The 2019 Siloam Springs Panthers Cross Country Classic would be one to remember on Saturday.
Teams from all over Northwest Arkansas, the River Valley and Oklahoma descended on the grounds of Simmons Foods for the largest home event -- participant-wise -- that Siloam Springs hosts each year.
The Siloam Springs varsity girls wound up finishing second in the large school division, while the boys finished fourth overall.
The Lady Panthers and Panthers showed improvement, according to coach Sharon Jones.
"Our times were much better this week," she said. "I think we were prepared for the difficulty of our course and better acclimated. The high school boys were still enjoying cooler temperatures, but it started to heat up a little during the girls race. It affected at least one of our top runners. For our teams to do so well against some tough competition is exciting, but we still have work to do.
"Again, I'm really pleased with the improvement over last week. Now we just need to start whittling our times down and running closer in packs. We have a little work to closing in some gaps between our third and fourth runners, both girls and boys."
Because of the amount of entries in both the senior high and junior high divisions, race times were changed the day before the event, which forced the cancellation of the Fun Run for the younger kids.
Jones regretted the Fun Run had to be canceled, but it was necessary in order to accommodate the amount of registered runners, which was nearing 1,800 by Friday.
"I do want to say how sorry I am that we had to cancel the fun run. I hate that," Jones said. "It's one of our favorite parts of the day. ... We definitely want to bring it back next year."
Girls
Bentonville won the girls meet in the large school division (5A-7A) with 18 points with Siloam Springs coming in second at 73, followed by Springdale Har-Ber 77, Springdale High 96, Fort Smith Northside 144, Rogers Heritage 156 and Fort Smith Southside 185.
Greenwood's Taylor Koeth was the overall winner out of 84 runners with a time of 20 minutes, 24.08 seconds.
Siloam Springs' Quincy Efurd was the top finisher for the Lady Panthers, finishing 10th with a time of 22:38.53.
Rebekah Rodgers was right on Efurd's heels, finishing 11th at 22:39.45.
"I love that Rebekah finished so well this week, finishing with Quincy," Jones said. "Quincy is so consistent for us."
Claudia Mercado placed 16th at 23:32.22 followed by Jaclyn Weilnau in 17th at 23:44.68, Kailey Pentz in 19th at 24:14.97, Bethany Mejia in 23rd at 24:42.61 and Candy Dubon in 25th at 25:06.69.
"Kadynce (Frost) was doing really well before the heat got to her," Jones said. "And Claudia and Jaclyn came through for us big in scoring. I'm loving how well Bethany is asserting herself among those top girls, too."
Laurel Granderson finished in 26:06.32 with Abby Thompson running a 26:13.31 and Shayla Conley 26:51.69.
Also for Siloam Springs: Jordan Rush 27:56.27, Kendra Reimer 28:00.90, Isabel Carrion 28:33.16, Sidney Pfeiffer 28:49.08, Leslie Cea 29:54.08 and Mary Grace Green 31:41.01
In the 1A-4A girls division, which had 65 runners, Pea Ridge finished first with a team score of 53, followed by West Fork 71, Huntsville 76, Jay (Okla.) 104, Providence Academy 116, Gentry 118 and Ozark Catholic 143. Abby Elcan of Providence was the overall winner in 1A-4A with a time of 20:42.47.
Boys
Bentonville won the varsity boys meet with a score of 24, followed by Springdale Har-Ber 50, Rogers Heritage 78, Siloam Springs 119, Springdale 132, Fort Smith Southside 152, Greenwood 186 and Fort Smith Northside 239.
Lawson Douglas of Rogers Heritage finished first out of 144 boys with a time of 16:51.91.
Ricardo Montano finished first for the Panthers with a 14th place finish of 18:18.48.
Michael Capehart was right behind him in 15th at 18:24.51, while Blake Morrison placed 21st at 18:47.19.
"I'm happy with the way Ricky managed his race better this week," Jones said. "He looked strong the whole time. He, Michael, and Blake are pacing well together, all looking very confident and strong."
Liam Scott finished 28th overall with a time of 19:22.28, while Adam Kennedy ran a mark of 20:52.99 and placed 41st. Javier Chavez was 42nd at 20:53.21 with Jordyn Baskins in 44th at 20:54.55.
Layton Spence ran a time of 21:00.54 with Luke Fields at 21:17.40, Ben Humphries 21:26.66, Zach Jones 21:32.07, Tate Broquard 22:06.95. Nathen Thurstenson 22:19.91 and Thad Goetz 22:50.00.
Also running for Siloam Springs was Cade Gunter 23:10.88, Truman Janes 23:26.25, Blaise Becan 23:38.33, Daxton Spence 23:38.56, Malachi Becan 23:39.60 and Avrey Della Rosa 23:45.01.
West Fork won the 1A-4A division with a score of 40, besting Huntsville 50, Ouachita 88, Pea Ridge 105, Berryville 148, The New School 148, Eureka Springs 199, Arkansas Arts Academy 202 and Prairie Grove 231.
Jacob Braswell of Huntsville was the top 1A-4A finisher out of 112 boys with a time of 17:49.95.
Sports on 09/18/2019