ROGERS — The Blackhawk boys’ cross country team lived up to it’s high state ranking by capturing fourth place in the 4A State Championships held last weekend in Rogers.

The ’Hawks came out on the top side of a close race with Little Rock’s Pulaski Academy as Pea Ridge topped the private school by 5 points, 145-150, to earn the top four finish.

Sophomore Evan Tillman was the lead runner for the ’Hawks, coming in22nd place among the 110 runners making up the 4A boys field. He had a good time of 18:41 on the new 5K (3.1 miles) running course that has been constructed just south of Rogers High School. One Lady Blackhawk girl made the trek to Rogers for the girls’ meet with junior Heather Houy finishing in 66th place with a time of 28:48.

Junior Colby Schooley was the second finisher for the ’Hawks with a time of 19:24, good enough for 34th overall. Senior Colton Holtgrewe grabbed the third spot for Pea Ridge, finishing 37th in 19:35.

As is often the case with good teams, the ’Hawks’ depth of good runners gave them the fourth place overall finish. With the first three runners in at the meet Saturday, Pea Ridge was in sixth place, solidly ahead of eventual seventh- and eighth-place finishers Waldron and Clarksville, but trailing Pulaski and Dardanelle. The Blackhawks’ fourth finisher junior Jacob Hickman (42nd, 19:55) and fifth finisher, sophomore Tyler Estes, outran Pulaski’s fourth and fifth runners by 18 total places toassure passing them in the final tabulations. Freshman Justin Stamps (50th, 20:18) and Dusty Morgan (55th, 20:48) both finished ahead of Pulaski’s fifth runner to provide the final 2 points of the ’Hawks’ 5-point win over them.

The ’Hawks were 8 points down to Dardanelle after the top three runners were all in but Pea Ridge’s fourth and fifth runners outscored their counterparts by 67 points to push the Sand Lizards to a distant sixth place.

Even the eighth ’Hawk finisher, freshman Hunter Sill(85th, 22:55), figured into the scoring as he finished ahead of Dardannelle’s fifth-place runner who came in 90th. The ’Hawks’ state team was rounded out by freshman Gage Kelso, who took 93rd place in 24:47.

The team race was won by Heber Springs who dethroned defending champion Shiloh by 19 points for the championship. While Shiloh did claim the top two runners, Heber Springs placed eight men ahead of Shiloh’s third man to take the title. As a matter of fact, Heber Springs runnersclaimed six of the 11 allstate runners awards in the individual standings.

The final top 10 of the State 4A Boys Cross Country Championships were:

1. Heber Springs 31

2. Shiloh 52

3. DeQueen 69

4. Pea Ridge 145

5. Pulaski Academy 150

6. Dardanelle 203

7. Waldron 219

8. Clarksville 239

9. Pottsville 270

10. Hamburg 278

Another local conference team, Prairie Grove, finished in 11th with 292 points.

Sports, Pages 7 on 11/10/2010