BENTONVILLE -- Jonathan Prince admitted the transition from ninth-grade cross country to the high school ranks appeared scary at first when the preseason workouts began in August.
"Going from a 2-mile race to a 5K, that's about 1.1 more miles to run," the Bentonville sophomore said. "It was something I needed to face head-on, though, and I did. It's just another step in my future and moving up in the ranks to where I want to go.
All-NWA Media Cross Country Boys Newcomer Of The Year
Jonathan Prince
School: Bentonville
Class: Sophomore
Height: 6-0
Notable: Earned all-state honors with his seventh-place finish in the Class 7A State Meet in Hot Springs, where he finished with a time of 16 minutes, 8.5 seconds. … Also finished seventh in the 7A-West Conference meet and was the top sophomore in both races. … Best time was at the Chile Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, where he finished with a time of 16:08.
"My expectations for myself was just to do as well as I could and not try to worry about doing this amount or this time. I wanted to do what I could then keep going up with my times and work my rear end off."
All Prince needed was just one big race to prove he could do it, and that happened to be the Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo. He went from a respectable 21st-place finish in that September race -- a time that shocked him -- and went on to earn All-State honors with his performance in the Class 7A State Meet in Hot Springs.
Those performances also helped Prince be selected as the Newcomer of the Year for boys cross country for the larger schools by NWA Media.
"Coming into the season, we knew that Jonathan was going to be in our mix, depending on if he could stay healthy," Bentonville coach Randy Ramaker said. "He started out OK, then pushed himself a little more and a little more.
"The Missouri Southern race was the first one where he got out there and did some things, and it was even unexpected of him. He's a good kid and a good runner, so it was no surprise that he did as well as he did."
Prince finished with a time of 16 minutes, 45.63 seconds in Joplin, and he continued to improve from there. His best race time came at the Chile Pepper Invitational, where finished the course in 16:08, and he picked up a seventh-place finish at the 7A-West Conference meet in Rogers with a time of 16:22.8.
That led to his performance in the Class 7A state meet. Prince again finished seventh, but his time of 16:08.5 almost matched what he had done at the Chile Pepper. He was less than three seconds behind teammate Josh Kruse, who finished fifth, and he was the top sophomore in the meet.
"I went to every practice and worked as hard as I could, and I believe I got to where I wanted to go," Prince said. "I got to the point where I felt I had given my all.
"I think the season was great and a lot of fun. It was hard work, then it paid off by having fun at the meets. We ran the way we were supposed to run, and I made sure I was ready to run my race and run my heart out."
Sports on 12/27/2014