For El Dorado, running in the Lake Hamilton Invitational cross country meet on Saturday wasn’t about medals. It was about competition.
Coach John Koonce lined his athletes up against the best runners, not only in the state, but the region and was happy with their performance.
“This meet was strong even for the LHI standards. There were 13 kids that ran a time fast enough to earn US Milesplit All-American status. Jadon Cunningham ran a very solid 17:44 and came in 66th. That lets you know all you need to know about just how strong that field was,” Koonce said.
“There were nearly 600 competitors in the varsity boys’ division and close to 400 in the girls’ division. So, the kids had to face this race differently from a strategic standpoint. If you get boxed early on, you have to expend a lot of energy regaining the grouping you need in the race. I think a lot of our runners got trapped early and paid for it.”
There were 1,568 runners who completed the four races, including 579 in the senior boys’ division.
The Wildcats’ Jadon Cunningham led his squad, finishing 66th with a time of 17:44.28. John David Halstead was 178th (19:10.93) followed by Rodrigo Torres (260th), Eloy Rodriguez (289th), Calvin Huang (379th), Alvin Gonzalez (467th) and Aleck Ramirez (557th).
Melanie Miller led the Lady Wildcats with a finish of 198th followed by Addyson Taylor (275th), Priya Dod (310th), Eliza Brewster (323rd) and Iankel Gonzalez (328th).
Barton’s Clarabeth Black led the junior girls with a showing of 35th out of 281 competitors. She was followed by Carly Meadows (68th), Madeline Kneeland (99th), Hadley Margis (110th), Haven Margis (139th), Aubree Ezell (140th), Aubree Orr (193rd), Layla Webb (201st), Crystal Flores (208th), Katelyn Hayden (215th) and Hannah Gatson (222nd).
Barton’s boys were led by Jay Cooper Reep, who finished 62nd out of 343 runners. Jacob Neugebauer was 97th followed by Nic Harvey (188th), Jynickalus Wilson (209th), Zachary McMillon (216th), Tony Vartenian (243rd), Hunter Nutt (252nd), Ismael Gonzalez (285th), Michael Moore (308th), Eli Rodriguez (324th), Carson Chambers (325th) and Lex Nash (341st).
“We go to this race for two reasons - to let our runners get accustomed to the state meet's course and to gauge where we are in terms of the elite teams out there. This meet included not just the best teams in Arkansas, but top teams out of Tennessee and Louisiana as well,” said Koonce.
“While we are improving as a team, we still have some ground to make up to keep up with those high level teams. I know the meet motivated me and I hope it motivated the athletes as well. I believe that we can get to the point where there are kids in the Wildcat uniform going up there and laying down an All-American-level time to compete with that front pack.”
Parkers Chapel’s Ali Looney finished 69th in the field of 365 senior girls with a time of 22:22.80. Kenlee McAuliffe was 338th and Madison Sullivan finished 339th).
The Trojans were led by Spencer Frisby, who finished 378th in senior boys. Korbin McAuliffe (404th), Wyatt New (477th) and Payten Tompkins (562nd) rounded out PC’s runners.