SHAWNEE — It took Cale Eidson less than a week to make a “comeback” after his loss to Tishomingo’s Logan Blackburn at the Buffalo Stampede Saturday.

In less than ideal conditions at the pre-state meet at Shawnee Thursday evening, the two repeated their duel in the 5K. It was almost monsoon-like, only the leaders did not seem to notice.

For the first three miles of the 3.1-race, the two were in lock step, not separated by more than a foot at any time. Then, with a few hundred meters to go, the Calera senior began to put space between them. The young sophomore from Tish did not slow, but was not able to close the gap, finishing five seconds behind the reigning state champ.

Eidson’s time of 17:43 was almost unbelievable, considering the condition of the course. There were no dry places anywhere on the run. The downhills were cataracts and the uphills were waterfalls.

At the two-mile mark, there was an area that is normally just a slight depression devoid of water. This time it was a 20-foot wide stream almost three feet deep. One coach said he saw one small runner fall as he entered the water. “He disappeared from sight for a second but came up with a smile on his face and kept running.”

Amazingly, the central theme among the young men after the race was one of excitement for having competed in the rain and the mud. They treated it as an adventure and seemed to feel extra pride in having survived it.

Normally, the OBU meet has two separate races for the large and small schools. In an effort to shorten the overall time of the meet, all classes ran together and were separated into different finishing chutes. The first two runners across the line were from the smaller classes, Calera and Tishomingo. Lawton High produced the first “big school” runner in 18:35.

For the first time this season, Calera had a full team. In addition to Eidson, the Bulldogs had Aaron Barton (21:26), Robbie Mewzsel (23:13), Billie Dairyberry (24:53) and Michael McDonough (25:54). The Bulldogs finished seventh between two small schools, Haworth and Carnegie, that have been cross country powerhouses over the years. Tishomingo, ranked No. 2 in 3A, took the small school title over Walters.

Silo was one short of having a full team, but Dillon Cook’s 20:14 earned him the 20th place medal. Josh Townsend (21:48) was 39th, followed by Ethan Smith (25:05) and Derrik Underwood (25:17).

Calera and Caddo runners will compete in the regional at Lindsay Oct. 16 with hopes of qualifying for the state meet the following Saturday on the same course they almost swam through Thursday. Silo will be at Coweta.