GHS cross country runners making noise this fall

GHS cross country runners making noise this fall

The Greenwood High School cross country teams, both at the varsity and junior high levels, are making some noise as their season is nearly its end. All four teams recently competed in two meets. The first was the renown Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville on October 5th. Last Saturday Greenwood competed at Van Buren. All teams are coached by Jim Andrews.

Chili Pepper

Greenwood ran in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on October 5th in Fayetteville and brought home the school’s first Chile Pepper team championship, earned by the junior high Lady Bulldogs.

Their race was on a two-mile course with a field of 632 runners, and Greenwood had two junior girls finish in the top 10. Madelyn Wilkinson came in third with a time of 12:15, and Paige Andrews finished ninth with a time of 12:37.

Wilkinson and Andrews were followed by teammates Elizabeth Merritt (12:55), Elizabeth Moy (13:14.1), Kaitlynne Elmore (13:14.6), Ashley Koeth (13:49), and Carole Werner (14:11), with a combined score of 87 to win the team title.

The junior high boys also competed on the two-mile course in a field of 766 participants, and two Greenwood freshmen finished in the top ten. Noah Embrey ran ninth with a time of 10:40, followed by Gavin Ciesla in 10th place at 10:47. 

The GHS varsity girls competed in the El Caliente race (5K), with Taylor Koeth finishing in 19:34 and Macie Cash in 20:18. No results were available for the varsity boys.

“It was really exciting to see the junior girls win Chile Pepper,” said Coach Andrews. “It is one of the largest meets in the state, and teams come from not just Arkansas, but Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri.”  

Van Buren

The Lady Bulldogs won first place as a team, capturing the top three positions on the leader board. Taylor Koeth ran first, followed by Madelyn Wilkinson second, and Macie Cash in third place.

Kaitlynne Elmore also finished ninth and Ashley Koeth placed 11th to round out the scoring for the Greenwood varsity girls. The senior boys had one runner finish in the top 15, Jordan Owens, who ran 14th.

Both junior high teams excelled, with the Jr. Bulldogs placing second and the junior high girls finishing third. For the boys, Noah Embrey ran first, followed by Joshua Merrit (4th) and Gavin Ciesla (7th). Paige Andrews ran fifth for the junior high girls, while Elizabeth Merritt was sixth, Elizabeth Moy was eighth, and Carole Werner ran 13th.

This past Tuesday at Bell Park both junior high teams competed in the River Valley Conference meet. The two varsity squads will travel to Vilonia next Tuesday for the 5A West Conference meet. The state XC meet is set for November 9th at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.

Cross County Schedule

Cross County Roster


Archive

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