The Greenwood High School cross country team hosted its lone home meet of their season last Thursday at Bell Park. It was the fifth event for the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs this fall with only one more regular season meet remaining at Van Buren next Saturday, October 18th. The 5A West conference meet will follow at Mountain Home on the 30th before the state meet in Hot Springs on November 7th.
Head Coach Jim Andrews expects both of his teams to have good showings at the league meet before moving on to the state event. In 2024 the Lady Bulldogs finished third in conference and fifth overall in state competition. The GHS boys ran fourth in the conference meet and finished sixth in the state meet. The Lady Bulldogs won the state championship in both 2022 and 2023. This article will highlight the results from their prior events this season.
Take Flight 5K at Rogers, AR
Northwest Arkansas Community College hosted this event on September 2nd that included male runners from dozens of Arkansas junior and senior high schools. Greenwood senior Andrew Rye led the way for the Bulldogs, finishing eighth in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:33.50, earning eight points for his team. Junior Ridik Lawless wasn’t far behind in 12th place with a time of 17:50.10. GHS senior Dylan Nicholson was 25th crossing the finish line at the 18:43.50 mark. Sophomore Grant Fiala finished in 28th place with a time of 18:55.70. Running close behind Fiala was GHS teammate and fellow sophomore Dexter Coston with a time of 19:07.80.
Greenwood’s Isaac Trice ran 31st at 19:20.80 and Miles Wead ran 38th at 19:45.60. Both runners are seniors. Other GHS runners included Yadiel Rivera, Mickey-Joe Thurman, Jonah Brown, Jayden Tafoya, Garrett Wagner, and James Rust. Overall, the Bulldogs finished fourth with 96 points behind Siloam Springs (59), Gravette (63), and the Don Tyson School of Innovation (69). Pea Ridge finished in fifth place with 112 points.
Sugar Creek Showdown in Bentonville, AR
The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs were originally slated to take part in cross country events in Fort Smith and in Huntsville, Alabama a week apart in mid-September. But the Chaffee Strong event was cancelled and Greenwood decided not to travel to Huntsville, going to Bentonville’s Sugar Creek Showdown instead on September 12th. The GHS boys placed 14th out of 18 teams while the Lady Bulldogs finished fourth among 18 schools.
Camryn Coston placed 27th for the GHS ladies with a time of 20:38.75, followed by teammate Piper Ames in 39th place on the 5000-meter course. Julie Witherington was 42nd (21:16.00) and Olivia Boren ran 48th (21:44.59). The other Lady Bulldogs who competed were Mabrie Cash (56th), Gracie Goines (83rd), Meredith Finely (96th), Presley Zimmerman (106th), Olivia Weidner (117th), Kiera Johnson (118th), and Lyla Lorea (133rd).
For the Bulldogs, Ridik Lawless led the GHS pack in 94th place with a time of 18:00.14. Dylan Nicholson was next at #109 with a time of 18:21.57. They were followed by Grant Fiala (118th), Miles Wead (121st), Alec Hayward (127th), Dexter Coston (131st), Andrew Rye (133rd), Isaac Trice (139th), Yadiel Rivera (161st), Mickey Joe Thurman (166th), Jonah Brown (183rd), Jayden Tafoya (185th), Garrett Wagner (187th), and James Rust (191st).
The Cyclone Invitational at AR Tech, Russellville, AR
More than five dozen schools took part in the annual Cyclone Invitational held at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville on September 27th. Twenty-four Greenwood runners – 12 girls and 12 boys – finished the 5000-meter course for Head Coach Jim Andrews with Lady Bulldog Samantha Linn turning in the best performance, finishing 16th with a time of 20:56.20.
Linn was joined by teammates Camryn Coston (23rd, 21:32.40), Piper Ames (31st, 21:48.20), Julia Witherington (33rd, 21:50.60), Olivia Boren (34th, 21:58.10), Mabrie Cash (49th, 22:53.40), Gracie Goins (50th, 22:59.20), along with Meredith Finely, Kiera Johnson, Presley Zimmerman, Olivia Weidner, and Lyla Lorea. The GHS ladies finished third overall in the team competition with 119 points behind Fayetteville (51) and Lake Hamilton (103).
For the Greenwood boys, Andrew Rye finished in 33rd place with a time of 17:59.19, followed by Grant Fiala in 44th place with a time of 18:27.52. Other Bulldogs who competed were Dylan Nicholson (61st), Alec Hayward (73rd), Isaac Trice (94th), and Miles Wead (100th), along with Dexter Coston, Mickey Joe Thurman, Jonah Brown, Garrett Wagner, Jayden Tafoya, and James Rust. The GHS boys finished ninth overall with 248 points with Fayetteville (29) and Pottsville (105) finishing 1-2.
The Chile Pepper Festival at Fayetteville, AR
One of the premier running events every year in the Natural State is the annual Chile Pepper Festival held in Fayetteville, drawing over 200 participating schools in 2025. Greenwood was one of those schools who took part on Saturday, October 4th. The Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs offered 14 runners each. The GHS ladies finished 41st with 1155 points while the Greenwood boys placed 71st overall with 1896 points. Of Arkansas schools, Bentonville won the girls team competition and finished second among the boys.
In a race featuring almost 600 runners, Greenwood’s Samantha Linn ran 198th followed by Camryn Coston (227th), Piper Ames (275th), Olivia Boren (288th), Julia Witherington (292nd), along with Mabrie Cash, Gracie Goines, Meredith Finley, Blair Thompson, Presley Zimmerman, Kiera Johnson, Lexi Gordon, Olivia Weidher, and Lyla Lorea.
In the boys 5000-meter event, with over 700 runners on the course, the Bulldogs were led by Andrew Rye in 309th place, followed by Ridik Lawless (464th) and Dylan Nicholson (468th), along with Alec Hayward, Grant Fiala, Joshua Boren, Isaac Trice, Landon McCorkle, Dexter Coston, Jayden Tafoya, Skye Johnson, Mickey Joe Thurman, Yadiel Rivera, and James Rust.
The Thrill of the Hill, Greenwood, AR
This past Thursday the Greenwood cross country program hosted their annual meet at Bell Park, hosting over 30 junior and senior high teams from across Western Arkansas under a clear sky with temperatures in the 70s. The junior high course covered two miles, and the Greenwood boys ran seventh while the home junior high girls placed sixth overall. The high school course covered 5000 meters and the GHS varsity boys and girls both won their home event.
The Lady Bulldogs owned five of the top six spots and 10 of the top 16 to dominate the competition, posting the lowest team score by far, 15 points to 49 for Rogers High School. Greenwood’s Camryn Coston finished second (22:08.21), followed by Samantha Linn (22:15.99), Olivia Boren (22:32.58), Mabrie Cash (22:59.76), and Piper Ames ( 23:11.83) finishing third through sixth, respectively. Julia Witherington (23:22.51) placed eighth as well.
Greenwood also had a trio of ladies finish 12-13-14 and another placed 16th. Kiera Johnson ran 12th, Blair Thompson was 13th, with Meredith Finely 14th. Presley Zimmerman ran 16th while Lexi Gordon ran 24th, Olivia Weidner 31st, and Lyla Lorea finished the race in 38th place.
The GHS boys scored 25 points, followed by Rogers with 43 points and Fort Smith Northside (65 points). GHS senior Andrew Rye won the event with a first-place time of 18:05.37, followed by teammate Grant Fiala in third place (18:37.98). Ridik Lawless placed seventh (19:06.34), Dylan Nicholson 11th (19:35.55), Joshua Boren 12th (19:36.21), Dexter Coston 13th (19:38.88), with Alec Hayward placing 15th (19:46.17). The next tier of GHS runners included Miles Wead 29th, Landon McCorkle 30th, Mickey Joe Thurman 31st, and Skye Johnson 32nd. Logan Wead placed 39th, Zert Bridges 41st, Jonah Brown 50th, and James Rust 78th.
Asked about expectations for how his teams might perform last Thursday, Coach Andrews said, “It really met and in some ways exceeded expectations overall. I knew we could do well, but my girls have been working through some different things, and our guys have just been working really hard and I wanted to see how well they could do. [Both teams] did a really good job overall and had some really good times, honestly. For “The Thrill of the Hill,” that was a really good race. It’s probably one of the harder courses we run. There’s a lot of different factors that go into it, but I’m really proud of them. It was a really good day,” he added.
Upcoming Schedule
The GHS girls and boys will next compete at Van Buren this coming Saturday, October 18th, their final regular season outing before the postseason begins. “We go to Van Buren next weekend and it looks like its going to be a pretty big meet,” said Andrews. “It’s important because it’s the last big tune-up going into conference and state, so we want to do really well there.”
Greenwood’s runners will then take part in the 5A West conference meet on October 30th at Mountain Home, a course they have never run. Finally, they will run in the 5A state cross country meet to be held at Hot Springs’ Oaklawn Park on Friday, November 7th. Head Coach Jim Andrews believes both of his teams will perform well, with the Lady Bulldogs poised to challenge for another state championship. The GHS girls have three state titles in recent history in 2019 and 2022-23. A few 2025 Lady Bulldogs were also members of the 2022-23 championship teams.
Five senior girls were part of those back-to-back state title winning teams. They are Piper Ames, Julia Witherington, Camryn Coston, Olivia Weidner, and Lexi Gordon. While they were freshmen and sophomores who contributed to those teams, they are now experienced seniors who hope to repeat the magic of those championship seasons. Ames, Witherington, and Coston are expected to lead the charge in the postseason.
“Last year was a down year,” admitted Andrews. “But this year we’re hoping to rebound. Those three seniors are very seasoned and have a taste for wanting [another championship], and we’re hoping to make that happen. If everything falls into place, I believe we have just as good a chance as the other top teams in the state. We’ve got a couple of juniors that are running really well. We also have three freshmen who are helping us along the way the last few weeks. One of the big surprises is Samantha Linn. She’s got a great competitive streak in her. But we also have [freshmen] Olivia Boren and Mabrie Cash. We’ve got a good top seven or eight girls, which is really helpful.”
Andrews then addressed his boys program, which has lagged behind the ladies in postseason success. The coach has been working to build up his Bulldogs and has seen improvement in recent years, including this one. “The guys are fighting really hard and doing the best they can with the talent we have,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of good young talent, and we have about three ninth graders who have really stepped up their game the last few weeks.
Andrews continued, “I have two seniors – Andrew Rye and Dylan Nicholson – who have had great seasons. Andrew has had some medical issues he’s had to fight through, and I think he’s in a better spot now. And Dylan has had a huge season. He’s run really well and taken his personal record down by over a minute. As long as he stays healthy, he’s going to have a really good end to the season.”
The coach also identified senior Isaac Trice as a key member of the Bulldogs who has battled injuries and hopes to finish the season strong. There are also some talented underclassmen forming a foundation for the Bulldogs to build on in the future, including junior Ridik Lawless and sophomore Grant Fiala. Rye, Fiala, Lawless, and Nicholson finished first, third, seventh, and eleventh, respectively, at Bell Park last Thursday.