The Siloam Springs varsity cross country teams competed last Tuesday in the 5A-West Conference Meet at Vilonia in their final race before the Class 5A state.
The high school boys placed third overall and the girls were fourth, and both were the lowest placings for either team in several years, according to coach Sharon Jones, who gave credit to the competition.
"We have no excuses," she said. "The other teams were better on Tuesday. We will regroup and consider how to pace better and use our own teammates within the race better and see how it goes next week. At this point, we are focusing on the best possible team placement at state and individual improvements."
In total the Panthers and Lady Panthers combined for 23 personal records and four seasons bests.
"We can't be disappointed in our kids," Jones said. "They ran well. "Our girls had 10 new personal records and 3 season best performances. Our boys had 13 new PRs and one new season best. Wow! I don't think they've peaked yet either. We'll be minding our rest and nutrition this week and see if we can't do even better at state."
The Class 5A state meet will be Friday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. The top nine boys and girls runners from each school will participate. The 5A girls will run at 11:30 a.m., followed by the 5A boys at 12:15 p.m.
Varsity boys
Mountain Home placed six runners in the top 13 and won the varsity boys meet with a score of 35 points, followed by Russellville 89, Siloam Springs 93, Vilonia 97, Greenwood 125, Greenbrier 149, Van Buren 174 and Alma 178.
Whit Lawrence of Mountain Home was the individual conference champion with a time of 15 minutes, 33.7 seconds, finishing nearly 27 seconds ahead of the nearest runner.
Siloam Springs senior Michael Capehart placed fifth overall with a time of 16:21.9.
Sophomore Levi Fox finished 14th overall and was one of 13 Panthers to run personal records with a time of 17:23.6.
Sophomore Wilson Cunningham placed 20th at 17:35.0, while freshman Nathan Hawbaker was 23rd with a PR of 17:44.1.
Freshman Noah Granderson placed 31st with a PR of 17:59.5, while sophomore Riley Harrison was 32nd with a PR of 17:59.9 and junior Jason Flores 35th at 18:11.5 to complete the Panthers' top seven scores.
Senior Blake Morrison placed 39th at 18:29.4, with junior Jordan Baskin in 43rd with a PR of 18:38.8, senior Luke Fields in 49th at 18:48.4, freshman Tyler Cottrell 51st at 18:52.8, freshman Charlie Hyde 65th with a PR of 19:23.0, sophomore Cooper Shaw 69th with a PR at 19:30.4.
Sophomore Caleb Rodgers placed 70th with a personal record of 19:31.6, senior Ben Humphries 72nd with a PR of 19:38.5, sophomore Billy Samoff 79th at 20:06.2, junior Cade Gunter 82nd at 20:21.4, sophomore Barrett Eldridge 83rd at 20:21.8 (PR), sophomore Nathan Rostoni 85th at 20:32.9 (PR), sophomore Ben Stout 91st at 21:09.4 (PR), junior Nathen Thurstenson 93rd at 21:15.6, junior Layton Spence 94th with a season-best of 21:15.8, junior Liam Scott 95th at 21:17.7, junior Daxton Spence 99th at 22:00.2, sophomore Samuel Herndon 100th at 22:02.5, and sophomore Rustin Shirley 107th at 25:48.8.
Varsity girls
Mountain Home also won the varsity girls meet, placing five in the top 13 and scoring 38 points.
Defending state champion Greenwood was second at 70, followed by Vilonia 84, Siloam Springs 99, Russellville 119, Van Buren 141 and Greenbrier 162.
Mountain Home's Marcie Cudworth placed first overall to win the individual conference title at 18:31.4.
Siloam Springs senior Quincy Efurd ran a personal record of 20:09.7 and finished seventh overall.
Junior Shayla Conley placed 17th with a PR of 21:18.2, while junior Jaclyn Weilnau ran a season-best time of 21:43.3 and finished 23rd.
Freshman Shelby Smith placed 27th with a personal record of 22:00.5, followed by sophomore Emily Brown's 28th place PR finish of 22:01.3, senior Macie Herrel in 39th with a PR of 22:08.1 and freshman Ellen Slater in 33rd with a PR of 22:31.7 to complete Siloam Springs' top seven finishers.
Sophomore Brooke Ross placed 47th with a PR of 23:55.8, while senior Kendra Reimer was 50th at 24:28.9 (PR), junior Leslie Cea 60th with a season best of 25:35.4, senior Jordan Rush 63rd with a season best of 26:01.3, sophomore Anna Floyd with a PR of 26:19.3, sophomore Rachel Rine 65th at 26:38.1 and junior Sidney Pfeiffer 66th at 26:58.5 (PR).
