Despite missing three of its top runners due to injuries, the Siloam Springs girls cross country team still ran well enough Saturday to finish on top of their home meet.
The Lady Panthers had three top 10 finishes in the girls large school division Saturday at the annual Panther Cross Country Classic and finished in a tie for first place with Greenwood on the campus of Simmons Foods.
The Lady Panthers won the tiebreaker with the Lady Bulldogs, based on the sixth-place finish of senior Rebekah Hill, who placed 25th overall.
"When there is a tie, the sixth runner decides the tie breaker," Siloam Springs cross country coach Sharon Jones explained. "Rebekah Hill won it for us coming in 25th, while Greenwood's sixth girl came in 30th."
The Lady Panthers had four runners finish in the top 20, all of which received medals from the race. The Lady Panthers were without top runners in junior Laura Gutierrez and sophomores Mary Anne Reid and Jasmine Guillen.
"Even with missing those three runners, our girls pulled out the win," Jones said. "I'm very proud of that."
Sydney Lawrence of Stilwell, Okla., finished first overall with a time of 19 minutes, 37 seconds. The Lady Panthers and Greenwood each finished with 61 points. Springdale finished with 62 points, while Springdale Har-Ber had 74 and Stilwell 89.
Siloam Springs sophomore Hannah Herring led the Lady Panthers with a fifth-place finish of 22:43.18.
Junior Alexis Duffy finished ninth overall with a time of 23:12.86, while senior Adrienne McGooden placed 10th with a time of 23:12.86. Bethany Rodgers finished 15th overall with a time of 24:23.08, while senior Hannah Hignite placed 22nd with a time of 25:41.75.
Hill's finish of 26:40.29 was good for 25th overall and sixth best for the Lady Panthers. Sophomore Whitney Burns took 33rd with a time of 28:55.45.
Also running for Siloam Springs was Jocelyn Andrade (29:13.72), Maddy Hancock (29:15.36) and Mercedes Thompson (36:48.33).
Senior high boys
The Siloam Springs boys team had its full roster available for the first time all season, and the Panthers finished second overall in the large school boys meet.
T.J. Sugg of Springdale Har-Ber placed first overall and the Wildcats won the meet with the top three finishes and 18 points overall.
Siloam Springs placed second with 54 points, while Springdale was third at 71 followed by Greenwood with 108 points.
Siloam Springs had six runners place in the top 20 and receive medals.
Junior Elliott Pearson finished fourth overall for the Panthers with a time of 17:39.33, while senior Porter Lasater was sixth at 17:54.46.
Senior Tyler Low, who was running in his first meet of the year, placed 11th with a time of 18:32.67. Sophomore Parker Wallis placed 14th overall with a time of 18:32.67.
"I'm pleased with how well Tyler Low did his first time out this year," Jones said. "The first four guys stayed reasonably close to each other."
Senior Zach Morgan placed 19th overall with a time of 19:37.47, while sophomore Eli Hawbaker placed 20th at 19:37.48 and senior Austin Cooper 21st at 19:42.51.
"Our next few guys have got to close in the gap if we're going to have any real success this year as a team," Jones said. "We're going to have to focus on that more in the next few weeks."
Sophomore Chandler Stewart set a new personal record with a time of 19:51, while Connor Humphrey ran a 19:51.32. Charlie Jones finished in 20:10.41.
Ethan Rush set a new personal record with his time of 20:23.94. Also running for Siloam Springs was Osvit Balderrama (20:24.59), Aaron Capehart (20:28.73), Josue Cisneros (21:07.70, new personal record), Jacob Perdomo (21:47.42), Pablo Amaya (22:26.54), Grant Carroll (22:35.54), Bobby Norwood (22:37.11), David Williams (23:06.35), Luis Andrade (23:27.79) and Jake Hancock (25:34.26)
Junior-high girls
The junior-high girls stayed on a roll, winning another first place trophy at their home meet.
It's the third first-place team trophy for the Lady Panthers as a whole, and the seventh- and eighth-grade girls won another first place at Springdale Central on Sept. 13.
"The junior-high girls continue to do well," Jones said. "They waxed the competition on Saturday coming in first easily."
Tori Willis of Bentonville Fulbright finished her race in 12:44.55 to finish first overall.
Siloam Springs finished with a score of 39 points, followed by Springdale Central 84, Rogers 86, Bentonville Lincoln 108, Fayetteville Woodland 127, Bentonville Washington 172, Bentonville Fulbright 173, Fayetteville Ramay 184, Greenwood 257, Springdale George 303, Springdale Southwest 322 and Springdale Lakeside 365.
The top six Lady Panthers earned medals.
Chloe McGooden continued her strong running with a third-place finish of 13:16.77. Caroline Farine placed fifth overall at 13:43.17.
Allika Pearson placed ninth overall at 14:11.22, while Lily Slater was 10th at 14:22.32 and Rebekah Rodgers 12th at 14:23.91.
Kimberly Guillen finished 20th at 14:44.17, and Candy Dubon placed 26th with a time of 14:56.95.
Lin Lampton finished with a time of 15:19.87, while Averie Headrick ran a 16:07.61 and Vivian Schochler a 16:15.12.
Also running for Siloam Springs were Melanie Capehart (16:26.86), Brooklyn Shreve (16:36.66), Rachel Conrad (16:38.20), Sydney Houston (17:08.07), Megan Rush (17:08.58), Natalie Mathe (17:37.26, new personal record), Katie Bishop (18:11.45), Amelia Taylor (18:36.73), Olivia Lasater (18:47.71), Mary Grace Green (18:47.83), Anne Boyd (19:18.66) and Silvia Ramirez (21:47.02).
Junior-high boys
The junior-high boys finished 10th overall out of 12 teams.
Fayetteville Woodland had the top three finishes, led by Camren Fischer's time of 10:53.30 and finishes first overall with 42 points. Rogers placed second with 83, followed by Springdale Central with 101, Greenwood 113, Bentonville Fulbright 151, Bentonville Lincoln 153, Fayetteville Ramay 167, Bentonville Washington 212, Springdale Lakeside 223, Siloam Springs 234, Springdale George 269 and Springdale Southwest 330.
Seventh-grader Kerrig Kelly placed 32nd overall to lead the Panthers with a time of 12:50.91.
Isaac Leachman placed 38th at 12:56.62, while Ben Davis was 49th at 13:15.61 and Ethan Davis 50th at 13:16.05.
Thomas Bridgeman placed 65th at 13:37.04, while Lendon Cottrell finished 75th at 14:10.46 and Chase Callahan 77th at 14:24.08.
Also running for Siloam Springs were Lee Thompson (14:25.84), Samuel Granderson (14:35.32), Oliver Reid (14:39.37), Theron Perkins (15:07.78), Blaise Becan (15:24.47), Jake Gill (15:27.47), Logan McCleod (15:28.32), Chase Mills (15:33.46), Luke Markovich (15:50.24), Tyler Sharp (15:56.08), Lincoln Myers (16:18.17), Jacob Brown (17:12.68), Kaden Reed (17:50.13), Nathaniel Johnson (17:53.14), Adam Kennedy (18:02.92, new personal record), Dillon McKinley (18:06.38) and Austin Race (21:32.06)
Up next
The top seven runners for the Panthers and Lady Panthers will be traveling to Lawrence, Kan., to compete Saturday in the Rim Rock Farm High School Classic, which is held on the home course of the University of Kansas.
"This is something special we're able to do this year, thanks to our relationship with the Chile Pepper Festival and our parent volunteers who help co-host that event," Jones said. "We're excited to be able to give these runners an opportunity like this. We'll see some of the best runners in the country at this race."
The runners not attending Rim Rock will head to a meet at Holiday Island near Eureka Springs.
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NOTES: Jones said senior Matti Fuller began practicing this past week after not having run since track season because of surgery. "I'm pleasantly surprised in how well she did this week after not running at all since track season," Jones said. ... Jones expressed her thanks to nearly 75 volunteers (mostly parents and 11 John Brown University cross country runners) for helping host the meet. "Every year we get many sincere compliments on how well our meet is run," Jones said. "That is mostly due to our volunteers. I say every year that if we can get it organized, come meet day the parents will take over. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed." ... Jones also said the program got a lot of compliments on the course itself on the grounds of Simmons Foods. "Simmons Foods Inc. is so gracious to allow us to practice on their property and host our meet there every year," she said. "It's a beautiful course and the coaches love it, because it represents so many elements that a true cross country course should. The runners have to run up and down hills practically the whole time, across a bridge and through a drainage ditch that almost always contains a good bit of water." Complete results are available at www.racewizard.com. ... A total of 1,107 runners participated in the event combined in the small and large school divisions (146 senior girls, 221 varsity boys, 331 junior-high girls and 409 junior-high boys). Approximately another 120 younger kids participated in the Fun Run before the races Saturday morning. "Our biggest turn out to date," Jones said. "Conlan Efurd was heading this up this year and did a great job." The junior-high and senior-high runners helped warm up the Fun Run participants. "They do a great job," Jones said. "I love to see our kiddos working with these younger runners."
Sports on 09/24/2014