Elgin runner finishes 11th at Newcastle Invitational

ELGIN – Senior runner Kendyl Marrero finished 11th at the Newcastle Invitational last week while teammate Audrey McElhaney sat on the sidelines, nursing quad soreness.

Marrero, ranked No. 16 in Class 5A, finished the 5K race with a time of 20:44, followed by teammate Annelis Perez, who finished 25th with a time of 22:04.

Both runners received words of praise from Elgin coach Tomi Lorah, who intends to enter full teams in the rest of the cross-country meets this season.

“They ran well,” she said. “Kendyl had a good meet, and I was pleased with the way Annelis ran. Both had really good times.”

Marrero knocked off 31 seconds from her previous best time of 21:15 at the Pre-State Meet in Edmond.

Other results showed Hannah Keahbone finished 46th with a time of 23:50, while Hannah Shutts was 68th with a time of 26:30.

Meanwhile, McElhaney has been receiving treatment from the Elgin athletic training staff in preparation for the rest of the season.

“Her quad had been sore, and we started treating it with massages,” Lorah said. “I don’t think it’s anything serious, but we wanted to head it off at the pass.”

McElhaney started running this week but on a different practice regiment than the other Elgin runners.

“It may feel a little uncomfortable, but she ran yesterday (Monday) and said it felt OK,” Lorah said.

Elgin competed at the OBU Bison Challenge on Thursday, Oct. 6. Results were not available at press time.

The Lady Owls will run in their first Suburban Conference Meet Oct. 11 at Carl Albert Middle School before hosting the Elgin Owl Classic three days later.