Montoya Misses On Three-Peat At Chile Pepper

SOUTHLAKE CARROLL CRUISES TO TEAM TITLE

Maggie Montoya of Rogers High crosses the finish line to take sixth place in the high school girls 5,000-meter run of the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville.
Maggie Montoya of Rogers High crosses the finish line to take sixth place in the high school girls 5,000-meter run of the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville.

— Bad timing might have played the biggest part in preventing Maggie Montoya from a third consecutive title at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival.

Montoya, a senior at Rogers High, had won the event’s senior high girls 5K invitational run the last two years in convincing fashion. But when trying for a three-peat Saturday at Agri Park, Montoya felt the effects of a recent illness and had to settle for a sixth-place finish with a time of 18 minutes, 30.8 seconds.

“This was my worst run here, worse than even my freshman time,” Montoya said. “I had been sick all week, and I guess I’m not fully recovered.

“It’s very disappointing. I was kind of battling it, but with a mile left, I just knew that I had to finish. I just have to recover now and get ready for conference and for state.”

While Montoya was unable to continue her hot streak at the Chile Pepper, the Southlake (Texas) Carroll team had no trouble further establishing itself as the premier program at the event. Carroll won the girls invitational team title for the second consecutive year and third time in the past four years, dominating the field with five of the top 10 runners overall.

Carroll was so dominant, in fact, its ‘B’ team finished second overall with 170 total points behind the school’s top team, which scored 22.

Courtney Kriegshauser, a senior at Carroll, won the girls 5K with a time of 17:55.1.

“The goal for us every race is to win as a team,” Kriegshauser said. “But every race, I visualize winning it myself with my team right behind me. So the goal is for my team and for myself.

“At the beginning of the year, we were a little apprehensive because we had lost five seniors from our top seven. But we’ve had girls from the JV last year to girls who were right on the edge last year stepping up.”

Rogers Heritage was the top Northwest Arkansas team, finishing fifth overall with a 191 score. The Lady War Eagles had three runners finish in the top 30, including Deirdre Sheets in 11th, Hannah Owen in 26th and Kesley Brown in 29th.

“It was a pretty good day,” said Jeff Shaw, Heritage cross country coach. “We were hoping for a top five finish, but we had finished seventh or eighth last year so our goal is to be one of those top teams representing Arkansas.

“We feel like we’re going to be one of the teams at conference and at state and we expect to do well there.”

Rogers High finished seventh overall, just two points behind Heritage, and Bentonville was eighth overall with 246.

Fayetteville placed 13th, Siloam Springs finished in 27th and Springdale Har-Ber came in at 30th in the team standings.

Chile Pepper High School Girls 5K Invitational

Team Results

  1. Southlake (Texas) Carroll 22

  2. Southlake (Texas) Carroll ‘B’ 170

  3. Ladue Horton Watkins 183

  4. Plano (Texas) West 189

  5. Rogers Heritage 191

  6. Rogers High 193

  7. Mustang High 213

  8. Bentonville 246

  9. Edmond (Okla.) Santa Fe 392

  10. St. Agnes High 396

Individual Results

  1. Courtney Kreigshauser, Southlake Carroll 17:55.1

  2. Antigone Archer, Southlake Carroll 18:00.7

  3. Nicole Lee, Clinton 18:00.9

  4. Emily Helms, Mustang 18:25.7

  5. Jackie Choucair, Hockaday School 18:26.9

  6. Maggie Montoya, Rogers High 18:30.8

  7. Elena Arriaza, Southlake Carroll 18:39.0

  8. Shelby Chapin, Southlake Carroll 18:46.4

  9. Mayson Morrissett, St. Benedict 18:46.4

  10. Katie Burnham, Southlake Carroll 18:50.5

  11. Deirdre Sheets, Rogers Heritage 18:52.2

  12. Brigette Caruthers, Branson 18:57.4

  13. Penny Taylor, Boswell 19:10.1

  14. Kyra Fuller, Mustang 19:13.3

  15. Caroline Cook, St. Agnes 19:15.6

  16. Taylor Ullman, Southlake Carroll 19:16.6

  17. Valerie Bradley, Plano West 19:16.7

  18. Sarah Cory, Southlake Carroll 19:17.5

  19. Morgan Spychalski, Bentonville 19:20.3

  20. Maddie Keen, Southlake Carroll 19:23.6

For complete results, go to www.branchsportstech.com

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