All-City track
Looking at the best high schoolers in track in the metro area.
EDMOND — The race was Jed Helker’s to win.
But it wasn’t supposed to be.
Helker, an Edmond Memorial senior, has received his fair shade of accolades over the course of his varsity career.
He’s twice been The Oklahoman ’s Cross Country Runner of the Year, he’s won numerous gold medals in track and just this spring he signed a scholarship offer to run at Wichita State next year.
Perhaps his greatest quality, his coaches and teammates say, is his selflessness. Helker is always excited to cheer on his teammates and provide any tips that he can to help his team win.
So when it looked like Edmond Memorial was
going to be in need of some points to guarantee the championship, Helker was called on again.
“I was supposed to sit out of the 800-meter race,” Helker said.
“We were wanting to kinda save my legs for the mile, but coach said he needed me.
“So I jumped out there to give it a go.”
Helker started slow, but methodically moved his way up from the back of the back to get in position to sprint to the finish and take gold.
He would go on to claim four golds in the 800, 1,600, 3,200 and
3,200-meter relay to help Edmond Memorial win the championship, scoring 98 points and winning by eight over second place Tulsa Union.
Without that firstplace finish, the Bulldogs would’ve come up short.
“I just wanted to do whatever to help us get the win,” Helker said. “We lost last year, and we were all incredibly focused on trying to get the championship back this year.”
For his efforts, Helker has been named The Oklahoman’s Big AllCity Boys Track Athlete of the Year.
Possibly the most impressive part of Helker’s four-event sweep was doing it while battling the elements.
The two days of the
state meet saw sustained wind of up to nearly 35 miles per hour that was pointed against runners coming down the homestretch.
But Helker said he thinks the wind might have actually played to his advantage, keeping all the runners tightly packed together.
“I wasn’t getting super exhausted because everyone was running a little slower,” he said. “I think the wind kind of helped in that way, but I was hurting toward the end.”
Hurting, but still able to get the job done.
“When you see that finish line, you kinda say to yourself it’s worth it to hurt to get this,” Helker said.
“It was a special way to end things.”