GREENWOOD -- Siloam Springs' girls cross country team had nine runners finish in the top 15 spots Thursday at the Greenwood Invitational and the Lady Panthers took first place in the 5A-7A division at Bell Park.

Siloam Springs finished with 28 points, followed by Russellville 55, Fort Smith Northside 76, Greenwood 84 and Fort Smith Southside 146.

"This meet should be a huge encouragement to these girls," said head coach Sharon Jones. "We solidly beat some 6A competition."

The event was originally scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 7, but it was moved up to Thursday.

Taylor Koeth of Greenwood won the meet at 21:27.40 and Russellville's Charissa Helms-Pittman was second at 21:48.40, but Siloam Springs took the next five finishing spots.

Junior Chloe McGooden was the Lady Panthers' top finisher, taking third overall with a time of 21:56.50. Sophomore Chloe Maxwell ran a 21:59.00, while senior Allika Pearson was fifth at 22:09.30, while junior Brittany Pilcher was sixth at 22:17.70 and sophomore Claudia Mercado seventh at 22:29.40.

"Our girls stayed together the entire race," Jones said. "It was fun to watch."

Sophomore Rebekah Rodgers placed 10th at 23:16.10, while freshman Ashlyn Walker ran a 23:17.20 in her first varsity race. Freshman Sydney Moorman also moved up to the varsity and finished 13th at 23:23.50, while sophomore Kimberly Guillen was 14th at 23:23.80 and sophomore Kailey Pentz was 15th at 23:25.50.

Senior Megan Rush finished 33rd at 26:34.50, sophomore Chloe Rocha was 41st at 28:05.30 and sophomore Mary Grace Green was 47th at 31:41.60.

Boys

The Panthers ran without their top runner in the boys meet but still managed to finish third overall.

Fort Smith Southside won the meet with 54 points, followed by Greenwood 57, Siloam Springs 60, Russellville 70, Clarksville 143 and Fort Smith Northside 160.

With sophomore Kerrig Kelly out with an illness, senior Isaac Leachman led the Panthers with a fifth place finish of 18:58.00.

"Coach (Craig) Cowart challenged the boys to step it up in (Kerrig's) absence," Jones said. "I feel like they did just that."

Junior Samuel Granderson was sixth at 19:02.40, while freshman Michael Capehart placed 13th at 19:38.10. Senior Caleb Ellis ran a 19:53.80, and freshman Blake Morrison landed 20th at 20:08.50.

"That's exactly what our boys team needed to fill in the gap," Jones said.

The next nine finishers were all sophomores for the Panthers.

Isaac Price finished 22nd at 20:20.30, while Adam Kennedy was right behind him in 23rd at 20:24.80.

Ransom Van Asche placed 47th at 22:33.50, while Blaise Becan was 55th at 23:29.00, Nathan Blair 62nd at 24:11.90, Avrey Della Rosa 67th at 24:34.30, Tyler Sharp 69th at 24:43.90, Julian Labitad 73rd at 25:04.30 and Theron Perkins 26:19.60.

Up next

The Siloam Springs varsity cross country runners are scheduled to run next in the Huntsville meet on Oct. 17.