Cross Country, Tarter to begin new season

2009 Track State Title has program looking up in the fall

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By: Chris Evans

Posted July 14, 2009

The Guthrie Cross Country season officially begins August 3rd with work-outs, but the season got a jump start when the BlueJays won the 2009 Track and Field State championship.

"Our numbers have improved and the kids are working hard," head coach Clay Tarter said who will get set for his new career.

Tarter retired from teaching in the Guthrie Public School system after 32 years this past May, but will continue to coach the cross country and track teams. Tarter has coached football, wrestling, baseball, and was an athletic director for a season to go along with his running teams, at Guthrie.

This season will mark the 27th season for the head coach, who has been the only coach in the program.

Tarter, back in 1982, went up to then athletic director Earl Sykes and talked about starting up a cross country program.

"I approached Earl and presented the idea and he made it happen. We knew it would not cost us anything," Tarter said.

Since then, the program has piled up six state championship teams, 14 state runner-ups, and five state champions. However, in the record books, Guthrie had a state champion back in 1937 with Carl Ridens.

Tarter, who is in the Guthrie High School Hall of Fame, won his first ever track and field state title in his 31st season as the track and field coach.

This season Tarter will rely on some 'Jays who are battled tested.

Guthrie will have a tough top four group with Jason Ogan, Jared Ogan, Zac Cates, and Hunter Sallee. The Jays finished third overall in last years state

Members of the GHS Cross Country team take a morning run to prepare for the upcoming season.

tournament run after a 2007 rebuilding season.

Tarter said Jon Ogan (younger brother) and Colin Betchan will help the team go for their six state title. The last state title for a BlueJay team was 1994.

Deer Creek, McGuinness, Tahlequah, and Tulsa Kelley are the usual suspects that will be the tough competition for the Jays in the run for the team title.

Jason Ogan was a medalist in last year's state run by finishing 15th place with a time of 17:28:09 as Sallee was just over a second behind him for 16th. The top 10 is considered all-state and the next five are named medalists.

The trio of the Ogan twins (Jason and Jared) and Cates were third in the 2-mile run this past spring.

For the Lady Jays they return All-State hopeful Rachel Roberts, who won the Class 5A state track championship in the 1600 meter her sophomore season.

This summer Roberts finished third overall in the 3000 meters run and fifth in the 1500 meter in the 2009 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships, at Eastern Michigan University.

Roberts battled back last season from an ACL injury she suffered in the spring of '07 playing soccer, but still managed to finish 25th in the state run.

The Lady Jays last team and only title was in 2003.

One of the biggest races on the 2009 GHS schedule is the Cottonwood Flats Invitational held in Guthrie each season. This years race will be August 22nd and will celebrate the 12th year of the Invitational.

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