Evans, Heymsfield Thump Competition

Shiloh Christian cross country runner Andrew Evans was named All-Northwest Arkansas Small School runner of 2009.
Shiloh Christian cross country runner Andrew Evans was named All-Northwest Arkansas Small School runner of 2009.

— Shiloh Christian’s Andrew Evans picked up some pretty good hardware this fall.

Evans first won the singles championship at the Class 4A State Tennis Tournament and the senior backed that title up by defending his Class 4A state cross country championship a few weeks later.

Evans blistered the course in Mountain Home in a time of 17 minutes, 4.44 seconds. He cleared the finish line 25 seconds ahead of teammate Lucas Peiser as the Saints won the team championship with 25 points.

For his running efforts, Evans is the All-Northwest Arkansas Small Schools Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Elkins’ Grace Heymsfield won the Class 3A cross country championship for the fourth consecutive time and is the Small Schools Girls Runner of the Year. Heymsfield won the state meet with a time of 19:55.12 as the Lady Elks captured the Class 3A team title.

Evans, who won the 2008 Class 4A meet in a time of 16:59, said there are challenges in competing in two sports during the same season.

“It’s pretty hard to play two sports at the same time,” Evans said. “But, you have cross country in the morning and tennis in the afternoon. There weren’t meets or matches on the same day. I just had to prioritize my time well.

“I had to make sure I had time for homework and all the other stuff besides tennis and cross country.”

Evans had to think a moment when asked what his favorite sport was before finally settling on cross country.

“I like cross country better,” Evans said. “There isn’t as much pressure. You just go out there and run. I’ve played tennis forever and I like running. I just want to do both.”

While happy with the individual title, Evans said winning the team championship last month was the No. 1 priority. Four of the first five runners across at the state meet were from Shiloh.

“We just ran at the front the whole race,” Evans said. “It worked out pretty well. We were trying to get the top spots and that’s what we did and that was pretty cool.”

Heymsfield dominated Class 3A the past four years and her first-place finish last month was nearly three minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. She ran a 18:24.48 at the Chile Pepper Festival in October.

“She is a remarkable young lady and a great athlete,” said Elkins coach Beverly Mabry. “It’s been an honor to coach her.”

Upcoming Events