FAYETTEVILLE — A little downhill momentum and a brisk wind was all Valerie Reina needed Tuesday afternoon at the 7A-West Conference Girls Cross Country Meet at Agri Park.
Reina and Maggie Montoya of Rogers High were neck-and-neck the first 2 miles, but Reina turned on the gas on a downhill slope with the wind at her back and the Springdale Har-Ber junior easily won the race in 18 minutes, 25.1 seconds.
Montoya had beaten Reina in their last two head-to-head meetings but finished second with a time of 18:47. Kate Bucknam of Fayetteville was with the leaders early and finished third in 19:07.1.
Montoya was one of three Lady Mounties in the top 10 as Rogers easily won the team title with 38 points. Bentonville used a sixth-place finish from Tayler Estrada to finish second with 54 points.
Reina finished a disappointing 19th on the same course at the Chile Pepper Festival, finishing almost a minute behind Chile Pepper winner Montoya.
But the Har-Ber junior decided to hang with the Montoya until the final mile before pulling away.
"Right before we turned down the hill, and I thought if I could get a little momentum then I could get a lead and try and hold it," Reina said. "The whole race I kept telling myself I had to stick with her to the end. I wanted to outkick her at the end, have more energy.
"It was nice to come out here and do good. It's a big confidence-booster heading into the state meet."
Montoya twisted an ankle last week and missed three days of practice. Her time Tuesday was almost a minute slower than her winning time at the Chile Pepper.
"The ankle is better now, but missing three days really hurt me," Montoya said. "The wind was tough and I couldn't find any energy (the last mile)."
Rogers coach Carlton Efurd said he expects another wire-to-wire race from Reina and Montoya at the state meet on Nov. 6 in Rogers.
"When Valerie made the downhill turn at the end with the wind at her back, she just took off," Efurd said. "Maggie wasn't ready to go with her. Valerie ran a great race. Maggie missed three days of practice, so she was a little off today. I expect her to be ready at the state meet."
Rogers' Erica Owen also ran a strong race and finished fourth in 19:10.8 Carlee Rodriguez finished ninth for the Lady Mounties while Jordan James and Ashley Randels were 11th and 12th, respectively.
"We were trying to win the conference today and we did that," Efurd said. "Erica ran a great race, she really closed the gap on Bucknam."
Rogers Heritage finished in third place after Hope Burrell, Dani David, and Deirdre Streets all had top 10 finishes.