A pack of runners were entering the final phase of the Class 4A girls cross country regional last Saturday and Mattie Slezickey was among them.

She doesn’t remember exactly how much of the race was left, but she does recall someone shouting 800 meters remained in the race held at Bridge Creek High School’s campus.

The Kingfisher High School senior was working to pass Perkins-Tryon’s Ava Meadors on a narrow curve.

Like much of the rest of the state, Bridge Creek had received its share of rain in the preceding week. Although the course was in solid shape, there were some trouble spots.

That slender curve that Slezickey and Meadors were entering was one of them.

Suddenly, Meadors’ spikes on one of her shoes got stuck in the mud.

“She just face planted,” Slezickey remembers. “And I was right behind her and toppled down on top of her.”

Both runners worked hastily to get back up, but the course had left its mark on Slezickey.

She had scrapes on one leg and mud on another.

Unfortunately, one of Meadors’ spikes also left a mark…right down Slezickey’s thigh.

As the runners entered the final stretch, Slezickey not only had marks of the course on her legs, but also a trail of blood from her new wound.

No matter as Slezickey managed to not only pass up Meadors, but finish strong enough to help lead KHS back to the state meet.

Slezickey finished 13th good enough to medal - and Kingfisher locked up the sixth and final spot to qualify for state.

KHS scored 152 points for that sixth place spot, which was 12 points better than seventh-place Cleveland.

Bridge Creek won the regional title with just 36 points, half as many as runner- up Heritage Hall.

Oklahoma Christian School was third with 77 and Cushing fourth with 142.

Perkins-Tryon placed just ahead of KHS with 150 points.

Despite her tumble, Slezickey ran the two-mile course in 13:09.71 to earn her way into the medal ceremony, which goes to the top 15 finishers.

Lily Lunsford, another senior, was the second Lady Jacket to cross and was 26th in 13:49.19.

Yet another senior, Addison Price, placed 41st with a time of 14:25.38.

Hinsley Brodrick placed 46th in 14:42.96 and Kellyn Young was one spot behind her in 14:46.00 to round out the scoring for the Lady Jackets.

The KHS boys team was unable to qualify as it placed 14th.The Jackets were led by Chance Dunn, who placed 61st and ran the 5K course in 20:19.90.

He was one spot ahead of teammate Kurttis Mark, who ran it in 20:21.45.

The Lady Jackets will be the second-to-last race of the day on Saturday at state.The 4A girls are set to run at 2:30 p.m. at Carl Albert.