ELGIN – Longtime Elgin girls’ cross-country coach Tomi Lorah has a young squad, but one that will prepare “very hard” for the upcoming season.
The Lady Owls are led by returning All-Stater Audrey McElhaney who placed seventh at the Class 5A state meet last year. Senior Kendyl Marrero also returns after placing in the top 25 during the state meet. From there, the team has two sophomores and two freshmen.
“Even with this young team, I expect (them) to develop and improve as the season progresses,” Lorah said. “The girls have been training all summer on their own. The heat will be a factor when school starts, but we always have three days of 5:30 a.m. practices anyway when school starts. So, during the afternoons we will be able to monitor them closely.”
Joining McElhaney and Marrero are sophomores Hannah Keahbone and Hannah Shutts and freshmen runners Kalina Bowen and Khoe Dye.
“I expect Kendyl and Audrey will run strong right off the bat. Hannah (Keahbone) looks a lot more confident and stronger in the last few days. I think she’s motivated to set some goals and get stronger. (Hannah) Shutts got better last year but then broke her jaw and had to have it wired shut.”
Lorah said she expects to enter four runners in the first few meets, which means Elgin will not have a team score. Schools must have five runners in a meet to be eligible for a team score. Bowe and Dye are expected to run in junior varsity meets so they can gain experience at the high school level.
Lorah, who has been coaching at Elgin for the past 25 years, said she gets excited every year about the returning runners and those new to the squad.
“I anticipate a lot of mental and physical growth,” she said. “We like to set realistic goals about what’s possible for our team.”
The Lady Owls qualified for the Class 5A state meet last year.
They will start the season at the Duncan meet Saturday, Aug. 27. From there, Elgin will compete at the Carl Albert Invitational Friday, Sept. 2 at Carl Albert Middle School. Elgin will also run at the Cameron University Invitational, the Lawton High School and Lawton Ike Invitational, the Edmond Pre-State meet, the OBU Bison Challenge and the conference meet. Elgin will host its own meet Friday, Oct. 14.