Oklahoma 5A Cross Country Final Rankings 2022: Piedmont’s Perfect Double

Put the 2022 5A season in the dictionary under “poll gets it right.” Final poll, posted October 4th: Piedmont No. 1 on both sides. State meet: Piedmont boys 51, Piedmont girls 41 — a sweep, a double, a clean sheet. When the voters are this right, there’s not much to argue about, which is its own small tragedy for a blog like this one.

The girls’ poll read Piedmont, Bishop Kelley, Noble, Guthrie, Sapulpa. The state meet read Piedmont 41, champions. Forty-one points — that’s not winning, that’s lapping the field’s self-esteem.

The boys: Piedmont, Bishop Kelley, Guymon, Guthrie, Elgin in the poll; Piedmont 51 at state. And the individual title stayed in-house: Reese Frick of Piedmont won the 5A boys’ race. The poll’s No. 1 team had the fastest kid AND the deepest pack. That’s not a prediction, that’s a coronation with a three-week delay.

Here’s what makes a double like this worth noting: it requires everything to go right in two separate races on the same day. One twisted ankle, one bad pack day, and the “perfect double” becomes a trivia question. Piedmont held serve twice. The poll called it. Everybody goes home happy — except, presumably, Bishop Kelley, sitting at No. 2 on both sides, twice the bridesmaid in one afternoon.

The rest of the boys’ poll: Bishop McGuinness, Santa Fe South, Coweta, Classen SAS, Tulsa Edison. Girls: Tahlequah, Thomas Edison, Bishop McGuinness, Newcastle, Collinsville.

2022 5A: the year the poll was a mirror and Piedmont liked what it saw. Twice.

Final poll via ohstrack.com (2022); state results via the OSSAA championships recap.