Oklahoma HS track & field: Southwest Covenant’s Zane Zamanski wins Class A discus title
The 2024 Oklahoma high school state track and field meets for Classes 4A through A began Friday.
Classes 4A and 3A competed in Catoosa, while Classes 2A and A were at Western Heights. The meets will conclude Saturday.
Here are some takeaways from Day 1.
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Southwest Covenant’s Zane Zamanski wins Class A discus title
Zane Zamanski sets the bar high for himself as Southwest Covenant’s standout thrower in track and field.
A four-time state champion entering the first day of the Class A state meet, the senior arrived at Western Heights as a proven veteran.
And although he didn’t have his best performance Friday, it was still enough for him to capture gold yet again.
Zamanski won the Class A discus title with a toss of 158 feet, 11 inches, and will try to claim the shot put championship Saturday.
Zamanski had a throw of 165 in the discus at regionals and was a little bit disappointed with how Friday went, but he still had a fairly comfortable victory as he beat Paoli’s Scotty Garrett, who placed second with a toss of 152-1.
“I personally did not perform to the best of my ability,” Zamanski said. “There wasn’t really any good wind today to catch a good throw with, but as my coaches taught me throughout the years, even on your worst day you can still beat everybody.
“It was an all right day. Thankfully, I came through with the win, but there were some true competitors out there and over my career those people have really pushed me to be the best I can be.”
A thrower since he arrived at Southwest Covenant in the sixth grade, Zamanski plans to continue his career at Southwestern Christian University in Bethany.
He won Class 2A state titles in the discus and shot put last year and was the Class A champion in those events as a sophomore.
Another championship win Saturday would be the perfect ending to his high school career.
“I think I have a pretty good shot at getting it,” he said. “It should be pretty competitive once again, but I think it’ll go pretty well. I’m the No. 1 seed in that, so I just look forward to defending my title from last year and hopefully have six state titles at the end of the day, Lord willing.”
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Washington girls lead at Class 3A state meet
The Washington girls are in a good spot heading into Day 2 of the Class 3A state meet in Catoosa.
The Warriors are in the lead with 44 points, while Casady is second with 23 and Chisholm and Idabel are tied for third with 22.
Washington won titles in the 4x200 and 4x800 on Friday, setting school records in the process.
Lily Hegeman, Rielyn Scheffe, Olivia Palumbo and Ava Salcedo finished the 4x200 in 1:44.73, while Kelby Beller, Aubrey Grimes, Shiloh Phelps and Scheffe completed the 4x800 in 10:02.30.
There are still lots of events left, but Washington coach Kami Beller is happy with where her team sits after Day 1.
“I think if our girls can perform, which I believe that they will, I think we got a chance,” said Beller, the wife of Washington football coach Brad Beller.
Washington has won just one girls track state title, and that victory was in 1986.
The Warriors don’t have the best circumstances for practices and rely on their indoor facility.
“Our track that we have is asphalt and we do not allow our kids to get on there to train because it would just ruin their legs, so we don’t have a track,” Beller said. “We just go in our indoor in the turf and we just run. That’s all we do. I’m pretty proud of them.”
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Heritage Hall boys, Pauls Valley girls lead in Class 4A
Despite moving up from Class 3A to 4A, the Heritage Hall boys still have a great chance of claiming their second straight state title.
The Chargers lead at Catoosa with 35 points — 1.5 ahead of Ada — while Pauls Valley leads on the girls side with a 44-33 advantage over Plainview.
Heritage Hall’s main highlight Friday was in the 4x800 as Caysen Argo, Ethan Lagere, Demarion Dean and Will Blalock won the title in 8:05.14.
The Pauls Valley girls had two victories Friday.
Keira and Kenzi Readnour, Ella Miller and Isabella Gutierrez won the 4x800 (9:39.28), while Kenzi Readnour broke the Class 4A state meet record in the 3,200 (11:02.81).
Other standout performances
Plainview senior Jacey Hammon won the Class 4A high jump title as she cleared 5 feet, 10 inches. That’s a Class 4A state meet record and it ties the best at any state meet, regardless of classification. Yukon’s Jane Clough cleared the same mark at the Class 6A state meet in 1981, while Toni Young holds the overall state record after she cleared 6-4 with Del City at a 2009 meet at Edmond North.
Ada’s Camariee Richardson, Tremain Gray, Gavin Hamilton and Xander Rhynes brokes the Class 4A state meet record in the 4x200 with a time of 1:26.63.
Jones junior Chace Pitts won the Class 3A long jump title with a leap of 21-7.
Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma high school track & field results: Day 1 of 4A-A state meets
