They were looking to create history Saturday. With a chance to be the first Moore squad to win a boys state title, they had every intention of running the best meet any of them have ever ran before.

However, as the day moved on and events rolled by, it became clear the Lions chose the wrong time to be off their game.

With a total of 32 points, top-ranked Moore finished fifth in the Class 6A state track and field meet in Ardmore at Noble Stadium.

“I don’t think we ran up to our potential,” Moore coach Chad Mashburn said. “A lot of bad things just happened to us, some things that were out of our control and others that were in our control.”

Tulsa Union won the boys title with 97 points. Last year’s champion Midwest City ended up 17 points behind in second place. Jenks (52) and Norman (38) took third and fourth while Del City (32) tied with MHS for fifth.

What may be even more frustrating for the Lions was that they had recently beaten the Bombers at the Mid-State conference meet and felt they would be their toughest competition.

“It is very disappointing,” Mashburn said. “We could have scored about 75 points if we could just hang on and finish races.”

The meet started off on a bad note for the Lions Friday. Needing to rack up a few early points, Moore was blanked in the opening events.

“We did not score a point in the 4x800 or the two-mile,” Mashburn said. “Those two hurt the first day. We did not score on Friday and we just could not catch back up.”

Saturday the Lions did find some good news. Derrick Krautlauger won the team’s only gold medal when he took the 110-meter hurdles. He remained undefeated on the season in the event

However, Moore’s other unbeaten performer did not fair as well. Robert Foster was expected to take the 400-meter title after completing the regular season without al loss in the event.

But Foster ended up with the bronze medal after running a 49.52 in the final. Midwest City’s John Flanders, who Foster beat handily in conference, won the title with a 48.25. Fred Cato of Putnam City took second.

“It crushed him,” Mashburn said. “You could see that in his next race. He could not believe that it was happening. I don’t think many people did. He has worked so hard for so long and then have it fall apart around him was upsetting.”

The Lions’ Taylor Gardner was fifth in the 400 with a mark of 50.74. Moore also took third in the 4x400 relay as they once again fell behind teams they have beaten before. MWC won the relay and Del City was second.

Westmoore finished 20th and was led by Stephen Davis, who was fourth in the 200 and fifth in the 100.