Published: May 13, 2008 01:00 pm            

Roberts nabs state gold

Cougars shake off rough start at 5A meet

Ardmore — If the Ada Cougars had started the Class 5A state track meet the way they finished it, they might actually have made a serious run at the title that has eluded the school for almost three decades.

Ada was disqualified in both the sprint and mile relays — two events where first-year coach Nathan Elliott had hoped to pile up some points — and, after dropping the baton at the top of the stretch in the 4X100 relay, led just one team in the overall standings early Saturday afternoon.

But the Cougars got an impressive victory in the 400 Meters from Michael Roberts and runner-up finishes in both the 100 and 200 Meters from fellow senior Chaz Daniels to claw their way back into the top 10 in the team standings and eventually wound up eighth with 33 points — well behind winner behind Tulsa East Central's 94.

“We had a great season — we just had some bad luck at the state meet,” said Elliott, who qualified 12 athletes for the state meet off a third-place finish with a 15-man team at the Cougars’ regional in Durant last weekend. “The thing that was impressive to me was the way the guys responded and handled the adversity. We had six guys in the medals at the state meet, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

In addition to Roberts and Daniels, the Cougars got points Saturday from freshman Christian Johnson, who finished fourth in the high jump with a leap of six feet, two inches; sophomore Eddie Brown and freshman Travis Cowan, who were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles; and freshman Nick Johnson, who wound up sixth in the pole vault.

“You always want to win more for the kids, because of the effort and time they put in,” Elliott said. “But lots of people just WISH they could make it here. We were here, and six of my kids got medals.”

Ada’s disappointing start to the weekend began even before Saturday’s competition. The Cougars’ mile relay team — one of the favorites for a gold — was disqualified for a lane violation after easily taking its qualifying heat. After the missed exchange in the sprint relay, Ada’s only points were the four Johnson had earned in the high jump.

“I think it would have come down to us and (champion) Tulsa East Central (in the mile relay),” Elliott said. “But the same thing happened to Ardmore, Booker T. Washington and us.

“The best three sprint relay teams in 6A didn’t make the finals,” he added. “When you get to the state meet, those things happen.”

After Daniels — the defending 5A champion in the event — was beaten a scant seven hundredths of a second in the 100 Meters by David Gordon of Tulsa East Central to boost Ada’s point total for the day to 12, Roberts ran what might have been the best race of his career in the 400 to add 10 badly needed points to the Cougars’ ledger.

Winner of the event as a sophomore, Roberts (racing in Lane 5) was third entering the backstretch, accelerated to the lead entering the second turn, opened up by about 15 yards entering the stretch and held off a late bid by Daytawion Lowe of Carl Albert. Roberts’ winning time of 49.10 was .58 better than Lowe and more than a second faster than third-place finish Don Brown of McAlester and was just a tenth of a second off the personal best of 49 seconds he posted in his victory at the regional meet.

“It was a nice way to end it,” said Roberts, who will be running for Oral Roberts University next year as a college freshman. “I knew what those guys had. I knew how to run the race, and it worked out.”

“Michael has really been one of our leaders this year,” Elliott said of Roberts, who lost just one race in the 400 all spring. “He had to battle through an injury last year (that kept him from competing at the state meet). He was favored today and he handled the pressure. He ran a great race.”

Gordon — the defending 5A champ in the 200 and runner-up to Daniels in the 100 last year — swept both sprints. He edged Daniels with a winning time of 10.58 in the 100 (five one-hundredths faster than the time posted by Tulsa Union’s Boyer Lockett in the 6A final), then he was an easy winner in the 200 in 21.22, with Daniels an easy second in 21.80.

“Chaz ran great,” Elliott said. “If you’re second in the 100 and the 200, it means you’re one of the fastest dudes in the state.”

Despite his team’s early disappointments at the state meet, Elliott said his current squad has continued to build on the foundation laid three years ago by former coach Mart Leming and the current group of seniors (Daniels, Roberts and Matt Beasley), who have led the renaissance of track and field at Ada High.

“Chaz, Matt and Michael have given our program a big boost,” Elliott said. “They’ve been big for us for four years.”

        

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