Track teams open season at Van Buren

The Siloam Springs boys track team finished fourth Friday at the Van Buren Running Festival.

Mountain Home won the meet with 129 points, followed by Fort Smith Southside 118, Alma 56, Siloam Springs 41, West Fork 38, Greenland 24, Waldron 21, Van Buren 15 and Providence Academy 14.

Michael Capehart placed fourth in the 3,200-meter run at 10:26.64, while Billy Samoff was 23rd at 12:53.91, Ben Humphries 24th at 13:34.49 and Layton Spence 28th at 14:44.87.

Capehart placed fifth in the 1,600-meter run at 4:58.63, while Levi Fox was eighth at 5:14.68, Cade Gunter 17th at 5:34.61, Samoff 27th at 5:52.72 and Humphries 31st at 6:07.26.

Wilson Cunningham took fifth place in the 400-meter dash at 55.45, while Hunter Talley was 11th at 58.51, Liam Scott 16th at 1:01.25 and Malachi Becan 19th at 1:03.33.

Ayden Paroski took fifth in the 300-meter hurdles at 46.85, while Zach Jones was 12th at 57.76.

Paroski placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles at 18.64.

Caleb Rodgers placed 11th in the 800-meter run at 2:28.92, while Gunter was 14th at 2:33.91 and Spence 30th at 2:53.32.

In the 100-meter dash, Jeff Phizema finished 12th with a time of 12.38, while Keegan Soucie was 13th at 12.41, Patrick Church 16th at 12.60, Nick Flack 36th at 13.74, Anthony Cruz 44th at 14.52 and Jones 46th at 15.06.

Church finished 12th in the 200-meter dash at 25.82, while Jonathan Graves was 19th at 26.28, Talley 22nd at 26.55, Stone Stevens 32nd at 27.85, Flack 34th at 28.10, Michael Rauch 35th at 28.22, Becan 38th at 28.82 and Cruz 45th at 30.95.

The 4x200-meter relay team of Graves, Rauch, Stevens and Tally finished sixth at 1:44.97.

The 4x100-meter relay team of Paroski, Soucie, Church and Phizema was third at 47.37.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Cunningham, Church, Marcus Molina and Soucie placed fourth at 4:05.74.

The 4x800-meter relay team of Cunningham, Fox, Scott, and Capehart took third at 9:09.42.

Girls

The Siloam Springs girls finished tied for fifth overall at the Van Buren Running Festival.

Van Buren won the meet with 87 points, followed by Waldron 84, Fort Smith Southside 64, Mountain Home 46, Siloam Springs and Greenland each with 37, Providence 31, Alma 15, West Fork 11 and Mansfield 6.

Quincy Efurd placed first in the 300-meter hurdles at 51.99.

"Quincy ran the hurdles for the first time in two years and looked extremely comfortable after only practicing two days after basketball season ended," said head girls coach Sharon Jones.

Rachel Rine placed third in the 400-meter run at 1:10.88.

Shayla Conley placed fifth in the 3,200-meter run at 14:18.65.

Conley was eighth in the 1,600-meter run at 6:24.59.

In the 100-meter dash, Kadynce Hilburn-Frost placed ninth at 14.74, while Nyah Hostler was 22nd at 15.39, Katie Gryder 27th at 15.78 and Luisa Arndt 29th at 15.93.

Gryder placed 14th in the 200-meter run at 32.49, while Arndt was 21st at 33.26 and Hostler 22nd at 33.28.

The 4x800-meter relay team of Conley, Rine, Hilburn-Frost and Efurd also took first place at 11:17.55.

"All four legs (ran) really well," Jones said. "Shayla ran the first leg and took the lead in the first 100 meters and never looked back. Our girls pushed out to win by 22 seconds."

The 4x100-meter relay team of Arndt, Gryder, Hostler and Hilburn-Frost placed third at 59.91.