The Greenwood High School cross country teams open their season this coming weekend at the Ouachita Baptist University Invitational in Arkadelphia on Saturday. It will be the first of four Saturday races in five weeks including both varsity and junior high teams. The younger kids will run on the 10th against Fort Smith Northside at Ben Geren Park, and both junior and senior high squads will compete on the 17th at Siloam Springs in the Panther Invitational. Two weeks later all GHS runners will take part in Fayetteville’s Chile Pepper Festival on October 1st.
Head Coach Jim Andrews is high on his program, especially his varsity girls, and believes the future is bright indeed for all his GHS runners. His optimism is based on two primary reasons – a winning tradition built up over the past few years, including a state championship for the Lady Bulldogs, and the large number of kids coming out for cross country this year.
Andrews currently has 22 boys and 18 girls on his varsity roster, plus 28 boys and 18 girls on his junior high teams. He also has an official assistant coach for the first time with the recent hiring of Becky Ames, who was already employed at East Hills Middle School in Greenwood and has a daughter that runs as well.
“I just now got an assistant,” said Andrews when asked about Ames. “The first 11 years [I’ve coached] I’ve not had an assistant. But [Dr. Smith] saw how hard we worked, and the numbers being what they’ve been the last few years, it’s really hard to continue to have success with that many runners without someone to help out.
“[Becky] has a runners’ background and a daughter in the program, and being female too, it just made good sense. She helped me at run camp at the end of July, which was kind of nice.” That camp is held annually at Eagle Rock, Missouri, and has been a good team building activity the past few years.
“She’s probably going to work primarily with our female runners and our junior high [kids],” said Andrews of his new assistant. “I will probably work with most of the varsity runners, but there will be times when she will work with our female [varsity] runners.” The Lady Bulldogs have been very strong in recent years and 2022 looks to be no exception to that trend.
Andrews spoke to the Greenwood Dog Pound last month to offer a preview of the coming season and talk about some of his more exciting runners and their expectations and hopes for 2022. He began by addressing a pared down schedule that features fewer meets than in past years, designed to give his athletes a little more rest during the season.
“We cut back on how many meets we were attending,” said the coach. “We’re just trying to help those kids be a little more race ready, to help them rest and focus more on training this year. In senior high we’re trying to race in meets that will give us good competition as we head into conference and state, to see how we match up.
“Last year we went to Memphis [in early September], but this year we’re going to race at OBU in Arkadelphia so we can run against some of those teams from South [Central] Arkansas like Lake Hamilton and Benton.” After the Chile Pepper event Greenwood will host its only home meet of the season on Thursday, October 6th, at Bell Park, and will include both junior and senior highs runners. Eight days later, on the 14th, the junior high team will compete at Van Buren, with the GHS varsity going to Lake Hamilton on the 15th. The conference meet, date and location to be determined, follows soon thereafter with the 5A state meet set for November 3rd at Hot Springs’ Oaklawn Park.
Asked about their pre-season preparations, Andrews said, “Since after Memorial Day we’ve run together and these kids have been really dedicated and put in a lot of good work. We’ve changed some of the things we’ve done to focus on long and intensive runs, and they’ve worked hard together. They’ve been accountable to themselves even when I’m not there, which is nice.” Andrews also mentioned that several of his runners competed in the annual 5K race held in conjunction with Freedom Fest on July Fourth, which fell during the mandatory dead period under Arkansas Activities Association rules.
Asked about his numbers this season, Andrews said, “I think the roster has over 75 kids on it, junior high and varsity. Included among those names are eight seniors, five boys and three girls. The Bulldogs are led by long-distance runner extraordinaire Noah Embrey, followed by fellow seniors David Ambriz, Joshua Johnson, Trice Hudson, and Lucas Wittig. The Lady Bulldogs have a trio of talented senior leaders including Kaitlynne Elmore, Ashley Koeth, and Madelyn Wilkinson.
Asked about his top male runner, Noah Embrey, Coach Andrews said, “I think Noah has just been very consistent. He had a great track season and finished well, and he’s just kept that going. Looking at him right now he’s looking really strong overall. I think he’s going to be there right at the top, but there will be some guys that will push him. I think he’ll be in the top 10% in the state across all classifications, and I believe he’s still getting better. He’s going to be fun to watch this season. He has a few colleges that are interested,” he added, referring specifically to OBU and Arkansas State in Jonesboro. “He’s such a smart guy that he will get some money academically [too].”
As for other boys who will surround Embrey, Andrews said, “I think Josh Johnson will be someone that will help the team, along with [sophomore] David Coggin. They are both returning this year and will compliment [Noah]. They have worked really hard, and then we have some younger [runners] that were with us last year.
“I think David Ambriz has worked hard as a senior and he might possibly contribute. [Sophomore] Rhett Williams will help us I think, and there are some others like [sophomore] Westin Rushing that scored some points for us last year at state.
“Overall, we’re still [young] with a lot of ninth and tenth graders. Our tenth graders are really great guys and a few of the ninth graders may help us in the end, but they still have a ways to go and some growing up to do. There are a lot of guys that are very similar, [but] any of those [sophomores] could help us on any given day.” There are no juniors on the boys varsity roster, but there are 12 sophomores and five freshmen.
The team’s five freshmen include Hayes Ciesla, Ashton Neece, Andrew Rye, Isaac Trice, and Dylan Nicholson. The dozen sophomores are Rhett Williams, Carson Thornberry, Jameson Stewart, Westin Rushing, William Rupert, Raeden Rosas, Braylon Neece, Isaac Myer, Kobe Lewis, Landon Alexander, David Coggin, and Pablo Ambriz.
Turning to the varsity girls, Andrews has several budding stars on his roster in addition to the three seniors, Elmore, Koeth, and Wilkinson. Just three years removed from a state championship in 2019 and a runner-up finish in 2020, the Lady Bulldogs are loaded and poised to make a state trophy run once again.
“They’re all pretty strong,” said the coach of his three seniors who were freshmen on the 2019 state championship team. “Kaitlynne has had a great summer session. Madelyn has been very busy. She’s a good, talented, multi-sport athlete. She’s not only running for us, but she was doing soccer camp at the same time and practicing basketball for Coach [Clay] Reeves. She’s into everything and she’s really coming on strong. She’s going to be one of our team leaders. Then Ashley [Koeth] and Kaitlynne have had solid summers. Kaitlynne wants to run on the next level (college), so she’s trying to showcase her talent, and I think she will do well at the next level.”
But the supporting cast around those three seniors could make the difference between winning another state title or falling short. Among those potential difference-makers are the coach’s own daughter, [junior] Paige Andrews. “Paige has worked hard. She’s looked good and been pretty consistent all summer,” said her dad.
“Then we have sophomore Carole Werner, who was in the top ten in state last year. She’s had some great times and I think she’s going to be one of our top girls. Then we have [sophomore] Haylee Young who’s worked really hard running together with Kaitlynne, and [sophomore] Elizabeth Moy who is catching on and getting better.
“Then we’ve got two good freshmen in Piper Ames and Julia Witherington and some others who could give some big efforts, like Olivia Weidner, Lexi Gordon, or Ishita Kanitkar. They have the ability to be really good if they push themselves. Camryn Coston is another multi-sport athlete who also plays volleyball. It will be hard for her to juggle, but she’s going to do the best she can. When she’s out there she works hard like all of them.
“I told [them] this summer, everybody has a role on this team, you’ve just got to figure out what it might be,” said the coach. “You might not be super successful at the finish line, but you’re still going to be there to give support to help us get to the finish line and help our team get better. We don’t want anyone to get discouraged. We want them all to understand their place on the team. We’re going to have fun and race to our most optimal level. We want to have the best team from the very beginning. We’re looking forward to it. I’m getting excited.”
“Every one of our girls and guys look stronger now than they did last year. They look strong. They look fit. They’re working hard and starting to see good results, which makes them want to work even harder.