Blackhawks take 4th, 5th at State cross country

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

The Lady Blackhawks used a strong 1-2-3 finish to power their way to fourth place overall at the 2017 State Cross Country Championships in Hot Springs with the boys having similar results to take a fifth place finish in their race.

Two Lady Blackhawks, Adelina Means and ninth-grader Harmony Reynolds, earned All-State honors as they finished 10th and 13th respectively with times of 22:10 and 22:19. The Blackhawk boys matched that number with a pair of juniors also earning All-State honors. Shaed Cates was ninth in 17:59 with Will Feemster coming in 12th with a 18:09 clocking.

Other top five scorers for the girls were Maddisyn Robinson who was 25th in 23:19; Olivia Scates, 52nd in 25:27; and Emma Stein who was 65th in 26:14. More than 160 girls competed in the race with 19 teams battling it out for championship honors.

The girls were actually in second place through the first three runners, trailing only eventual champion Heber Springs 41-48. Heber's Lady Panthers had to fight off a deep West Fork team who had strong finishes from their fourth and fifth runners to make the final count close.

Heber Springs won with 126 just ahead of West Fork's 131. Pottsville was third with 154, just ahead of Pea Ridge's final score of 165. Prairie Grove took the fifth spot with 178.

Other teams scores include: Dardanelle 181, Waldron 210, Berryville 223, Ozark 239, Gravette 251, Star City 252, Huntsville 256, Central Arkansas 260, Pocahontas 267, Robinson 366, Nashville 395, Monticello 401, DeWitt 489 and Gentry 513.

The three other boys who figured in the Pea Ridge scoring were Connor Escajeda, who just missed qualifying for all-state honors, finished 21st in 18:41 with Cooper Elliot taking 45th in 19:42 and Kevin Vasquez taking 47th in 19:48. Ninth-grader Marcus Nobles had a good meet, with the freshman finishing 66th in 20:38, just ahead of teammate Alex Wilkerson who took 67th in 20:41.

The team scores for the boys were: Cave City 68, Heber Springs 71, Huntsville 74, Berryville 131, Pea Ridge 134, Prairie Grove 170, West Fork 193, Dardanelle 237, Shiloh 245, Mena 296, Subiaco 343, Ozark 356, Gentry 365, Waldron 384, Monticello 391, Robinson 458, Pocahontas 479, Dover 48, Nashville 501, Central Arkansas 578, Hamburg 591, Highland 63 and Gosnell 649.

The 5,000-meter race was run on the infield of Oaklawn Race Track in Hot Springs last Friday in an unusual Friday finals. A record number of teams and finishers was on hand for the competition.

Sports on 11/08/2017