In over her head

There stood Landry Allen, all 6-feet-3 of her athletic frame ready to conquer the Class 4A state high jump.

Next to her was Kingfisher’s Ally Stephenson.

Her 5-foot, 3-inch body was dwarfed by Allen, who owns basketball scholarship offers far and wide and won a head-to-head battle with Stephenson earlier this spring at the conference meet.

But on Saturday in Catoosa, Allen never stood a chance.

Kingfisher’s Stephenson wowed the crowd as she glided over the high jump bar that stood at 5-feet, 8-inches to defeat Allen and repeat as the state high jump champ.

“It was a textbook jump,” KHS track and field coach Kerri Lafferty said.

“Just beautiful.” It was also record-setting. Stephenson not only broke her own school record of 5-6 she set while winning state as a freshman in 2019 (there was no track season last year), it also tied a 4A state meet record.

That record, held by Elk City’s Kelley Southard, has stood for 36 years.

It was one of two records for Stephenson on the day as she won three medals to highlight the KHS girls’ state performance.

Kingfisher scored 30 team points to finish eighth.

Stephenson accounted for 28 of them.

She also was state runner-up in both the long jump and 400 meter dash.

In the long jump, she soared to a distance of 18 feet, 3 1/4 inches.

That was bested only by Cache’s Madisyn Crandall’s jump of 18-5 1/2.

Stephenson beat Crandall by two inches in the previous week’s regional meet when she jumped to a then school record of 17-7.

Her state mark broke that school record by more than eight inches.

“Her long jump was incredible,” Lafferty said. “There are only two girls in the state (all classes) that are jumping as far as Ally and Madisyn. Ally’s last jump was her best, but just not quite far enough. Any other class, and she takes the gold.”

Earlier in the day, Stephenson broke her personal record to take second in quarter-mile.

She finished in 58.76, which was .03 better than Bethany’s Kaylen King.

“Ally basically fell across the line to get second place,” Lafferty said. “I’m just so proud of her.”

That led to the long jump and more silver.

“I was disappointed I didn’t win, but I also was very surprised I jumped that,” Stephenson said.

“I think that fueled me to want to go win the high jump even more.”

Awaiting her in the high jump pit was Allen and the fact Stephenson this season hadn’t yet matched the 5-6 she jumped as a freshman.

“I really think it was a mental thing for me at the beginning of the season,” she said.

Stephenson missed her first attempt at 5-4, but then sailed over the bar on her second.

When the bar reached 5-6, it took Stephenson just one attempt to clear it.

Allen didn’t do so until her third attempt and then missed all three tries at 5-8.

Stephenson missed on her first two attempts at that height, but had one assurance as she made her final try.

“We knew that if both girls missed at 5-8 that Ally would still win gold due to misses by Landry at 5-6,” Lafferty said.

But Stephenson had a state meet record to tie and the entire Catoosa High School crowd behind her.

“When they raised the bar to 5-8, I just kept telling myself that it was 5-2 so it wouldn’t get in my head,” she said.

It worked as Stephenson brought the crowd to its feet with her clearance.

That gave her the chance to choose her next height.

If she chose 5-9 and jumped it, the 4A record would be all hers. If she nailed 5-10, she would tie the overall state meet record.

“Typical Ally, she went straight for the overall record,” Lafferty said. “She barely missed it on her final attempt.”

However, it didn’t lessen Stephenson’s accomplishments.

“What can I say about Ally?” Lafferty asked.

“She’s just a competitor.” KHS got its other points in the 3,200 relay.

The quartet of Zoey Evans, Chesni Newkirk, Emmy Lunsford and Katon Lunsford ran a season-best time of 10:22.78 to finish seventh.

Evans and Andrea Becerra are the only two seniors on this year’s team, a fact not lost on Lafferty.

“We have a very young group,” she said. “The future looks very bright for this bunch.”