The 2025 Arkansas high school cross country season concluded last week for both GHS squads led by Head Coach Jim Andrews. Last Friday the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs competed in the Class 5A state cross country meet at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, and the GHS ladies led the way with a top three finish. The Greenwood boys also faired well, placing seventh overall. But before reaching the state level both GHS squads competed at Van Buren and in the 5A West conference meet.
Van Buren Classic
On Saturday, October 18th, Coach Andrews accompanied his runners across the Arkansas River into Crawford County to Van Buren’s annual cross country classic for both junior high and high school runners. Among their 13 varsity runners, the Lady Bulldogs had five top 25 finishes while the 17 GHS varsity boys who competed had one top 20 runner and a dozen top 100 finishers. Overall, hundreds of athletes took part in the event that featured a 5000-meter course for high school runners and a two-mile course for junior high athletes.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Camryn Coston led the way by finishing 10th (20:54.72) overall, followed by Olivia Boren in 14th place (21:10.61). Samantha Linn ran 19th (21:39.81) and Julia Witherington placed 22nd (21:56.25) while Mabrie Cash finished in 23rd place (22:05.22). The next tier of GHS ladies included Gracie Goines in 31st place (23:13.98), Piper Ames 34th (23:22.81), and Blair Thompson 38th (23:41.16). Kiera Johnson ran 44th (24:02.34) and Presley Zimmerman placed 45th (24:05.55). The final trio of Lady Bulldogs included Lexi Gordon in 57th place (25:24.49), Olivia Weidner 63rd (26:17.85), and Lyla Lorea 74th (28:58.87).
For the GHS boys, Andrew Rye had the best finish in 18th place (17:30.04) while teammate Ridik Lawless ran 38th (18:23.73). Grant Fiala finished 53rd (18:45.84), Dylan Nicholson 56th (18:47.64), Joshua Boren 57th (18:48.40), and Alec Hayward 59th (18:51.19). The next GHS duo included Isaac Trice in 71st place (19:25.77) and Miles Wead 75th (19:31.93).
Rounding out the top 100 among the Bulldogs were Dexter Coston in 85th place (19:59.98), Skye Johnson 88th (20:18.81), Landon McCorkle 96th (20:58.36), and Mickey Joe Thurman in 97th place (20:59.97). The final five Bulldogs to cross the finish line included Zert Bridges who finished in 101st place (21:26.59), Logan Wead who placed 103rd (21:37.50), Jonah Brown 109th (22:07.86), Jayden Tafoya 117th (23:14.05), and James Rust in 124th place (26:36.24).
In junior high results, Greenwood’s girls had seven runners finish in the top 50, led by Madelynn Erickson in 20th place (14:15.62). Next came Ragean Dutton in 30th place (14:46.95), Kynzie Maness 33rd (14:57.00), Katie Jo Pace 34th (14:57.20), Claire Smith 42nd (15:21.88), Capri McClendon 44th (15:24.04), and Haddie Trice in 47th place (15:34.27). The Greenwood junior high boys had seven runners that finished in the top 75, paced by Jonah Hadaway in 32nd place (12:16.46). He was followed by Rhyder Brazel in 54th place (13:08.24), Gracin Fiala 59th (13:15.23), Braeden Erickson 65th (13:27.37), Paxton Ames 71st (13:32.80), Issac Leonard 72nd (13:33.17), and Connor Chambers in 75th place (13:41.32).
5A West Conference Meet
The 2025 5A West conference cross country meet was held on Thursday, October 30th at Mountain Home, a course that Greenwood’s athletes had never run. Yet the Lady Bulldogs finished third overall while the GHS boys placed fourth out of an eight team field. The GHS girls had eight runners finish in the top 25 while the Bulldogs had 10 top 50 runners. As expected, Mountain Home won both the girls and boys competition on their home course.
Fourteen Lady Bulldogs competed at Mountain Home with Camryn Coston finishing 6th with a team-best time of 20:25.61. She was followed by Samantha Linn in 9th place (20:56.70) with Julia Witherington running 15th (21:21.82), Olivia Boren 16th (21:22.79), and Mabrie Cash 18th (21:56.95).
Three GHS ladies finished in the 20s, led by Piper Ames in 20th place with a time of 22:03.60. Piper’s mother, Becky, serves as a volunteer assistant coach for Greenwood. Meredith Finely finished in 21st place (22:06.87) while teammate Blair Thompson ran 25th (22:24.48). Kiera Johnson placed 38th (23:42.33), Lexi Gordon 39th (23:45.85), Presley Zimmerman 42nd (23:56.34), Gracie Goines 45th (24:12.42), Olivia Weidner 61st (26:49.36), and Lyla Lorea 65th (28:33.59).
For the Bulldogs, Andrew Rye led the GHS pack in 7th place with a time of 16:57.97. Teammate Grant Fiala ran 18th (17:36.85), Alec Hayward 27th (18:12.78), Ridik Lawless 35th (18:49.02), Dexter Coston 36th (18:49.19), and Miles Wead in 37th place (18:52.91). Four GHS boys finished in the 40s, led by Dylan Nicholson in 40th place (19:00.36), Isaac Trice 44th (19:11.14), Joshua Boren 45th (19:13.12), and Landon McCorkle in 49th place (19:43.33). The remainder of Greenwood’s boys finished in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Skye Johnson placed 56th (20:10.01), Mickey Joe Thurman 57th (20:11.75), Zert Bridges 63rd (21:00.48), Logan Wead 67th (22:00.17), Jonah Brown 73rd (23:15.84), Jayden Tafoya 75th (23:20.06), and James Rust 79th (25:46.41).
In junior high, Greenwood’s top four female runners included Madelynn Erickson in 18th place (14:07.86), Kynzie Maness 27th (14:39.93), Ragean Dutton 36th (15:01.88), and Claire Smith 37th (15:02.38). For the junior boys, five Greenwood runners placed in the top 50, led by Jonah Hadaway in 27th place (12:43.29), Gracin Fiala 40th (13:16.66), Rhyder Brazel 44th (13:26.03), Paxton Ames 47th (13:31.36), and Jace Skinner in 50th place (13:35.40).
Class 5A State Meet
This past Friday, November 7th, nine GHS girls and nine boys competed in the Class 5A state cross country meet held every year at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. Coach Andrews and his Lady Bulldogs harbored hopes of returning to the winners’ circle this season as they did in both 2022 and 2023 as back-to-back state champions, and they nearly did, falling 13 points behind first-place Mountain Home (86) and seven points behind runner-up Russellville (92). All three schools are from the 5A West.
Greenwood’s 99 points were good enough for third place with Lake Hamilton (120) coming in a distant fourth while Vilonia (128 points) finished fifth. Siloam Springs came in eighth, giving the 5A West half of the top eight teams among the ladies. The GHS boys did well also, finishing seventh overall with 239 points behind first-place Mountain Home (30), Siloam Springs (92), Hot Springs Lakeside (146), Little Rock Christian (174), Valley View (210), and Russellville (217). Once again, the 5A West was heavily represented with four of the top seven teams.
The Lady Bulldogs competed in a field of 22 teams that featured 198 female runners, with five GHS ladies finishing in the top 25 with two more placing in the top 50. Piper Ames led the way in 17th place with a time of 21:09.59. She was followed close behind by teammate Samantha Linn in 19th place (21:19.89), Julia Witherington 20th (21:21.12), Olivia Boren 21st (21:25.40), and Camryn Coston 22nd (21:30.51). Mabrie Cash ran 40th (22:29.58) and Meredith Finely placed 50th (23:00.88). Greenwood’s final two competitors included Blair Thompson in 63rd place (23:19.68) and Olivia Weidner in 177th place (29:45.45).
In the boys 5000-meter run, in a field of 25 teams and 229 runners, the Bulldogs had one top 20 finisher, a pair of top 50 runners, and five who finished among the top 100, led by Andrew Rye in 16th place. Rye turned in an excellent time of 17:18.36 to pace his teammates. Grant Fiala placed 32nd with a time of 17:53.49, followed by Alec Hayward (18:26.46) in 51st place. Ridik Lawless ran 68th with a time of 18:47.76 while Joshua Boren (89th) had a time of 19:12.91, rounding out the top four for the Bulldogs. Greenwood had three runners finish close together in the next group of ten, including Miles Wead in 102nd place (19:33.10), Isaac Trice 107th (19:38.17), and Dexter Coston 108th (19:38.89). Dylan Nicholson came in 159th place with a time of 20:58.83.