BENTONVILLE -- Randy Ramaker looks at his runners this fall and knows what kind of success they enjoyed on Bentonville's track teams last spring.
Whether they can duplicate that in cross country -- where the race distances are longer and the tracks aren't oval and flat -- remains to be seen.
At A Glance
Bentonville 2014 Cross Country Schedule
Aug. 23^Tiger Pride 5K
Sept. 6^at Elkins Invitational
Sept. 20^at Missouri Southern Stampede, Joplin
Sept. 27^at Rim Rock Classic, Lawrence, Kan.
Oct. 4^at Chile Pepper Festival, Fayetteville
Oct. 28^7A-West Conference Meet, Rogers
Nov. 8^at Class 7A State Meet, Hot Springs
"It's a longer race, and there are a lot of other mental things that are involved in that," Ramaker said. "It's fun because it's not necessarily a speed component, but it's carrying that speed over a longer distances.
"That's what we will be trying to do. Last year, especially on the girls side, we didn't do that well in the final mile of the race, but we are working hard to take care of that. We'll see if that will pay dividends down the road."
Bentonville's girls have five of their top six runners back from a team that led after the first 2 miles of the Class 7A state meet before dropping to a fourth-place finish. Katie Andrews had a 15th-place finish last fall, followed by Emily Davis (19th), Carly Flinn (20th), Sophia Quandt (23rd) and Cami Hedstrom (25th).
The Lady Tigers still remain young as Andrews and Quandt are sophomores this fall while the other three are juniors. Elizabeth Quinn, whom Ramaker said ran a "decent 2-mile" during track, will assume the senior leadership role as the younger runners try to build on what they did last year, while Victoria Mitchell -- a good miler as a freshman but who is recovering from a soccer injury -- Katie Kotoucek and Carmen Hedstrom could also contribute.
"That season of cross country was good for them because it did built them up enough to where their track season was better than their cross country season," Ramaker said. "So now, from that standpoint, we're hoping they can take that confidence in track and carry it over to cross country.
"Whether it happens or not is yet to be told. Many of the parts are still there, so for them it will be refocusing themselves on a longer race. In my mind, the biggest change on this year's team is the girls are more mature, they understand the work involved and they should have some confidence out of track."
Meanwhile, the person who might be the leading boys runner this fall didn'trun for the Tigers last year. The early candidate for that role appears to be senior Josh Kruse, who ran for Mountain Home and finished 11th in the Class 6A state meet last fall before he moved to Bentonville and ran track.
He will be joined by fellow senior Cameron Hill, an all-state performer last year and one of the leaders this year. Juniors Ryan Graziani and Miguel Contreras, as well as senior Chase Smith, all return after they finished in the top 15 last year.
"This team, early on, is still trying to find its way a little bit," Ramaker said. "We have a lot of good kids, but they still have to find more direction, motivation and determination to do some great things.
"After Cruse, it's going to be a series of five or six runners. Nathan Ley and Graziani ran pretty good in the 2-mile last year, then it could go to a Cameron Hill and a Chase Smith."
Many of the cross country runners will take part in the Bentonville Tiger Pride 5K run next weekend before the regular season kicks off Sept. 6 with the Elkins Invitational.
Sports on 08/17/2014