After a tune up at the Riverside 5000 earlier this month, Lincoln officially opened the 2025 season this weekend in Edmond at the Deer Creek Field Run Festival.

And as a surprise to no one, both teams appear to be in midseason form.

The boys took home the meet title, winning 1st out of 14 teams.

Junior Sammy Farris was 4th individually to lead the Bulldogs at 15:53, who had five others in the top 25.

Fellow junior Ty Brooks was just behind in 5th at 15:57, while senior Trevor Hacker was 13th at 16:12, senior Garner McAfee was 21st at 16:29 and junior Gabe Sword was 23rd at 16:33.

"The boys came home meet champions, defeating the defending 5A and 6A state champs as well as other well-regarded teams," said head coach Stephen Lewelling. "Ty led for two miles of the race, then Sammy took over and nearly held on—both boys finished in the top 5, and all eight varsity guys ran under 17:10."

The boys also had the 2nd fastest 5k team average in school history.

The girls impressed as well, welcoming some newcomers into the fold with several seasoned veterans to finish 3rd as a team.

Freshman Madi Miller was 10th individually to lead Lincoln at 19:02.

The girls also had an 11th place finish from freshman Izzy Truitt, running 19:02, while junior Bentley Stewart finished 14th with a time of 19:13.

"The girls had their highest finish at Deer Creek," Lewelling said. "Also, our 3rd place team finish was four places higher than projected. In all, the girls had a great meet. Special shoutout to our freshmen who were our 1st, 2nd, and 5th runners, as well as Bella Ramirez who won the JV division by 30 seconds."

All-in-all, the season opening meet was a huge positive for both programs, as they both look to defend state titles.

"The Deer Creek meet was a big success for us," Lewelling said. "Collectively, our kids did amazing. Seeing our varsity kids warm up, the JV boys set up camp and then getting the races going, there was an excitement at the meet about the season at hand — we're in for a special year."

Lewelling was impressed with how sharp his teams were right out of the gate, displaying one of the top combined performances from the teams in recent memory or ever.

"We ran so well that we had 11 top 20 Lincoln all-time performances," Lewelling said. "The boys had the 2nd fastest team 5K average in team history, and the girls were just 4 seconds behind their team record."

Lewelling knows it is a long season and there are ups and downs, so the focus is to improve each day.

"There were highs and lows, but we have to remember this is a checkpoint," he said. "It's just a part of the process. We'll continue to focus on 'today' and getting better each day."

Lincoln will be at the Owasso Relays on Thursday, which is hosted at Mohawk Park in Tulsa.

The Bulldogs will be at the Distance After Dark event at Rogers State the following Thursday before returning home on Sept. 13, where Lincoln will host the Mid-Season Meet of Champions on the campus of LCS.