The Greenwood Junior High boys' and girls' Cross Country teams won the RIver Valley Conference championship last week at Fort Smith's Ben Geren Park.
The Greenwood girls were led by Madelyn Wilkinson, who finished first overall. Kaitlynne Elmore was right behind her, finishing third.
Austin Maxwell, Ashley Koeth, and Paige Andrews finished sixth, eighth, and ninth, respectively. Maddie Cash wrapped things up for the Lady Bulldogs finishing 23rd. Along with winning the conference championship, everyone in the top 25 earned a medal.
The Junior Bulldogs also captured their share of the River Valley Conference crown, their second consecutive league championship.
Greenwood was led by Joshua Merrit, who finished second. A number of teammates finished close behind him, including Noah Embrey (3rd), Gavin Ciesla (4th), Trey Merreighn (5th), Jordan Owens (6th), and David Ambriz (9th).
Brayden Sanders finished 14th while Brendon Hoskyn and Shane Debar finished in 17th and 22nd place, respectively. Brandon Coston finished things up for the Jr. ‘Dogs at 23rd. Like the girls, everyone that finished in the top 25 earned an individual medal.
Both the junior high and varsity cross country teams are coached by Jim Andrews, who said, "We have a really good and deep junior high team, which speaks well of the future of the program."
The varsity boys and girls will be competing this week (Thursday) in the conference meet at Siloam Springs before running in the the state meet on November 2nd at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.
"We are having a great season," said the coach. "Our numbers have been good and the athletes are giving it their best. We [heading] into the championship part of our season, [and] we're gearing up for a good finish. All the runners are doing well and working hard.
"On October 25th we go to Siloam Springs and face our new 5A West conference teams, and [it] will be challenging," said Andrews. "In senior high we have some of the fastest girls in our conference. I feel like Taylor Koeth and Macie Cash [need] to have good races going into the final part of the season. I feel confident they will too.
"Nathan Gonzales and Nick Lewis will also be challenged and should do well. I [think] we are getting close to being at our best for [these] meets, and that's what's important at this time of year," concluded Andrews.