ROGERS -- Michelle Fyfe saw the lead Camren Fischer had during the 7A-West Conference cross country meet and simply told him to have fun on the course.
The Fayetteville sophomore had a blast Tuesday afternoon, despite the above-average temperatures. Fischer pulled away from the rest of the field after the opening mile and led the Purple'Dogs to the team title on the Rogers High course.
7A-West Conference cross country championships
at Rogers High
Boys
Team scores — 1. Fayetteville 35, 2. Rogers High 42, 3. Bentonville High 59, 4. Springdale Har-Ber 95, 5. Bentonville West 149, 6. Van Buren 180, 7. Springdale High 191, 8, Rogers Heritage 200.
Individual results — 1. Camren Fischer, Fayetteville, 16:05.6; 2. Diego Contreras, Rogers, 16:27.2; 3. Anton Michna, Fayetteville, 16:32.6; 4. Johnathan Prince, Bentonville, 16:45.0; 5. Jessie Ramirez, Rogers, 16:46.1; 6. Ben Farrell, Fayetteville, 16:53.0; 7. Juan Gomez, Har-Ber High School 16:53.5; 8. Braden Sell, Rogers, 16:55.3; 9. Cole Smith, Bentonville, 16:56.7; 10. Sandro Ramirez, Har-Ber, 16:59.0; 11. Nicholas Pilkington, Fayetteville, 17:04.7; 12. Noah D. Smith, Rogers, 17:08.4; 13. Coleman Wilson, Bentonville, 17:13.3; 14. Carter Betts, Fayetteville, 17:16.1; 15. David Salinas, Rogers, 17:18.4; 16. Carter Quandt, Bentonville, 17:21.4; 17. Kimball Owen, Bentonville, 17:24.2; 18. Tyler Bender, Rogers, 17:28.0; 19. Nathan McSpadden, West, 17:38.0; 20. Nick Lachance, Bentonville West, 17:46.1.
Girls
Team scores — 1. Bentonville High 36, 2. Fayetteville 48, 3. Rogers High 50, 4. Rogers Heritage 141, 5. Springdale Har-Ber 149, 6. Springdale High 156, 7. Bentonville West 172.
Individual results — 1. Halle Gilreath, Rogers, 19:42.9; 2. Aubre Gilreath, Rogers, 19:50.6; 3. Rebecca Boushelle, Fayetteville, 19:55.1; 4. Sophie Quandt, Bentonville, 20:05.9; 5. Alexis Doyle, Bentonville, 20:09.9; 6. Emily Efurd, Rogers, 20:13.1; 7. Rachel Allen, Fayetteville, 20:17.5; 8. Tori Willis, Bentonville, 20:29.0; 9. Katie Andrews, Bentonville, 20:38.0; 10. Kaitlyn Christensen, Bentonville, 20:38.2; 11. Corrie Purcell, Fayetteville, 20:44.0; 12. Krista Herlin, Bentonville, 20:50.3; 13. Aubrey Hardcastle, Fayetteville, 20:52.8; 14. Morganne Browning, Fayetteville, 21:01.3; 15. Julianne Dillon, Har-Ber, 21:05.1; 16. Katy Kotoucek, Bentonville, 21:11.8; 17. Alex Mastorides, Bentonville, 21:21.7; 18. Grace Litzinger, Fayetteville, 21:25.4; 19. Katarina Michna, Fayetteville, 21:35.1; 20. Bri East, Bentonville, 21:37.6.
Fischer finished with a time of 16 minutes, 5.6 seconds over the 5-kilometer course, almost 22 seconds faster than runnerup Diego Contreras of Rogers.
"We were feeling good out there," Fischer said. "We prepared this week. We took things a little bit easier and didn't have a super-hard week because we knew this was a big race for us. Our legs were fresh, and everything was feeling good."
Fischer's performance was just the start for Fayetteville, but the Purple'Dogs picked up key performances from a pair of freshmen in order to win a close three-team race. Anton Michna turned in a third-place finish at 16:32.6, while Carter Betts -- who was moved up just before the conference race -- was Fayetteville's fifth runner and 14th overall.
The Purple'Dogs claimed the team title with 35 points to 42 for second-place Rogers, who matched Fayetteville with three runners in the top 10. Bentonville High was third at 59, while Springdale Har-Ber and Bentonville West rounded out the top five at 95 and 149, respectively.
"Camren is a great kid and a great runner," Fyfe said. "You get blessed with that as a coach every so often, and he's been a gift for us. I said have fun. He was leading by 150 meters at the time, and I said to have fun. He said OK.
"Anton did his job out there and killed it, and another freshman came up and finished fifth because our normal fifth runner didn't have a good day. Carter had to come in and step up, and we needed every point. Rogers is a good team on its home course, and they have those three boys that run together."
Home-field advantage proved to be beneficial for Halle Gilbreath, who took the lead near the halfway point and never relinquished it en route to the 7A-West girls individual title.
Gilbreath crossed the finish line in 19:42.9 and beat her previous best time by about 30 seconds. She was almost 8 seconds faster than her twin sister Aubre, which gave the Lady Mounties a one-two finish.
"It was a great race and a great way to finish my senior year on this course," Halle Gilbreath said. "My biggest chance is I'm very mental, although we run on this course almost every single day.
"I'm still somewhat negative, but coach Efurd has taught us to be more positive when we are running. I trusted my training, and I knew I had to go out there in a positive way."
Bentonville took the team title for a third straight season with 36 points, followed by Fayetteville with 48 and Rogers with 50. The Lady Tigers, however, had to turn to different runners to be their leaders.
Senior Sophie Quandt had Bentonville's best time and finished fifth in 20:05.9, 4 seconds faster than teammate Alexis Doyle. Sophomore Tori Willis, the Lady Tigers' normal leader, stumbled to eighth, while teammates Katie Andrews and Kaitlyn Christensen rounded out the top 10.
"It's a good thing we have some depth as a team," Bentonville coach Randy Ramaker said. "If we were limited to five girls, we wouldn't have won. That depth came in to play.
"You never know what's going to happen in a race. It wasn't our best performance, but it still was a win. We'll take that and be happy with it."
Sports on 11/02/2016