HOT SPRINGS - El Dorado competed in the 6A State Cross Country Championships Friday at Oaklawn Park. The Wildcats finished eighth in the team standings.
Lake Hamilton claimed the team championship followed by Benton, Greenwood and Siloam Springs.
“I was proud of all the kids out there with an El Dorado Wildcat uniform today,” said El Dorado coach John Koonce. “All of the runners have steadily improved all year long and they ran just about as well as they could today. Their times weren't as good this week as they were at conference, but that is because this is a more challenging course. If you look back at the results from the Lake Hamilton Invitational that was ran three weeks ago on the same course, almost every kid improved 30 seconds to a minute. That can be attributed to focus, and the commitment to improvement that these kids have shown.”
El Dorado was led by Alexander Jimenez, who was 18th out of 109 runners. Jimenez ran a time of 18:32.30.
J.D. Halstead was 39th with a time of 19:31 and Brooks Coan finished 48th with a time of 19:42.
“They are three guys that have managed to stay healthy most of the year and you can see a steady progression for them throughout the year,” said Koonce.
Jadon Cunningham (19:46), Ruben Berruguen (20:15), Hayden McDiarmid (20:26), Carson Ricker (22:09) Collin Taylor (22:36) and Ian Hernandez (24:22) rounded out the Wildcats.
“Jadon and Ruben were our four and five guys, who were both coming off of injuries, and managed to run solid races to help us in the team score,” said Koonce. “Our sixth runner, Hayden McDiarmid, was right behind Ruben and he is another kid that has improved all year long. We were rounded out by Carson, Collin, and Ian who all represented the team well. The best thing about the boys team is that they weren't satisfied after the race. A lot of the guys were talking about what it is going to take to knock off the teams that finished ahead of us in the team standings. Every single boy on the team is coming back next year and I believe that the best is yet to come for all of these guys.”
El Dorado’s Sally Senn finished 65th out of 90 runners in the girls competition with a time of 25:40.10.
“Sally Senn was our lone competitor in the girls division. She is also the only senior in the program,” said Koonce. “She will be sorely missed next year because she always works hard and she does so with a great attitude.”