Cross country gearing up

The groundwork for success in cross country is laid in June, July and August.

Siloam Springs head cross country coach Sharon Jones knows this. Her cross country runners have been working since the first of June in order to get ready for the upcoming 2017 cross country season.

"We're afraid not to," Jones said. "If we wait until school starts, there's no way. It just takes longer to build a base."

The Panthers and Lady Panthers practiced three days a week in June up until the Arkansas Activities Association dead period at the end of June and first of July.

When the teams returned from the dead period, workouts increased to four days a week, and now the start of the season is less than three weeks away.

Select members of the high school boys and girls varsity teams will get to participate in the Memphis (Tenn.) Twilight Cross County Classic at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 to open the year.

"It's an incentive meet," Jones said. "That's a little carrot I've dangled out in front of them this summer to get them to run a little harder and push for something."

High school boys who run a one-mile time trial in 5 minutes, 30 seconds or less will qualify for the trip, while the high school girls must finish their time trial in 6:30 or less.

"So far we've only had two boys qualify and six girls," Jones said. "I would expect a couple more girls will qualify and some of those boys are getting closer."

Siloam Springs returns several veteran runners from its teams last year, though both the high school boys and girls team are a bit down on numbers.

For the Lady Panthers, they return six of their top nine runners who helped the team win its third straight Class 6A cross country state championship last November.

Junior Chloe McGooden finished fourth overall at state last year, while senior Allika Pearson was seventh, junior Brittany Pilcher 11th, sophomore Kimberly Guillen 18th and sophomore Rebekah Rodgers 23rd.

Senior Caroline Farine would have been in that mix as well, but she was unable to finish at the state meet because of an asthma attack.

Farine led the Lady Panthers at their time trials held this past Tuesday, Aug. 8, at Glenn W. Black Stadium.

"Our girls are running really strong, really tight," Jones said. "We've got probably six that are running really close together, and then not far behind that we've got another three. We're solid if they all stay together."

As of presstime, the Lady Panthers will not have sophomore Candy Dubon, who informed Jones about two weeks ago that she would not be able to compete on the team this year. Dubon finished eighth at the state meet last year as a freshman and was the Lady Panthers' top runner in the 6A-West Conference meet.

"We wished her good luck and I hate that (we can't have her)," Jones said. "She did the time trial and was our second fastest runner and then told us she was going to step down. That was hard."

But the Lady Panthers have some candidates that might be able to fill Dubon's shoes.

Jones said senior Megan Rush has been running strong this summer, while sophomores Claudia Mercado and Chloe Rocha have been impressive.

Jones is also excited about a solid group of ninth-graders who could move up to the varsity squad by the end of the season, including freshman Sydney Moorman who is "running neck and neck with the high-schoolers," Jones said.

Boys

The Siloam Springs boys cross country team has plenty of talent, just not a lot of experience.

Only two seniors and one junior are on the roster heading into the 2017 season.

The Panthers finished third in Class 6A last year and were just two points away from finishing second behind Lake Hamilton and Greenwood.

"We'd like to get both teams back up on the podium," Jones said, referencing the winner's podium at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, where the cross country state champions and runners-up are recognized at the end of the state meet.

The Panthers return four runners to this year's squad who participated in the state meet last year.

Senior Isaac Leachman, sophomore Kerrig Kelly and junior Samuel Granderson finished 16th, 17th and 18th respectively, at the state meet a year ago. Senior Caleb Ellis also particpated in the state meet a year ago.

The veterans are running well in practice so far, Jones said.

"Isaac's running really good," she said. "Kerrig is right there with him."

Jones is excited about several sophomore boys who ran well in preseason practices, mentioning Isaac Price, Tyler Sharp and Ransom Van Asche.

"It'd be nice if some of those guys stepped up and filled that gap," Jones said. "Ransom Van Asche, every two weeks we do time trials and every single time he's made improvements. This is very new to him. It's his first year out not playing football. He's such a good kid and he's improving."

Then there are some freshmen, particularly Michael Capehart and Blake Morrison, who could have a chance to contribute on the varsity after the conclusion of the junior high season.

"The boys are just getting stronger as we go deeper," Jones said. "We've got a really strong group of eighth-graders and a really good group of seventh-graders. I think our junior high boys will be good this year."

Jones said she and her coaches will do an evaluation at the Chile Pepper Festival race on Sept. 30 and make a decision on who they want to move up for the varsity at the end of the year.