Panthers take first at Elkins; home XC meet set for Saturday

The Siloam Springs boys cross country team took first place in the Class 4A-5A division of the Elkins Invitational.

The Panthers finished with 22 points, including having their top seven runners each finished in the top 15 overall.

Pea Ridge finished second overall, followed by Farmington, Prairie Grove and Huntsville.

Levi Fox finished second overall with a time of 17 minutes, 51.62 seconds, placing behind first place finisher Tian Grant of Pea Ridge, who finished first at 17:31.43.

Wilson Cunningham placed third at 17:51.68, six hundreths of a second behind his teammate Fox, while Nathan Hawbaker was fourth at 18:00.08.

Noah Granderson placed sixth at 18:21.60, while Liam Scott was seventh at 18:36.16, Javier Chavez 11th at 18:55.35 and Billy Samoff 15th at 19:19.75 to complete the Panthers' top seven scores. All seven received top 15 medals.

"Our men's team is showing more depth, but our times are still not where we want them to be," said Siloam Springs coach Sharon Jones. "Levi Fox, Wilson Cunningham, and Nathan Hawbaker paced together the whole race, Levi out leaning Wilson at the finish line. Noah and Liam rounded out the scoring again this week. Javier Chavez and Billy Samoff were our displacers again. These guys pace extremely well in practice together and it's working."

Barrett Eldridge placed 18th at 20:18.30, while Jared Brewer was 19th at 20:29.29, Anthony Cruz 28th at 21:00.98, Cade Gunter 31st at 21:08.71 and Thad Goetz 38th at 21:57.51.

Caleb Wallace placed 39th at 22:01.43, while Reece Hardcastle placed 53rd at 23:38.91, Ben Haak 56th at 23:53.36, William Bowles 58th at 24:18.56, Nathan Thurstenson 64th 25:18.92 and Rustin Shirley 66th at 25:36.05.

Varsity girls

The Siloam Springs girls cross country team took third place in the 4A-5A division at the Elkins Invitational.

Gravette finished first overall with 56 points, while Shiloh Christian was second at 69, followed by Siloam Springs with 71 points. Pea Ridge placed fourth with 72 points, and Farmington rounded out the team scoring with 114 points.

Shayla Conley placed fifth overall for the Lady Panthers at 22:41.70, while Shelby Smith was eighth at 23:05.74 and Claire Jagger 16th at 24:17.86.

Kadynce Hilburn-Frost placed 17th at 24:32.39, while Laura Fields was 25th at 26:27.46, Anna Floyd 26th at 26:31.34 and Faith Harris 28th at 27:06.29 to complete the Lady Panthers' top seven scores.

"The girls need all top five to be there in order to place," Jones said. "We have too big of a gap between our normal fifth and sixth girls, so when we're missing any of the top five it hurts. Last week we were missing Shelby and this week we were missing Jackie (Weilnau).

"All of the girls are making good progress. We're getting better. We just lack depth up front."

This week Shayla medaled 5th and Shelby 8th. The girls placed 3rd in our division. Newcomer from Canada, Claire Jagger, just missed a medal at 16th.

Laura Fields, Emma Humphries, and Elizabeth Humphries all set new PR's.

Leslie Cea finished 33rd at 27:55.27, while Emma Humphries was 39th at 29:52.20 and Elizabeth Humphries 40th at 30:06.17.

Junior high boys

The Siloam Springs junior high boys cross country team placed its top seven runners in the top 20 overal, including three in the top five, to take first place in the 4A-5A division at the Elkins Invitational.

Tommy Seitz took first place overall with a time of 12:02.64, while Sterling Maples was fourth at 12:45.12, while Chance Cunningham was fifth at 12:46.22.

Korbin Rogers placed 10th at 12:59.09, while Jacob Seauve was 12th at 13:03.52, Bennet Naustvik 16th at 13:12.44 and Gaige Thompson 20th at 13:21.12.

Sully Christians placed 21st at 13:22.22, while Sebastian Romero was 22nd at 13:32.33, Josiah Johnson 32nd at 14:31.46, Boone Eldridge 35th at 14:33.29, Blake Kuykendall 38th at 14:48.82, Parker Malonson 41st at 14:55.30 and Zane Pickering 43rd 15:00.19.

Also running for Siloam Springs: Deacon Maples 15:19.11, Parker Watson 15:23.30, David Dewey 15:28.95, Sam Wallace 16:02.35, Morgan Lloyd 16:15.25, Nico Lloyd 16:22.35, Nathaniel Haak 17:14.90 and Coleman Wilcox 18:34.74.

Junior high girls

The Siloam Springs junior high girls also finished first at the Elkins Invitational.

Siloam Springs and all of its top seven runners place in the top 19 overall.

Amelie Seauve led the Lady Panthers with a third place finish of 14:34.15, while Morgan Jones was fifth at 14:52.86 and Hannah Bergthold 11th at 16:05.12.

Sara Bishop placed 12th at 16:12.92, while Estela Gonzalez was 13th at 16:16.54, Caroline Dewey 15th at 16:23.85 and Hailey Fox 19th at 16:37.69 to complete the Lady Panthers' top seven scores.

Sawyer Smith placed 21st at 16:53.38, while Bella Shultz was 23rd at 17:08.48, Gracie Floyd 29th at 17:43.56, Ava Jones 33rd at 17:58.58, Payton Lesso 34th at 18:01.46, Jane Anglin 36th at 18:11.00 and Hannah Luttrell 38th 18:21.74.

Also running for Siloam Springs: Isabel Suarez 18:58.47, Kathryne Hilburn 19:03.06, Joslyn Parra 19:15.11, Malia Lykins 19:25.10, Danielle Weilnau 19:39.95 and Jasmine Perez 21:28.83.

Panther XC Classic

The Siloam Springs cross country program will host its annual Panther XC Classic on Saturday morning on the grounds of Simmons Foods.

The day begins with the high school girls race at 8 a.m., followed by the high school boys race around 8:40 a.m.

The junior high girls race in the Class 1A-4A division begins around 9:10 a.m., followed by the junior high 1A-4A boys race at 9:40.

The 5A-6A junior high girls run at 10:10 a.m., followed by the 5A-6A junior high boys. The Fun Run is then scheduled to begin at 11:15 a.m.

"I love the quality of young men and women we have on our team," Jones said. "They are working hard and learning to push themselves harder."

After not allowing spectators at last year's race because of covid-19 protocols, fans will be allowed at this year's race.

Admission is $5 for adults and students 5 years and up.

Panther Cross Country Classic Fun Run

The Siloam Springs cross country program will host the Panther Cross Country Classic Fun Run at 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Simmons Course.

The Fun Run is for boys and girls in grades 1-6.

Grades 1-3 will have a half-mile run at 11:15 a.m., followed by grades 4-6 at 11:25 a.m.

Medals will be awarded to the top 10 girls and top 10 boys in each race. Everyone else will receive a participation ribbon.

Entry fee is $15 per runner, which includes a T-shirt while supplies last. Checks can be made payable to SSHS Cross Country.

Online registation will be available from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.