Cross Country Championships Today

By Henry Apple

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Rogers Heritage coach Jeff Shaw had the future in mind when he took his cross country teams to Oaklawn Park for a meet last month.

He finds out how much it will pay off today when

TODAY’S TICKET

Arkansas High School Cross Country Championships

WHERE: Oaklawn Park, Hot Springs

Race schedule

CLASS 6A: Boys, 9 a.m.; girls, 9:30 a.m.

CLASS 7A: Boys, 10:15 a.m.; girls, 10:45 a.m.

CLASS 2A: Boys, 11:30 a.m.; girls, noon

CLASS 3A: Boys, 12:45 p.m.; girls, 1:15 p.m.

CLASS 4A: Boys, 2 p.m.; girls, 2:30 p.m.

CLASS 5A: Boys, 3:15 p.m.; girls, 3:45 p.m.

they return to Hot Springs for the Arkansas High School Cross Country Championships.

“None of our runners had been there before,” Shaw said. “So it was good to get the feel of the course, and I thought it was very important to do it. We treated it like the state meet and stayed in a hotel and such.”

Heritage’s girls made the most of their first runs by winning the Lake Hamilton Invitational, defeating second-place Van Buren by a 59-77 margin. Junior Diedre Sheets led the Lady War Eagles with a fourth-place finish (19 minutes, 39.27 seconds), followed by junior Hannah Owen (sixth, 19:55.30) and sophomore Kesley Brown (20:04.89).

They will try to repeat that kind of performance again on the Oaklawn Park course, which takes place on the infield of the throughbred racing track. The course has runners go two laps on an outer course, with the second lap including an inner loop.

“It’s almost like running on a table top,” Shaw said. “The closest thing to it that we’ve run on it this year is the Chile Pepper course. There are some little hills, but it’s mostly flat. It’s not going to help or hurt our girls.”

Heritage, which won the 7A-West Conference meet last week on the, expects familiar competition to be the main threats to the state title. Rogers High, led by standout Maggie Montoya, should contend, as well a young Bentonville team.

Bentonville and Rogers are also among the top teams contending for the boys crown, but neither team has run on the Oaklawn Park course. Little Rock Catholic, another serious contender, did and won the Lake Hamilton Invitational.

“The bonus of that is that it’s not that difficult a course,” Bentonville coach Randy Ramaker said. “It’s not that easy of a course, either, with the hills and turns, but it’s going to be an exciting experience.

“A 5K is a 5K. I know there are different courses that take different thought processes when you run them. I do understand the advantage of running on a course before. But I think in a meet of this stature and magnitude — when you get out there and start competing — it won’t matter what the course is. It’s more about who you are running against and what you’re running on.”

Bentonville, the three-time defending champion, is led by sophomore Jacob Shiohira, who broke the 16-minute mark during last week’s conference meet in Rogers. He should contend for the individual title, along with Little Rock Catholic senior Noah Findley and Rogers’ Christian Liddell — provided he is at full strength.

“Will there big a huge pack up at the front? No,” Ramaker said. “I would say after the race gets settled in — after the first 200-300 meters — I think those will separate a little bit.

“Not to say, however, that after the cluster of kids up front break away, there will be a sizable mob behind that. There will be a a bunch of Rogers runners, a bunch of Bentonville runners, a bunch of Catholic runners. That’s where the race is going to be won.”

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