On the eve of the Class 5A Oklahoma Cross Country championships, Tahlequah High School’s Jessica Hembree and coach Elzy Miller went over the 3,200-meter course and plotted strategy.

As the Lady Tigers’ freshman reached the midway point of the race, she took the lead and didn’t look back to win the state championship with a time of 11 minutes and 58.95 seconds. Hembree, running her fastest time this season, becomes the first girl in school history to win state.

“It was my goal to stay with the leaders and, hopefully, pull ahead late in the race,” she said. “I felt really good halfway and decided to go for it. There were one or two girls ahead of me and I passed them to go into the lead.”

One of the girls she passed was Collinsville’s Jenny Dyer. At regionals the week before, Dyer and Hembree exchanged the lead five times before Dyer won the meet. Hembree made sure that didn’t happen this time. Dyer finished third at state, which was at Mitch Park in Edmond this last Saturday. Coweta’s Christi Doughery took second.

The Lady Tiger also becomes the Phoenix Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Miller was proud of Hembree’s maturity.

“She really approached this race from a good standpoint,” he said. “We talked about various points when we walked the course. We didn’t want it to become a sprint race like it did at regionals. She was mentally prepared to go run her race and not worry about anybody else.”

Running since she was in the fourth grade, Hembree enjoyed the flat course.

“They are just easier and faster than running a hilly course,” she said.

Before the state meet, Hembree’s fastest time this season was a winning clocking of 12:10 at the Tiger Invitational in Tahlequah. She also won a meet at Tulsa Hale.

The only other individual state champion in Tahlequah cross country history was Brian Gosnell, who ran for Oklahoma State, in 2004. The Lady Tigers won team titles in 1986 and 1992.

Tahlequah’s girls finished seventh in the meet this season, while the boys placed fifth. Moe Brown was the Tigers’ top finisher in 19th with a time of 17:50.94. Muskogee didn’t have any runners in the 6A meet, also at Edmond.

Now, Hembree turns her attention to the spring and track season. She said she wants to run in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.