Commentary   August 15, 2004

 2004 Arkansas High School Cross-Country Preseason Preview

 

(NOTE:  The 2004 State Cross Country Meets are scheduled for Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. )

 

Predicting cross country state meet results in August is a touchy undertaking.  If you can figure out the weather, the impact of new athletes moving in (and out), the impact of junior high runners moving up, new coaches, effectiveness of summer running, progress made during the season, traditions, rivalries and other factors, then maybe you can make a good guess.  Of course, even then it is ENTIRELY up to the runners on one day in November.  Some will be injured or ill. Some will rise to the occasion and surprise everyone, including themselves. Others will inexplicably have off days.  Some will let the wind, wet, cold, heat, et al affect them. Others will ignore the elements. 

 

What we love most about cross country is the battle of the individual to overcome the unique personal challenges each runner faces while encouraging their teammates in a total team effort.  As a friend told me once, no one person ever won a cross country meet for his or her team and no team ever won without the 5th runner.  At the same time, no team ever won without each runner pulling their load.  A football lineman misses a block and the running back can still make a big play to win the game.  One of your Top 5 runners has a bad day and someone better step up or the meet is over. 

 

Cross Country offers small schools and large an opportunity to excel. A Class 1A team can give a Class 5A team all it can handle.  The best runner can come from the smallest school.  While larger schools have an advantage in the opportunity to have depth, good coaching, solid training, a big heart and endless determination to excel makes the difference, not the size of the graduating class.  Pushing oneself into the Arkansas summer heat and humidity to put on those summer miles pays big dividends when the cool days of November arrive.  Cross country runners and hills go together and Arkansas offers some of the best hill work any runner can find. Even in the Delta, there are plenty of hills to train over (we know because we found plenty around Pine Bluff and eastern Arkansas in our youth!!!). 

 

Every meet run before State is just an opportunity to test oneself and experiment to see what tactics will work best when state comes around.  What works best  ….go out hard, go out slow and run the middle hard, learn to run properly down hills as well as up, find who in the field you need to stay with, learn when to lead the pack, learn when to let others do the hard work of leading while you tag on their shoulder and, most importantly, learn what it takes to run as a total team so every member does their very best at State.

 

Best wishes to all the teams, runners and coaches for a successful season.  Only two teams per classification take a trophy home from State. Every team can improve and be champions.

 

So let’s dispense with the preliminaries and see what we might have this fall.

 

 

 

GIRLS (4k race, 2.48 miles)

 

Arkansas has had good girls cross country runners almost since the sport was started a little over 20 years ago.  However, the competition is clearly getting better overall.  Except for Class 5A where Ashley Williams of Mount St. Mary has ruled in recent years, the individual races are all up from grabs.

 

Class 1A/2A:

 

Team Favorites: Little Rock Lutheran and Eureka Springs

 

Lutheran won the battle of small schools over Eureka Springs in 2003 by 58-64 and 2004 should be another close race.  Together the favorites return 11 of theTop 20 from 2003 and both have strong cross country traditions. If Harding Academy can find three more to go with their first two, they could make this a close race.

 

Individual Favorites:

 

Erika Wardlow (Eureka Springs) was 5th in 2003

Becca Wallis (Eureka Springs) was 6th in 2003

Leslie Cockmon (Lutheran) was 7th in 2003

2 others returning from 2003 Top 10 are within 15 seconds of Wardlow

 

Top 15 underclassmen from 2003 State Meet:

 

Name

2003 Grade

School

Time

Erika Wardlaw       

9

Eureka Springs       

17:04.67   

Becca Wallis       

11

Eureka Springs       

17:08.70

Leslie Cockmon     

11

Lutheran

17:09.36 

Ellen Davis        

10

Harding Academy

17:19.42

Melodies Haynie    

11

Harding Academy

17:19.74

Arika Qualls       

11

Evening Shade        

17:21.55

Megan Hunter       

10

Lutheran

17:32.28

Lindsey Cloutier   

11

Lutheran

17:33.75  

Lauren Brashears    

9

Magnet Cove          

17:36.48 

Jennifer Kettler   

10

Lutheran

17:37.15

Sandy Papper       

11

Lutheran

17:48.82

Ashley Smith       

11

Eureka Springs       

18:01.86 

Heather Stefka      

9

Izard County         

18:02.19 

Brianna Freeman    

10

Eureka Springs       

18:04.57

Amanda Tannehill   

11

Elkins

18:06.09

 

 

Class 3A:

 

Team Favorites:  Berryville and Dover

 

DeQueen won in 2003 by 46-54-74 over Berryville and Dover but will have to reload to repeat. While Arkansas CC fans know to never count DeQueen out, Berryville and Dover have strong returning squads with 9 of the Top 20 from 2003. The departure of long-time and the highly successful Berryville coach (Ken Krumwieide) after the 2004 track season does give some cause for caution.

 

Individual Favorites:

 

Julie Huie (Clinton) won in 2003 and posted 5:27/12:15 for 1600m/3200m in track

Cassie Cornett (Heber Springs) was a distant 13th in 2003 but came on strong in track with a 12:16 for 3200m

 

Top 15 underclassmen from 2003 State Meet:

 

Name

2003 Grade

School

Time

Julia Huie          

9

Clinton               

16:06.61

Kenzie Stinnett                  

9

DeQueen              

16:33.02

Mary Krug         

9

Heber Springs     

16:38.80 

Courtney Moore      

9

Berryville          

16:42.37

Megan O'Neal               

10

Hamburg

16:43.71

Tamara Phillips                 

9

Berryville

16:48.09

Jessalyn Leslie     

9

Pulaski Academy      

16:49.74

Alisha Tucker                   

9

Dover

16:54.87

Violetta Camarillo 

10

DeQueen               

17:05.86      

Cassie Cornett             

10

Heber Springs     

17:09.80

Shawna Miller                 

11

Berryville

17:21.47

Whitney Kerth                 

11

Perryville

17:23.15

Melanie Raburn                       

9

Lamar

17:26.96

Lacey Frye                      

10

Mansfield

17:34.55

Beth Sergener                        

9

Dover

17:49.89

 

 

 

 

Class 4A:

 

Team Favorites: Harrison and Greene County Tech

 

Harrison won easily in 2003 and there is no apparent challenger to stop the Lady Goblins. They return 6 of the Top 15 from 2003 and could score less than 25 with a good day.  Greene County Tech has six returnees and should have inside lane for runner-up trophy. 

 

Individual Favorites:

 

Tia Young (Harrison) was 2nd in 2003

Nicole Smith (Batesville) was 3rd in 2003

 

Top 15 underclassmen from 2003 State Meet:

 

Name

2003 Grade

School

Time

Tia Young                        

9

Harrison

16:35.73

Nicole Smith                   

9

Batesville

16:43.01

Brittany Bowman                   

10

Vilonia

16:53.10

Brianna Greene                  

11

Harrison

16:57.82

Taesha Young                     

9

Harrison

17:30.57

Amber Mayhall                   

10

Harrison

17:36.47

Teighlor Melton                

9

Batesville

17:38.07

April Davis                     

11

Marion

17:39.83

Adrianna Greene                 

11

Harrison

17:41.31

Lauren Edwards      

11

Greene County Tech   

17:50.16

Beth Moore                     

11

Monticello

18:02.69

Kayla Hill          

9

Siloam Springs       

18:07.74

Jacklyn Medsker    

9

Greene County Tech    

18:15.52

Hasen Huskey                    

9

Harrison

18:18.72

Amy Starnes                           

9

Hot Springs Lakeside

18:19.08

 

 

Class 5A:

 

Team Favorites:  Rogers, Bentonville and Bryant

 

Rogers was a close runner-up in 2002 and took the big trophy in 2003 with a 56-76 win over fellow Benton County CC power Bentonville.  The Lady Mounties will start off as the team to beat in 2004 as they return six from the championship team (four in Top 20) and has junior high talent moving up. Both Bentonville and Bryant had strong 4 x 800m teams in spring track with a solid core of returnees and are looking forward to knocking Rogers off.  This race may come down to who has the best 5th runner on the day of the state meet.

 

Individual Favorites:

 

Ashley Williams (Mount St. Mary's) won in 2003 and posted strong track performances with 5:11/11:11 for 1600m/3200m

 

Top 15 underclassmen from 2003 State Meet:

 

Name

2003 Grade

School

Time

Ashley Williams   

11

Mount St. Mary       

14:25.39

Leigh Ann Moore                

10

Jonesboro

15:17.86

Staci Papageorge                 

10

Rogers

15:26.82

Brooke Higgs                      

11

Bryant

15:42.53

Janie Blackmon                

9

Russellville

15:51.39

Hanna Bryant                   

9

Bentonville

15:53.73

Brittany Blackmon            

9

Russellville

16:07.79

Danielle Cummins                   

10

Rogers

16:22.91

Jennifer McNames            

11

Bentonville

16:23.17

Alicia Owensby     

11

Bentonville

16:23.56 

Brittney Wilkerson  

11

Mount St. Mary       

16:28.78

Mary Edwards                      

10

Bryant

16:30.13

Kayla Milner                   

9

Springdale

16:31.95

Sara Scott                   

11

Fayetteville

16:39.34

Olivia Haughey                     

10

Rogers

16:40.76

 

 

BOYS (5k race, 3.10 miles)

 

The boys races in Arkansas are always tough team competitions with strong rivalries paving the way.  Class 4A would seem to feature two teams not on the trophy stand normally as Greene County Tech and Hot Springs Lakeside look strong on paper.  Otherwise the traditional powers seem to be back at the forefront in the other classifications.

 

1A/2A:

 

Team Favorites: Little Rock Lutheran and Acorn

 

Look for Lutheran to have to once again have to shake off tiny Acorn. In 2003, the Lutherans waltzed by 35-67.  Lutheran has an impressive program for a small school with large numbers on the squad which provides solid depth each year. Acorn may not have numbers but cross country is big time for them and they compete extremely well. In outdoor track they placed four in the Top 8 at the Class 1A State Outdoor Track Meet 3200m run.

 

Individual Favorites:

 

Charles Yeager (Jasper) won in 2003 at 17:48 but the race could be wide open as Nathan Hall (Jessieville) posted a Class 2A leading 10:16 for 3200m in spring.track. Johnny Purvis (Jasper) as a freshman was only 16 seconds back of Yeager in 2003.

 

Top 15 underclassmen from 2003 State Meet:

 

Name

2003 Grade

School

Time

Charles Yeager                   

10

Jasper

17:47.95

Johnny Purvis                        

9

Jasper

18:03.37

Reagan Dalby         

10

LR Christian   

18:10.16

Chris Clark                       

9

Lutheran

18:13.15

Jordan Hurst                       

11

Cotter

18:28.95

Lance Powell