EDMOND — Even when sick, elite athletes seem to find a way to perform at a high level.
MacArthur senior Daniel Nickell channeled his inner Michael Jordan on Saturday morning, shaking off lingering flu symptoms to finish second of 112 runners at the Class 5A state cross country meet in a time of 16 minutes, 36 seconds in the 5K race at Edmond Santa Fe High School.
Christian Arenivar of Santa Fe South won the race in 16:24, and Piedmont claimed the team title with 28 points, 41 points ahead of runner-up Guymon.
Nickell, the only Highlander to compete in the sport’s biggest race, came down with the respiratory illness early last week, significantly limiting his training schedule leading up to the regional qualifying meet in Norman.
Nickell managed to qualify for the state meet despite the condition, and he only started to recover on Monday.
“I’ve been really sick all year, and I had the flu last week at regionals,” Nickell said. “I got over the flu on Monday. It was weird, and I just kind of slept all week. I slept as much as I could, but I was still super tired when I tried to workout on Tuesday. The past two weeks, I’ve been dead tired, and I didn’t really run the week of regionals. This week, I still felt pretty good coming out here — mentally and physically.”
Nickell’s finish earned him All-State honors for the second-straight year, having placed second last year as well, clocking in at 16:19. To be named an All-Stater, runners must finish in the top 10 at the state meet.
“It’s cool and all, but I came out here to win,” Nickell said. “I’m not satisfied, but I don’t think I’d even be satisfied if I won. Track season is still coming around, so I’m going to make sure I’m healthy all season. I’m going to beat them all.”
Nickell matched Arenivar’s pace for most of the race, and the two were equal upon exiting the wooded portion of the course heading into the final half-mile of the race. However, as fatigue set in for Nickell, Arenivar seemed to get stronger with every stride.
“I stayed with him until that turn before the finishing stretch,” Nickell said. “I know I messed up, and I need to train more. If I lose and I pass out, I feel like I won. I feel like I had a little bit more. I don’t know if I would’ve beat him, but I did have more.”
Mac coach Greg Ford said though Nickell was already a gifted runner when he took over the program in 2017, it has been a pleasure and a joy to watch him develop and grow.
“There’s a lot of talent there, and he works hard,” Ford said. “I gotta give him most of the credit, I’ve just been pointing him in the right direction. When I came into the program, he was raw and hadn’t had any form of coaching, so I just got him to think and work on some stuff. He’s his own student of the sport, and those are the ones who are easy to coach.”
Kaleb Tipton of Eisenhower also competed in the race, clocking in at 18:00 to place 38th.
Tipton, a senior, said though he is satisfied with his cross country performances over the years, he regrets not taking the sport seriously in the beginning stages of his career.
“The first couple of years I just used cross country as a way to get better for track season, and I started focusing on it a little too late,” Tipton said. “If I could go back, I’d train a little harder.”
Ike girls nab Top-10 finish
Of the six cross country teams in Lawton, only one qualified for the state meet — the Ike girls.
And the Lady Eagles weren’t just happy to be there. They had perhaps their best race of the season, finishing 10th of 14 teams with 253 points. Bishop Kelley won the team championship with 33 points.
Only 14 teams advance to the state meet from the regional meets, but 40 teams total participate in cross country at the Class 5A level.
“Hopefully they’ll continue to progress the next few years,” Ike coach Amber Bain said. “We’re not traditionally a cross country school, so to come in and finish tenth, we think we did a great job.”
Bain said she isn’t sure if this was the highest finish for the team in school history, but even if it wasn’t, it was still a historic performance in terms of recency.
“We had some teams in the early 90s that were just unbelievable,” Bain said. “I’ve been here for 13 years, and this is only the second year a team has qualified. Last year was our first time in 22 years, so we’ve qualified two years in-a-row. It was certainly the best finish in about 20 years.”
Leading the way for Ike was senior Amber Clayton, placing 24th of 108 runners with a personal best time of 21:34.
Superstitions and rituals are a common practice in sports, and Clayton put several in motion on Saturday.
Clayton, who ran nearly two minutes slower last week because of a minor illness, said her running rituals helped her clock her fastest time in her final high school race.
“I didn’t wash my hair, and I ran in my first cross country shoes,” Clayton said. “I mean, this was my last race.”
Not far behind her was fellow senior Mariah Malloy, who clocked in 22:09, good enough for 37th place.
Although she is glad she had the opportunity to end her cross country career at the state meet, Malloy said she has mixed feelings about the season coming to an end.
“I feel like I’ve progressed quite a bit,” Malloy said. “I never would’ve thought back in freshman year that I’d end up here in the place I did at state this year.
“It’s kind of bittersweet because it’s my last high school race, but it’s not my last time racing. I’m excited for college.”
Bain had nothing but praise for Malloy after the race.
“From her freshman year to now, she has made so much improvements that it’s unbelievable,” Bain said. “She’s come so far, and she has less of a natural gift for running and more of a work ethic. She’s been phenomenal.”
With their top two runners graduating next spring, the next line of business for the Lady Eagles is recruitment.
Ike totes a young team which includes several first-year runners.
Cayla Hoch and Reagan Brandenburg fit that description, qualifying for the state meet despite being only freshmen.
Hoch was third finisher for the Lady Eagles on Saturday, crossing the finish line at the 22:53 mark for 52nd place. Brandenburg claimed 103rd with a time of 26:28.
Despite that youth, Ike will need new runners to step up and fill the voids left by Clayton and Malloy and Sydney Price, who took 105th in 26:32.
Varsity teams normally consist of seven runners, but the Lady Eagles managed with only six this season. Without the addition of more athletes next season, Ike might not be able to qualify a team for state.
“We should run on our own as well as practice so we can continue to get better,” Hoch said. “We need to start recruiting people and really focus on the next few years, getting better and better.”
Of course, convincing fellow students to join the cross country team won’t be an easy task. Not everyone is willing to put themselves through the physical strain most runners endure on a daily basis.
Sophomore Kennedy Biggs, who finished in 83rd at 24:03, expressed that concern after the race.
“No one really wants to run cross country — no one likes to run,” Biggs said. “This year, we recruited a lot of soccer players because they’re good at running. We try to recruit people who are already athletes because they’re in shape, and they should be able to run 3 miles. As we practice, they’ll be able to get their time up to where it needs to be.”
Brandenburg has a plan of attack to get fellow students out to the practice course, though, taking a page out of the popular 1999 movie “Fight Club”.
The first rule of recruiting people for running — don’t talk about running.
“You just gotta say we get free food and have fun on the bus rides,” Brandenburg said. “Don’t say anything else about running. Running is not fun, but they don’t need to know that.”