The Greenwood Junior High boys blew away the competition and won the River Valley Conference cross country meet last week, while the Greenwood junior girls finished third. Jim Andrews is the head coach for all Greenwood cross country teams, both junior and senior high.
“Our junior boys just ran away from the competition,” said Andrews. “They did have to work hard, and it wasn’t until the end that they made their move.”
The meet honored the top 25 finishers in each race, and Greenwood had 11 of the top 20 with other runners right on the cusp of the top 25. The Jr. Bulldogs won the meet by a large margin over second place Van Buren.
Greenwood’s Nick Lewis finished 2nd, Joshua Merritt 4th, Trey Merreighn 7th, Jay Wright 8th, Derrick Willson 9th, Gavin Ciesla 13th, Noah Embrey 14th, Jordan Owens 17th, Riley Farr 18th, Trey Smith 19th, and Antonio Martinez 20th. “It was great seeing so many runners come home with medals,” said their coach.
“Our girls finished the season well and competed hard,” he continued. Madelyn Wilkinson finished 1st overall in the conference meet. Kaitlynne Elmore placed 9th, Madeline Ciesla 17th, Ashley Koeth 18th, and Abi Coston 19th. “Many of our girls ran well and finished on a high note. They’re young and should be better in the coming years,” he added.
The GHS varsity girls’ and boys’ teams are also preparing to compete in the conference meet at Russellville. “We will see where we're at with the rest of the competition,” said Coach Andrews.
“We have a challenging conference, but the team seems to be loose and running well. The atmosphere at practice has light and energetic. They’ve been working hard and seem to be geared up for the next two weeks.
“Our conference has been a reflection of state the last couple of years,’ said Andrews. “Our conference has produced the state [champ] and runner-up over the last four years.
The state cross country meet is held every year at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. The date for this year’s competition will be Friday, November 3rd.