Comanche’s Brilee Combs claims regional championship

WAURIKA - Comanche senior Brilee Combs may be the only girl on the high school cross country team, but she has not let that fact stop her from making a splash on a statewide scale. 

Combs has been consistently good all season long and Saturday was no exception. She seized control early in the race and then held on to win the Class 2A Regional Meet, finishing 11 seconds ahead of second place.

Sometimes, the simplest plans are the best.

“I had a good feeling about the race,” Combs said after her win. “I didn’t really expect to win it, but I had a pretty good feeling about it. The plan was just to give it all I got. I really didn’t have much of a strategy other than that.”

Combs, who finished with a time of 12:38.2 over the 3200-meter race may have surprised herself with the win, but she did not surprise her coach Jason Miller.

“That’s the best I’ve seen her run,” Miller said. “I have total confidence in Brilee and I told her that I didn’t want to jinx her, but I really wasn’t worried. I just don’t think to qualify for state there were 12 people that could beat her. I think when everything goes well with the weather and how she’s feeling, she’s just tough to beat and she showed that today. She not only started strong, but she finished stronger than everybody.”

Miller told her to just run her race.

“The only thing I told her before the race is if they start out too fast, she is going to feel it and if they start out too slow, she is going to feel it,” Miller said. “I told her not to buy into that and just run her race. We know what we are capable of and she set the tone today and made everybody else work. I’m very proud of her.”

She also has not let being the only high school girl be a detriment.

“She runs with all the boys and she’s got to run at their pace,” Miller said. “Sometimes, she’s right there with them and sometimes it gets a little hard because she’s used to certain miles and we might go a little further. It’s harder for her to keep her stamina, but she trains with them.”

Combs does not mind having to run with the boys.

“It was good, honestly,” Combs said. “They pushed me to try and stay up there with them in practice. It was good to have a little bit of motivation of people to stay up there with since I didn’t have any girls to run with.”

She’s now excited to get her last chance at a state title to go along with her regional title.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Combs said. 

The state meet will be held this Saturday at Edmond Santa Fe High School.