GHS cross country season ends at state and regional meets

GHS cross country season ends at state and regional meets

The 2021 cross country season came to an end this past week for the Greenwood Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs and Head Coach Jim Andrews. The varsity boys and girls competed in the Class 5A state meet held yearly at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs last weekend, November 6th, and two GHS runners (All-State performers Noah Embrey and Carole Werner) also competed in the annual bi-state competition between Arkansas and Oklahoma this past Saturday, November 13th.

The Arkansas vs. Oklahoma All-Star meet was held this year at Rogers, Arkansas. The course was five kilometers long and 54 male athletes competed against each other. Runners from the Sooner state had the three best times and filled the top three slots, with Arkansas runners taking the next seven spots (4-10).

Overall, the Wonder state won the meet with a low score of 76 points to 113 for Oklahoma. Greenwood junior Noah Embrey finished ninth in the standings with a time of 16:24.41, or about 31 seconds off the winning time of 15:52.58 run by Oklahoma’s Nathan Deboutez.

Likewise, the Arkansas ladies bested their Oklahoma counterparts, winning 77 to 100, with 37 girls taking part in the competition. Greenwood freshman Carole Werner ran sixth overall with a time of 19:28.60 over the 5K course. The best time of 17:59.39 was turned in by Oklahoma’s Liesel Kehoe.

Coach Andrews had words of praise for both his runners. “Carole and Noah did great. [Greenwood was] well represented. Carole ran another personal best [time], and Noah ran a great race to end the season.” Both runners will return next year, and Werner will be around for three more seasons.

5A State Meet, Hot Springs

A week prior to Saturday’s bi-state competition, the GHS girls and boys traveled to the Spa City for the biggest competition of the season, the Class 5A state meet, held on the infield at Oaklawn Park. According to Coach Andrews, the weather was nearly perfect for the event, and both GHS teams acquitted themselves well, especially considering their overall youth. The Lady Bulldogs placed fourth and the boys were eighth.

The GHS girls have practically owned the state meet the past couple years, winning the 5A title in 2019 and finishing as runners-up in 2020. This year’s fourth-place finish reflects the departure of some key upperclassmen and the emergence of their younger replacements, and there is a wealth of fresh talent on the horizon, according to Coach Andrews. This year’s varsity squad had only one senior.

Leading Greenwood at the state meet was ninth-grader Carole Werner in 5th place with a time of 19:44.58, almost exactly one minute off the winning time turned in by Lake Hamilton’s Olivia Pielemeier (18:44.61). Up next for the Lady Bulldogs was Madelyn Wilkinson, a junior, finishing 19th with a time of 21:10.80.

A trio of GHS lady runners finished 42-44 including Kaitlynne Elmore (22:05.09), Haylee Young (22:05.41), and Ashley Koeth (22:07.26), all juniors. Sophomore Paige Andrews ran 60th (22:53.00), sophomore Amiela Morgan placed 88th (24:05.54), sophomore Maddie Cash ran 95th (24:15.56), and senior Abi Coston was 97th (24:17.06) in a field of 158 runners.

Mountain Home, also a member of the 5A West conference with Greenwood, won the girls’ state title, narrowly edging Lakeside High School by two points. Lake Hamilton was third, followed by Greenwood in fourth place and Benton High School in fifth place.

In boys’ state competition, Noah Embrey placed 14th for the Bulldogs with a time of (16:53.32). The next three GHS runners finished in a cluster between 46-50, including freshman David Coggin (17:52.04) at #46, followed by senior Trey Merreighn (17:54.30) at #47 and junior Joshua Johnson (18:01.08) at #50.

Greenwood’s last five competitors were freshman Rhett Williams (19:09.08 – 86th), freshman Westin Rushing (19:17.54 – 90th), junior David Ambriz (19:41.50 – 109th), freshman Pablo Ambriz (20:01.61 – 119th), and junior Hudson Trice (20:43.73 – 138th). Over 200 runners competed in the race.

In the team competition the Bulldogs placed eighth out of 26 teams, or the upper one-third in a race dominated by teams familiar to Greenwood fans. Lake Hamilton finished first with Mountain Home second, Russellville third, and Siloam Springs fourth. Lakeside High School was fifth, followed by Vilonia, Little Rock Christian, and Greenwood. The GHS varsity boys had three seniors this season, but only one of them competed in the state meet, a further testament to their overall youth and potential.

“I was pleased with the effort they gave,” said Coach Andrews of his Lady Bulldogs at state. “We probably finished about where we’ve been all season. I thought they ran really well, but we had a few setbacks. We had some people get sick at conference and some small injuries. But Carole Werner [set] a personal record. I think they will come back a lot hungrier next year. They have something to prove and several of them told me so.

“Our guys [also] did pretty well, but they are still young,” the coach added. “Of our nine [runners], we had six personal [best] records. We have a tough competition level among the guys. There’s a lot of great teams in our conference and state. We raced four freshmen at this meet, four juniors, and one senior. It’s really encouraging to see how they competed.”

5A West conference meet

On October 26th both GHS varsity teams participated in the 5A West conference meet at Vilonia, with the Lady Bulldogs placing second in the girls’ competition and the Greenwood boys coming in fifth. Both junior high teams also competed for Greenwood, with the junior girls, who dominated all season, finished first, while the junior boys placed fifth. Mountain Home won both the girls’ and boys’ conference championships.

For the varsity girls, Carole Werner ran sixth (20:01.50) to lead a trio of Greenwood runners who finished in the top ten, including Madelyn Wilkinson (20:48.30) in eighth place and Paige Andrews (20:56.70) in ninth place. Kaitlynne Elmore (21:54.20) ran 20th, while Haylee Young (21:59.40) was 24th and Ashley Koeth (22:15.60) was 25th. Also competing for the GHS girls were Amiela Morgan (40th), Abi Coston (41st), Maddie Cash (48th), Addie Williams (60th), and Elizabeth Moy (71st). On the girls’ side, 107 runners competed.

For the Bulldogs, Noah Embrey ran second overall with a time of 16:13.50, about a half-minute off the winning pace set by Mountain Home’s Andrew Westphal (15:43.70). The GHS boys had only one other top 25 finisher in freshman David Coggin, who placed 22nd with a time of 17:59.20.

Senior Trey Merreighn placed #33 with a time of 18:12.20, followed by Joshua Johnson at #35 with a time of 18:16.90. Rhett Williams was 57th at 19:14.70 and Westin Rushing was 63rd at 19:36.90. David Ambriz ran 66th with a time of 19:43.00, Hudson Trice was 73rd at 20:10.90, and Pablo Ambriz was 77th with a time of 20:26.50. GHS sophomore Christian Wheeler ran 83rd finishing the course in 21:08.90 while junior Lucas Wittig ran 97th at 22:58.10. Senior Rhett Clements finished 99th with a time of 23:07.30 in a field of 107.

Junior high results

Also at the 5A West conference meet, for the Greenwood Junior High girls, grades 7-9, Piper Ames ran second, Julia Witherington ran fifth, Bailey London ran eighth, Lexi Gordon 11th, Ishita Kanitkar 13th, Annalise Johnson 17th, Myah Lawrason 20th, Sarah Embrey 23rd, Camryn Coston 31st, Olivia Weidner 40th, Sarah Wiser 50th, and Kelsey Copher 76th out of 95 total runners. The Greenwood girls easily bested second place Vilonia for the conference championship, remaining unbeaten on the season.

For the Greenwood Junior High boys, Andrew Rye led his teammates with a 12th place finish, followed by Braylon Neece (17th) and Ashton Neece (18th), and Ridik Lawless (24th). William Rupert was next in 31st place, along with Caleb Schaefer (47th), Isaac Trice (49th), Hayes Ciesla (56th), Kobe Lewis (75th), Raden Rosa (79th), Noah Myers (84th), Hudson Nichols (85th), John Eckart (89th), Luke Eckart (91st), Issac Meyers (100th), and Thomas Ross (101st) out of a field of 127 runners. The Greenwood boys placed fifth overall.

Prior to competing in the 5A West conference meet, both Greenwood junior high squads also hosted the River Valley Conference championships on October 21st at East Hills Middle School. Both Greenwood teams came away with their respective RVC titles in hand.

The boys’ results for Greenwood included: (1st) Andrew Rye, (4th) Ashton Neece, (5th) Braylon Neece, (7th) Will Rupert, (8th) Rodin Lawless, (9th) Isaac Trice, (10th) Caleb Schaefer, and (12th) Hayes Ciesla.

The girls’ results included: (1st) Piper Ames, (2nd) Julia Witherington, (5th) Lexi Gordon, (6th) Ishita Kanitkar, (8th) Bailey London, (10th) Sarah Embrey, (12th) Olivia Weidner, (13th) Annalise Johnson, (15th) Camryn Coston, and (16th) Myah Lawrason.

“We did really well,” said Coach Andrews of his two junior high squads. “In the River Valley area we’ve been pretty successful with both the girls and boys. They ran well this season. The girls finished the season undefeated. They won every meet they went to, and that’s a big accomplishment, racing against bigger schools at some locations, and the 5A West is a tough conference. That just shows the kind of growth we had and the potential we have in girls’ cross country over the next few years.

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