ELKINS -- Running in its second meet of the season, the Siloam Springs girls cross country team finished tied for third place on Saturday at the Elkins Invitational.
The Lady Panthers scored 87 points, finishing behind Bentonville 20 and Fayetteville 61. Siloam Springs tied Rogers with 87 points. Springdale rounded out the large school division at 119.
"The high school girls ran first again this week in an effort to avoid the heat and for the second week in a row it was raining and muddy," said SSHS head coach Sharon Jones. "The heat was definitely not an issue."
Junior Alexis Duffy was the Lady Panthers' only top 10 finish of the day, finishing her race in 10th place with a time of 20 minutes, 54.3 seconds.
"Alexis Duffy ran well leading the girls this week," Jones said. "She knocked a minute off her time from last week and came close to setting a new personal record, which she set on this very course last year."
Mary Anne Reid came in 15th overall with a personal best time of 21:35.6, while Hannah Herring was 17th at 21:50.9.
"Mary Anne's getting more comfortable with the sport and her race," Jones said. "I expect her to continue to improve her time."
Adrienne McGooden placed 20th overall with a time of 22:18.8, while Bethany Rodgers was 26th with a time of personal record of 23:25.7.
"I've never seen Bethany race so aggressively," Jones said. "I'm excited about her work ethic this year."
Rebekah Hill placed 31st with a time of 24:48.9 and Hannah Hignite placed 35th with a time of 26:03.8 to round out Siloam Springs' top seven runners.
Also running for Siloam Springs was Jocelyn Andrade (26:38.7), Whitney Burns (29:38.6), Maddy Hancock (29:55) and Mercedes Thompson (30:53.8)
"These girls are so consistent," Jones said. "All our girls improved this week, 100 percent improvement. Can't ask for better than that."
Senior boys
The Panthers finished fifth out of five teams in the senior boys meet with 109 points. Bentonville was first with 38 points, followed by Rogers 41, Fayetteville 72 and Springdale 98.
Elliott Pearson finished 12th overall with a time of 17 minutes, 37.2 seconds, while Porter Lasater was right behind him in 13th at 17:38.2.
"Elliott is back from an injury and says he felt 100 percent on Saturday," Jones said. "He looked it. He and Porter Lasater paced each other the entire race. These two looked so strong throughout the race."
Parker Wallis finished 24th overall for Siloam Springs with a time of 18:31.7. Wallis shaved another minute off his personal best from last week, Jones said.
"(Wallis) is establishing himself as a true top five runner, and we'll be pushing him a lot harder now," Jones said.
Zach Morgan placed 28th with a time of 18:50.5.
"I am equally proud, but not surprised in how well Zach Morgan is doing," Jones said. "He's worked so hard to improve starting with track season last year. He got into the 18s for the first time ever Saturday. He paces with the top guys in practice every day and seems determined to make a big difference this year."
Eli Hawbaker placed 32nd overall with a time of 19:17.9, while Austin Cooper was 33rd at 19:19.2. Cooper knocked 1:31 off his time.
"He's another hard worker and you just love to see kids like that do well," Jones said of Cooper.
Connor Humphrey set a new personal record with a finish of 19:21.1, while Osvit Balderama ran a 19:47.2 and Charlie Jones ran a 19:52.4.
Bobby Norwood (19:34.0), Aaron Capehart (19:53), Chandler Stewart (19:57), Luis Andrade (20:28.2), Ethan Rush (20:38.4), Jacob Perdomo (21:16.4) and David Williams (22:51.3) each set new personal records.
Also running for Siloam Springs were Josue Cisneros (21:20.8), Pablo Amaya (22:21.7), Jake Hancock (27:06.6) and Grant Carroll (27:56).
Junior girls
The junior high girls finished first overall for the second straight meet, scoring 56 points and placing ahead of Springdale Central 90, Bentonville Lincoln 114, Rogers 116 and Bentonville Fulbright 141.
"Our junior high girls are on fire this year," Jones said. "We coaches are very thrilled about the future our ladies program has in store."
Chloe McGooden placed fourth overall with a time of 12:21.8, while Caroline Farine was seventh at 12:34.4.
Lily Slater placed 14th with a time of 13:05.2, and Allika Pearson was 15th at 13:05.7.
Rebekah Rogers placed 16th overall with a time of 13:09.2, while Kimberly Guillen was 19th at 13:10.8. Candy Dubon placed 24th with a time of 13:24.3.
Also running for Siloam Springs were Brooklyn Shreve (13:51.4), Kailey Pentz (14:12.1), Lin Lampton (14:12.6), Averie Headrick (14:15.0), Jamie Dye (14:46.7), Vivian Schochler (14:50.2), Olivia Lasater (15:10.0), Rachel Conrad (15:13.1), Silvia Ramirez (15:26.5), Abigail Moody (15:27.7), Anne Boyd (16:05.3), Katie Bishop (16:17.1), Amelia Taylor (16:43.9) and Mary Grace Green (17:04.3)
"We had 14 girls set new PRs and six season best (times)," Jones said. "Every single girl improved."
Junior high boys
The Panthers finished 10th out of 14 teams in the junior high boys race. Rogers finished first overall.
Ethan Davis led the Panthers with a 24th place finish of 11:13.9.
"That's a pretty darn good time, but the 6A/7A division is so competitive, that wasn't good enough for a medal," Jones said. "I hate that for him, because he and his teammates ran so well. These boys are working in practice but just falling short of the medals in the meets so far. They have to just keep working to get better each day. In the long run, it'll pay off."
Isaac Leachman was 34th at 11:22.6, while Kerrig Kelly placed 38th at 11:24.2. Ben Davis placed 58th at 11:48.3, while Brian Andrade was 72nd at 12:09.5
Samuel Granderson and Landon Cottrell rounded out Siloam Springs' top seven finishes with times of 12:12.4 and 12:50.5, respectively.
Also running for Siloam Springs were Thomas Bridgeman (12:50.5), Chase Callahan (12:50.8), Lee Thompson (13:02.9), Lincoln Myers (13:03.1), Jake Gill (13:04.7), Oliver Reid (13:05.1), Luke Markovich (13:28.0), Chase Mills (13:44.4), Logan McLeod (14:12.2), Blaise Began (14:23.2), Tyler Sharp (14:29.0), Theron Perkins (14:30.4), Dillon McKinley (15:34.7), Nathaniel Johnson (15:54.4), Jacob Brown (16:39.3), Austin Race (17:33.6) and Adam Kennedy (18:29.2). Overall the junior high boys had 22 personal records and one season best performance, Jones said.
Sports on 09/10/2014