BENTONVILLE'S COUNTER MOVE FOILS FAYETTEVILLE'S STRATEGY

Camren Fischer saw the muddy conditions and chose to sacrifice the Oaklawn Park course record in order to help his Fayetteville teammates try to win the Class 6A boys cross country title. The plan almost worked, except Bentonville High's boys figured out the Bulldogs' strategy and found a counter move for it. The Tigers had all five runners place in the top 10, and it was enough to claim their second consecutive title and seventh overall. Bentonville, who won the 6A-West Conference title by a two-point margin last week, scored 28 points in the meet while Fayetteville was right behind with 33. "Those boys really grouped up well," Bentonville coach Mike Power said. "We knew it would be a bit slower, and we figured Fayetteville's strategy out pretty well. They were mentally prepared for it. "It was getting a little close there at the end. We had a good finish by some of the senior boys, and they came through at the end. It was a really exciting finish." Fischer, who ran his final high school meet inside the state borders, won the individual title for a third straight time. The senior covered the 5,000 meters in 16 minutes, 19.9 seconds -- almost a minute slower than his time at the 6A-West meet last week. He used the deliberately slower pace to help set the pace for teammate Carter Betts and others. "It was all about the team," Fischer said. "We wanted that team title. I was focused around the title, and nothing about me. Obviously, I was going to do my best, and it was going to come down to strategy. "I would have liked to have the state record, but you can't always have it. I tried to take it easier today and came across the mile in 5:20, which is my tempo pace for a training run. I had my teammate with me and about 1 kilometer left and started picking it up a little." While Fischer put distance between him and Betts, Bentonville junior Lukas Pabst picked up his pace and passed Betts on the final stretch. Pabst's time was 16:27.1, slightly more than a second ahead of Pabst, while Tiger teammate Daniel Graham finished fourth at 16:32.5 Coleman Wilson was Bentonville's third runner and finished fifth, while twin brothers Dawson and Dylan Mayberry took seventh and 10, respectively. Springdale Har-Ber was third in team scores with 87, while Rogers and Conway both had 129. Class 5A It's a new classification for Lake Hamilton, but the outcome turned out the same. The Wolves placed three runners in the top 11 en route to their sixth straight title. Lake Hamilton finished with 53 points, followed by Mountain Home with 88 and Siloam Springs with 137, six points ahead of Russellville. Dominic Ward of Greenbrier claimed the individual title with his time of 16:46.1, more than 16 seconds faster than runnerup Kazdyn Chandler of Nettleton. Colby Swecker, last year's 6A champ, was the first of three Lake Hamilton runners at 17:09.3, followed by William Swecker (ninth, 17:29.5) and Skylar Davis (11th, 17:34.6). Class 4A Huntsville placed four runners in the top 10 and captured the first cross country state title in school history. The Eagles finished with 43 points while De Queen finished second with 61. Pea Ridge was a distant third with 134, one point ahead of Berryville. Jacob Braswell led Huntsville with his second-place finish as he had a time of 17:30.1, almost a second faster than De Queen's Hector Hernandez. Colton Edens took fourth for Huntsville, followed by Jett Loenneke and Tanner Barbee, who finished eighth and 10th, respectively. Parker Ables of Heber Springs took the individual championship as he covered the course in 16:53.5. Class 3A Cave City placed four of its five runners in the top 10 and the Cavemen captured their second straight state championship. Cave City finished with 33 points, while West Fork was a distant second with 110, 23 less than Little Rock Episcopal Collegiate. Lexington Hilton of Green Forest earned the individual title with his time of 16:38.8. Fischer Miller led Cave City with his second-place finish at 16:45.8, followed by Luke Walling (third, 16:50.2), Kendall Townsley (fifth, 17:31.1) and Caleb Anderson (seventh, 18:01.). Class 1A/2A Justice Neufeld of Acorn held off Jacob Tyburski of Haas Hall-Bentonville and claimed the individual title by a 6-second margin. Neufeld finished the course in 18:06.1 , while Tyburski's time was 18:12.2. Ouachita claimed its second straight team title with 89 points, followed by Quitman with 123 and Haas Hall-Bentonville with 133. The Warriors were led by Ethan Wilson and Tanner Wilson, who finished ninth and 10th, respectively.

BENTONVILLE'S COUNTER MOVE FOILS FAYETTEVILLE'S STRATEGY

Photo Credit: Richard Rasmussen

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