The top two runners of Mustang High School's 2009 boys cross country team left the Broncos with an uphill climb in the upcoming season.
2010 seniors Alex Aria and Josh Thomas were among the top three runners for last year's team. Aria was a two-time All-State runner who was the lone Bronco among the state's top 10 in 2009. His ninth-place finish in last year's state competition was a repeat of his junior season. Aria helped the team to No. 8 in the state championship meet.
“Those two (Aria and Thomas) hurt. Can we replace those? I don't know,” he said. “The core was good enough to get third. We got eighth, so hopefully we're somewhere in between this year.”
The boys squad never placed lower than fourth prior to the state run with the exception of the Oklahoma State University Jamboree and Nike South Invitational in Texas. They were the third best team in the Metro Conference meet, and took fourth at regionals. Head Coach Mike McGarry said the crew had the capability of being third in the state.
“No one else around the state knew how good we really were,” he said. “We never had a race where all the boys ran good in the same race, including state. It was so frustrating.”
A “strong nucleus” of runners has returned, which McGarry said has potential to lead the posse to a higher rank at state this year.
“The top boy (senior Andy Carroll), and the top girl (sophomore Emily Helms), I would rank up there close to anybody in the state,” said McGarry, who heads the boys and girls teams. “They all have some talent. We'll just see if they really want it or not.”
Carroll had the team's most top finishes last year. However, he ran the state course in a disappointing 18:08 for 64th place after claiming fourth at regionals in 16:58. His time of 16:38 in the 2008 state championship meet landed him in 14th.
“Andy just had a horrible race. I don't know if he felt sick – we never figured it out. He wasn't on that day, but we're human,” McGarry said.
Despite the weak finish last year, McGarry expressed optimism in the closing of Carroll's high school career.
“He's going to be pretty good. We saw it when he was a sophomore, when he came out in the first race and beat Parker Bowles (Norman High School). Parker was a guy who was supposed to win state two years ago.”
Carroll's time of 16:34 topped Bowles' by 10 seconds in the opening meet of his sophomore year. Bowles went on to finish fifth in the state.
On top of losing two leading seniors, the 2009 squad's fourth top runner, Owen Geberth, will not be back to compete in cross country.
Last year's ninth-ranked girls team from Mustang is returning all but its seventh-best runner. Like the boys, they're lowest finish last season was at state with the exception of the OSU Jamboree and NSI.
Helms is poised to be a standout sophomore after leading the team at state with a 15th-best time of 12:25 in her freshmen season. Behind her was current senior Allissa Jones' 12:58 for 28th place. Helms kicked off her high school career with a seventh-place finish in 12:29 at Edmond Santa Fe.
The annual 12-hour run at Broncos stadium, which normally precedes the first meet, was postponed to an undetermined date. That event was scheduled for 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Aug. 20, but the lights at the newly-renovated stadium were not ready in time.
Mustang's first meet will be the fifth annual Wolf Run at 9 a.m. on Sept. 3 at Edmond Santa Fe's course.