Oklahoma 4A Cross Country Final Rankings 2024: Lincoln Christian’s Twin Coronations and the Cache Paradox, One Year Early

The October 13, 2024 polls said Lincoln Christian’s boys were the class of 4A, and put Pauls Valley’s girls on top with Lincoln Christian second. The state meet at Edmond Santa Fe on November 2 said: Lincoln Christian, both races, and it wasn’t particularly close. The Bulldogs put up 40 points in the girls’ race and 38 in the boys’ — twin coronations. And Cache produced the meet’s strangest line: first and third individually, third as a team. This is the 2024 4A season rewind — sweeps, dethronings, and the paradox that would repeat itself a year later.

Girls: Lincoln Christian 40 — the Favorite Was Second in the Poll

The October 13 girls poll: 1. Pauls Valley, 2. Lincoln Christian, 3. Byng, 4. Kingfisher, 5. Metro Christian. The pollsters looked at Pauls Valley — home of the defending individual champion — and saw a team title.

State meet final standings: 1. Lincoln Christian 40, 2. Pauls Valley 75, 3. Byng 109, 4. Plainview 184, 5. Metro Christian 188, 6. Kingfisher 202, 7. Douglass 211, 8. Bridge Creek 239, 9. Sulphur 257, 10. Cleveland 266*, 11. Poteau 266*, 12. Cushing 277, 13. Perkins-Tryon 301, 14. McLoud 333, 15. Fort Gibson 337, 16. Bethany 372, 17. North Rock Creek 375, 18. Jay 394. (*Cleveland won the tiebreak on sixth runner.)

Lincoln Christian’s scorers went 1-2-6-10-21 — a 1:48 spread and the lowest girls’ score of the entire 2024 state meet at any class. Pauls Valley, the poll’s #1, finished 35 points back. The poll had the top two right and the order wrong, which in this blog’s grading system is a miss.

Two footnotes the numbers don’t show: Douglass finished 7th at state with 211 points despite not appearing in the final poll at all — the poll’s blind spot had a name. And Cleveland edged Poteau 266-266 on the sixth-runner tiebreak, the rulebook’s favorite party trick deciding 10th place.

Girls Individuals: Woodrich Dethrones the Defending Champ

Baylee Woodrich (Lincoln Christian, SR) won the 4A girls title in 11:23.1. Teammate Tennyson Housley (SO) was second in 11:37.5 — a 1-2 Bulldog punch at the front. Amidat Olokunola (Cache, SR) was third in 11:46.3, Isabella Gutierrez (Pauls Valley, SR) fourth in 12:01.7, and Yadira Barbosa (Madill, JR) fifth in 12:11.6.

The dethroning: Pauls Valley’s Kenzi Readnour came in as the defending 4A champion and finished 7th in 12:23.5 — a full minute behind Woodrich. Crowns are heavy; defending them is heavier.

And the hindsight: Ava Thompson (Byng, JR) was sixth in 12:12.9. A year later she’d win the 2025 4A title in 11:47.6 as a senior. The 2024 race was her apprenticeship.

Boys: Lincoln Christian 38 — and the Cache Paradox, One Year Early

The October 13 boys poll: 1. Lincoln Christian, 2. Byng, 3. Cache, 4. Perkins-Tryon, 5. Madill. For once, the poll nailed the winner.

State meet final standings: 1. Lincoln Christian 38, 2. Byng 83, 3. Cache 105, 4. Bridge Creek 209, 5. Heritage Hall 220, 6. Perkins-Tryon 224, 7. Sulphur 226, 8. Madill 227, 9. Plainview 259, 10. Crossings Christian 264, 11. McLoud 276, 12. Woodward, 13. Weatherford, 14. Berryhill, 15. Bethany, 16. Verdigris, 17. Lone Grove, 18. Purcell.

Lincoln Christian’s 38 (2-7-8-10-11, a 0:50.8 spread) is one of the great team performances in 4A history. But look at Cache: 105 points with a scoring line of 1-3-18-20-63. First and third individually — and third as a team, 67 points behind the Bulldogs. Two heroes, three stragglers, and a 2:51 spread. The Cache paradox — individual brilliance that couldn’t survive the team math — and it would happen again in 2025, when Cache’s Ethan Jones won the individual title and the Bulldogs finished 4th as a team.

Boys Individuals: Williams, Then the Sophomore Who’d Be King

Zachary Williams (Cache, SR) won the 4A boys title in 15:35.6. Ty Brooks (Lincoln Christian, SO) was second in 15:50.3, leading the Bulldog machine. And third, in 15:54.9: Ethan Jones (Cache, SO).

Read that name again. Ethan Jones — third as a sophomore in 2024, the 4A individual champion in 2025 (15:49.6). The 2024 race was his apprenticeship too. Cache’s 1-3 punch of Williams and Jones was the best one-two in the class; it just wasn’t a team.

Dathan Custar (Woodward, JR) was fourth in 16:11.9, and Xadrian Hernandez (Clinton, SR) fifth in 16:18.7, running unattached to a scoring team. One more hindsight nugget: Carter Gibson (Verdigris, JR) ran 16:56.4 in this 4A race — a year later he’d dead-heat for the 5A title at 15:41.1 in a Claremore singlet. Classifications change; talent doesn’t.

The Quirks: Random-Order Rankings and Spelling

The 4A individual rankings sheet deserves its own paragraph, because it’s the only one in the state printed in random order — twenty names, no times, no order, just vibes. The 4A pollsters looked at the concept of rankings and said ‘what if not.’ On-brand for the class that also produced ‘Etahn’ vs ‘Ethan’ Jones across two seasons of official reports. (2024’s report says Ethan. The 2026 poll says Etahn. The blog has given up and uses Ethan.)

The Poll, Graded

The boys poll nailed the winner — Lincoln Christian #1, champions. The girls poll had the top two right and the order wrong — Pauls Valley #1 finished 35 points back in second. And neither poll saw Douglass coming. A split decision for October: half right, half humbled. November remains undefeated.

State meet results from the official DirectAthletics meet report (via ossaaillustrated.com, November 2, 2024, Edmond Santa Fe). Final polls and individual rankings from ohstrack.com, October 13, 2024. 2025 comparisons from this blog’s 2025 4A rewind.