Despite the hot weather, the GHS cross country team competed in its first meet of the fall season last Saturday, the Northside Invitational held at Ben Geren park in Fort Smith. The event featured several area boys and girls teams in both junior and senior high.
The Greenwood Junior High boys had the best team showing for Head Coach Jim Andrews, finishing second overall with three individual runners placing in the top six finishers, including Joshua Merritt (4th), Noah Embrey (5th), and Gavin Ciesla (6th).
The Greenwood Junior High girls also did well, earning a third place finish, including the top two individual runners in Madelyn Wilkinson (1st) and Elizabeth Merritt (2nd).
The varsity Bulldogs completed the course in fifth place, led by Vincent Gonzales, while the Lady Bulldogs placed fourth. Taylor Koeth and Macie Cash finished first and second, respectively.
Their next scheduled meet is the Panther Invitational at Siloam Springs this coming Saturday.
Coach Andrews is high on this group of runners, both junior and senior high. According to the coach, numbers are up and the program is growing.
“We are looking forward to an exciting season,” he said. “We have a talented group of girls returning, led by senior Taylor Koeth. Macie Cash had a great summer of training and is poised to have another great year as a junior.
“The [varsity boys] are led by senior Vincent Gonzales, but [we] have a lot of young talent. Nick Lewis and Jordan Owens are two talented underclassmen that should have good seasons,” said Andrews.
“Both [high school] teams have high expectations and have worked hard this summer. We had an awesome summer camp and the number of runners is higher than previous years, creating good depth for years to come.
“Both of our junior high teams are also loaded with ninth grade talent and will have successful seasons,” the coach concluded.