in the final half of the race to secure the girls’ third straight State Championship and 4th in 5 years! It was a fantastic performance, with the ladies setting a school record for the fastest team time and the largest margin of victory over an outstanding Piedmont team.

Now that we are past the State meet, we will give the runners a couple of days off from the weight room and running. Tomorrow will be team meetings, games, and a time to relax and decompress, but there’s no rest for the weary! We will pick things back up on Wednesday as we prepare for NXR in a few weeks. I will talk with the athletes tomorrow about who will be racing at NXR, and then I’ll send out the roster to the parents along with an early itinerary. State is and will always be the top priority, but NXR offers our program the opportunity to continue training for a few more weeks and see how we stack up with our neighboring states. No team from OK has ever qualified from NXN. I know it will happen eventually, and I’d love to see ORXC be the first to get it done!

As the coaches talked back and forth after State, we discussed how it’s easy to think the season was all roses when you come out on top, but every season is full of ups and downs. It was months of hard work that came down to a little of thirty minutes of actual race time. It went well, but I never want to think we have everything figured out. We lost one of our best runners to a stress fracture mid-way through the season (or State would’ve really been a blowout), the boys’ team has a lot of potential, and although I am incredibly proud of our boys this season, we want to be fighting for the top spot each year, and we still had races and workouts that just did not go well. I know that’s all part of it, taking the good with the bad, but we always want to strive to be better than we were until we reach perfection. (I also know that’s impossible so it helps with job security.) It takes fantastic athletes, a ton of parent support, and even more luck to win. I am so grateful to be a part of this program, and I don’t take for granted how fortunate I am to work with such amazing kids, coaches, and parents, but I know we can be even better!

We’ll take a couple of days to celebrate, then get back to work on doing just that!

We have our annual end-of-season banquet on November 12th. The banquet is for all our athletes and their families. If you’d like to come, please RSVP here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386246-2024

Payments for the banquet can be made using the QR code attached or via Square here: https://ortrackfieldxc.square.site/

Thank you again for all you do!!! GO RAMS!!! Week Fourteen Schedule https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T6ShoROiIzkKXSMBApASPh7-BB3K5Y4aKfkEy4hq5HM/edit?usp=sharing

redirecting...

Good evening Ram Family! We are down to the last two official weeks of the XC season for 2024! It feels like we just started but it’s nearly over. We had a terrific showing last week at the Conference Meet! Both of our JH teams finished fifth with Journey Owens and Jack Kidwell earning All-Conference honors. For the HS teams we finished first in three of the four races as a team and had three individual winners! Both of our HS Girls’ teams finished 1st in dominating fashion with Bella Nelson, Ava Cornelius, Lillith Johnson, and Quinn Thomason finishing 1st-4th in the Varsity race and earning All-Conference honors. Also, earning All-Conference for the girls Varsity were Audrey Toews and Bijoux Milien. Congrats also to Stella Jones for winning the JV race and leading our JV girls to a perfect score! The boys Varsity finished 3rd with Evan Carter and Nos Graham earning All-Conference honors. Collin Yost followed with a fantastic come-from-behind win in the JV race! It might be the most boring course on the planet and the wind was howling but our kids ran great!

This week, ORXC is hosting the OSSAA East Regional XC Meet at O’Brien Park. We have hosted six of the past ten years. The years we didn’t we were on a bus at the crack of dawn driving to Ponca City to run on a ridiculous course, we ran two years at Sand Springs on an even more ridiculous course (there was literally SWIMMING across a creek one year and one of our girls fell off a levy), and one year on a hilly course at BA. Is it a lot of work to host? Yes, but it means we get to control the course, our kids get to run first and not have to get up at 5:00 am, we can be confident there will be no swimming, there will be no mountain climbing, and we get to purchase equipment for the program courtesy of the OSSAA. The pros outweigh the cons for sure. With that in mind, we still need help from our parents and runners to make it happen. Please consider coming out to help for a few hours, watch some fantastic races, and continue to make ORXC one of the best programs in the state! Here is the link for volunteers…

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386241-2024#

For our JV runners, we will continue to train for the rest of the season but for most athletes, they are done racing. We will still have some time trials to keep them engaged but practices will be a little shorter for the next few weeks as we gradually wind things down. When we come back from Thanksgiving Break we will start picking it back up as we head towards the 2025 Track season.

While State is officially the last race of the Oklahoma XC season, we will take as many runners as we can to the Nike Regional Cross Country Meet in Houston on November 23rd. This will be our 4th year to attend NXR. Each year we’ve been more competitive as we attempt to not only stay strong in Oklahoma but in the five state region. Last year our girls program finished 10th in the Championship race and our Up and Coming girls finished 3rd. Teams must qualify for the Championship race but we can take any freshman and sophomore runner to the Up and Coming race. Our plan this year is to take any Varsity team that makes the Championship race and several of our young runners based on their performance for the season. We want those kids to see the competition, experience the meet, and want to work hard to make the Championship race in the future. We will put together a roster and talk to runners about going over the next two weeks.

Lastly, we are always working to feed your kids! If you can please, send some snacks to these hardworking runners…

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386237-2024#

It’s Championship time! We took three out of six races at Conference but we aren’t done yet! Come out and cheer on the Varsity squads as they go get after the competition this week and next week.

Thank you for all you do! GO RAMS!!!

Weekly Schedule

We’re coming down the home stretch and into our CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON! After so many weeks and months of hard work, reaching the final few meets of the 2024 season is exciting. For our JH and several of our JV athletes the Conference meet on Tuesday will be their final competition. We will announce the final 7 Varsity runners on Wednesday. Those athletes will practice on Thursday and Friday in preparation for Regionals on October 26th. Any runners not on the Varsity team will have the rest of the week off and then resume practice as usual on Monday, October 21st. If we have any athletes going to another sport, they will go on the 21st as well. We do still have the Nike NXR meet in November for qualifying Varsity runners and underclassmen (Freshman and Sophomores.) (More info on Nike is coming out next week.) Any runners not moving to another sport will stay with XC through Thanksgiving Break. After the break, we will start with Track practice. Their schedule won’t change much. We’ll simply change the training slightly to better prepare for Track races. Our JH runners will also wrap up the season on Tuesday. We’ll give those runners some time off before they return to off-season Track practice on the Monday after Thanksgiving Break.

ORXC is again hosting the OSSAA East Regional meet on October 26th at O’Brien Park. Hosting each year allows us to control the course, purchase equipment for our program, and have some say in how the post-season works. In comparison to the Owasso Invitational, this is a small meet in terms of the number of athletes but a large meet in terms of spectators. We will once again need help with parking and concessions at the meet. Please consider helping out while you watch some of the fastest teams in the area compete to go to the State meet in Edmond!

Here is the volunteer link for Regionals from Kelly Mangelson…

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386241-2024#/

We can also use help for athletes not running in the meet, especially if they need NHS or NJHS hours.

Here is the link for athletes… https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-52300829-2024#/

We’ve had some incredible races and performances this season, but I know the best is yet to come! Like we tell the kids all the time…LAST ONE BEST ONE! Let’s make sure the ORXC Army is out in full force this Tuesday to support our runners!

Thank you for all you do and, as always…GO RAMS!!!

Weekly Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QzyY2qfOHo2_L_1kTiUvFDOWSlMb8c4QHgifNu47t0k/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time for the annual Owasso Invitational last week! The MS races were especially crazy big, which meant the parking was crazy, crazy and parents who can’t park close to the start line got crazy, crazy, crazy. I know dealing with that many people can be challenging, but several coaches complimented us on how well the meet was run. That only happens because so many parents and kids are willing to help. Thank you again! This week is much lighter with no races and our regular practice schedule leading up to Fall Break and our Conference meet on Tuesday, the 15th. Conference is the season’s final race for our JH and JV runners. We will continue to practice with our HS kids for the remainder of the season, including Fall Break, but only the Varsity runners will be required to be there over the break. Practice will resume as normal for the HS runners when we return from Fall Break. The final seven Varsity runners will be announced on Wednesday, the 16th, the day after the Conference meet. We will have our monthly Booster Club meeting on Tuesday at 5:00 at the Track/XC Fieldhouse. Anyone is welcome to attend. We also have a home football game this Friday, which means practice will end at 4:00, and we’ll clean the stadium when the game concludes. It’s exciting to be at this point in the season with Championships on the line! We emphasize to our runners the importance of staying locked in for the last few weeks. It’s tempting for athletes to fade away or take their foot off the gas as we approach the end of the season, but we want to finish strong! Please help us by reminding your runners of all the work they’ve put in to get to this point and how important rest, hydration, training, and nutrition are at the end of the season. We tell them all the time…LAST ONE BEST ONE! Thank you for all you do and as always…GO RAMS!!!

Weekly Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gn5ds6rJkocVzJURX4Fr9nAxbDbINwEu7Z97ADyBp_U/edit?usp=sharing

Online Post

https://www.owassostriders.com/post/fear-vs-faith-in-the-high-school-cross-country-championship-season

Let’s go! All of our squads had excellent races last week at Claremore and in Fayetteville at the annual Chile Pepper XC Festival!

On Friday, our JV girls took the dub, and our JV boys finished a close second at the Claremore Invitational. Congratulations to Hannah Toews, Jade Mangelson, Pippy Newell, Emma Sandoval, Alexa Thorson, and Maya Keene for running a new PR! Medaling at Claremore for the girls were Bijoux Milien, Hannah Toews, Aspen Reimer, Kinslee Freeman, Rilee Shea, Gwyneth Collins, Sophie Gates, and Jade Mangelson. Well done amigas! Running a PR performance for the boys were Corbin Reeves, Eli McConnell, Ryker Morrow, Nick Greenlee, Blake Shields, Keith Nelson, Ben Hardesty, Zayden Moulds, Owen Mietus, and Brady Frey! Medaling for the boys team were Collin Yost, Brady Hugueley, and Ben Campbell! All had great performances!

Our JH Girls came in a strong second on the same day with Maylene Madreno and Journey Owens both finishing in the top 20. Our JH Boys finished 4th with Jack Kidwell placing sixth overall. Nice work JH Running Rams!

Our HS Varsity squads performed like Viking warriors with mighty hammers on Saturday! Our Boys’ TEAM finished 47th out of 112 teams, with Evan Carter leading the way. We had great races from our young guys with Noah Nelson coming in second for the team and Colton Correa third with a PR race! Brendan Payne had a bounce-back race with Nos Graham and Jack Hill, two more of our young athletes running really tough. It was a solid performance for those guys, for sure.

Our Girls’ squad finished 4th out of 97 teams! The Lady Rams were led by Bella Nelson who finished 4th overall with a PR race and new school record! Bella was followed closely by Ava Cornelius, who finished 10th out of 593 runners! Are you kidding me?!?! Lillith Johnson and Quinn Thomason also had fantastic races. Running a PR was Audrey Toews, Stella Jones, and Erin Hendrick. The girls combined to set a new school record for the fastest team performance ever with a total top-five time of 93 minutes and an average of 18:36…WHAT THE WHAT?!?!? It was a supremely fun day, and all the strong races helped us overcome the loss of a wagon on the way to the course. Moment of silence, please. We know wherever you are now, Wagon, you have wings, and you are 50,000 candles in the wind. R.I.P

For this week we are hosting our annual Owasso Invitational on Thursday evening at Mohawk Park in Tulsa. We still need volunteers to help out. If you can please click on the link below. Thank you as always to Kelly Mangelson for coordinating everything volunteer in our program!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386238-2024#

As we wind down the season going into October, it is easy to let your guard down. Our kids have been amazingly resilient all year, fighting through injuries, challenging workouts, and the general ups and downs of racing and performing. We will gradually reduce the workload to help our athletes be their best in their final races. The extra time we give them must be filled with rest, good food, and lots of Weezer. We see the runners a few hours a day, but the difference between PR races and State Championships often comes down to what happens from when they leave practice to when they return. Please support your runners and help them stay the course so we can finish the season like a pack of savage Wolfrats bringing down a feeble aged elk in an isolated mountain valley of northern Colorado. Or whatever fires you up.

Thank you for all you do…and as always…GO RAMS!!!!

Week Nine Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pe1ajaMhIkmYjzyo8OwiXAxTRQ0aNqLF1o-y5VfTyEM/edit?usp=sharing

Hello ORXC fam! We had terrific races last week, with our JH runners winning the Pryor Invitational on Friday. Our boys took the win, and our girls finished 3rd. On Saturday the Varsity team traveled to Joplin to compete in the MSSU Southern Stampede. Our Varsity and JV girls both won the meet, beating out over 30 teams. Our Varsity boys finished 26th, and our JV boys finished 5th against a massive field of over 40 teams. We had some lifetime PRs and lots of medals. Congratulations to Bella Nelson, Ava Cornelius, and Lillith Johnson who all medaled in the Varsity race. Madison Friday, Chloe Matheny, and Gwyneth Collins all earned medals in the JV girls division, and Brady Hugueley and Wilder Collins earned medals in the JV boys division. Runners earning a lifetime PR on a very tough course included Ava Cornelius, Taylor Snyder, Bijoux Milien, and Hannah Toews. It was a fun day other than the sno-cones which might be called slushies at best and really should be called syrup poured over partially crushed ice.

On a sadder note, I would like to share that I am officially resigning from ORXC after this season. I will continue coaching but will no longer be the ORXC Gear Coordinator. I’m not too fond of this imaginary position at the best of times, and by the end of last week, it had caused me to want to jump head-first into a pile of rocks.

We have more gear on the way, including the embroidered warm-up jackets and warm-up pants. Nike is still out of stock on girls’ shorts, and it’s too late to order jerseys now. (It takes three months for those to come in.) We tried to accommodate as many runners as we could with the sizes we had, but nothing angers XC moms more than their athletes wearing big jerseys and tiny pants. Hence, my resignation.

I hope JH gear is in before Claremore next week, but I’m choosing to ignore it and hope it goes away. If you still need to pay for gear the Booster Club QR code is attached.

On a much more fun note, we have two races this week: our JH and JV runners compete on Friday at Claremore, and our HS Varsity top 8 (currently being heavily debated between the coaches via SMS text) compete at Chile Pepper on Saturday morning.

Next week is our annual Owasso Invitational at Mohawk Park. This is shaping up to be a big meet with several schools coming to race. We still need help in the tent, concession stand, and parking. Please click on the link below and get in on the action!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386238-2024#

We’re looking forward to some cooler temps and the death of the wet bulb this week! Thank you all for coming to support your runners last week and we look forward to seeing everyone on Friday and Saturday. Thank you for all you do and as always…GO RAMS!!!

Week Eight Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17b2BiSJsu_WP8YtyuMXRWMhxXa3N3bMalYvZxrMhwfQ/edit?usp=sharing

Good afternoon, ORXC Army! It’s another balmy day here in the fake desert of Oklahoma. I love how we are teased with one or two decent days and then fall right back to the sun’s surface. Ugh.

Congrats to our JH squad for an excellent race last week at Choctaw. They will head over to Pryor this week for their next meet, and the HS TEAM will travel to MSSU in Joplin for a big race on Saturday. Our JH and JV runners only have four and a half weeks of the season remaining! Hard to believe.

We will be passing out HS gear this week and, fingers crossed, JH gear next week. Runners must have their gear payment turned in to receive their gear packs. If you need more time, please reach out to a coach. We will work something out. The QR code is attached.

We will also be hosting our next meet, the Owasso Invitational, on October 3rd. We need volunteers to help with medals, water, parking, concessions, and chip recovery. Volunteers get prime parking and to be right in the middle of the action! Please click on the link below if you can help…

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4AA8A92FA1FE3-50386238-2024#

Please remind your runners to stay on top of their academics and for our high school TCC students to turn in their grades every Wednesday. We had several athletes on probation this past week.

Also, a constant reminder of the three R’s…REST, REHYDRATE, and REFUEL. When the weather is like this, with high heat and no wind, runners must take care of themselves outside of practice so they can perform at their best during practice.

Lastly, thank you all who have donated snacks and water. This has been, far and away, the best season ever in that regard. It is very much appreciated!

Thank you for your constant support of your kids and the program and as always…GO RAMS!

Weekly Schedule

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pSFDxKB9ZzNbMC2oDdt2qFh_UhJjF-Y0eeSwaWXqfe8/edit?usp=sharing

Weekly Post

https://www.owassostriders.com/post/how-to-maintain-focus-for-high-school-runners