HOT SPRINGS -- The rest of Class 6A will not miss Josie Carson.
Carson, a senior from Lake Hamilton, won her fourth consecutive girls individual title Friday afternoon, running the Oaklawn Park infield course in 19 minutes, 18.9 seconds.
The girls 6A race was the last event of the day, and Carson wanted her time to be the best of Friday's six meets. She was seven seconds better than any other runner.
"I did want to run a little bit faster to get a [personal record]," Carson said. "But with the heat today, I think what I ran today was the best I could have done. I did want to go for the best time of all the races, and I did do that."
Benton senior Gracie Hyde turned in the third best time (19:30.5) of the day and finished second to Carson.
"It was great to have someone like [Hyde] to run with because we can both help each other get our best times," Carson said. "I knew I'd have to really want it in state to beat her. It feels great. The last 800 [yards] I decided I'm really, really going to do this."
Hyde won the Class 4A meet in 2016 while running for Lonoke.
Carson's time Friday was her best in her four years of running the state meet. Her previous best was 19:25.2 during her sophomore season.
Siloam Springs won the team title with 59 points. Russellville grabbed the runner-up trophy with 92 points.
Ruthy Ryan claimed the Class 5A individual title with a time of 20:13.9. A year ago, Ryan finished fourth.
"I didn't have anything left at the end, but I told myself I had to go all out," said Ryan, a sophomore at Harrison. "I wanted this so badly, and I was able to turn it on."
Ryan improved her state meet time from a year ago by 37 seconds. She held off Little Rock Christian junior Allison Risius, who ran the race in 20:19.0.
Little Rock Christian cruised to the team title, placing three runners in the top 10 and scoring 46 points. Vilonia (101) edged out Batesville (104) and Valley View (104) for the runner-up trophy.
Prairie Grove junior Bekah Bostian won the Class 4A event in 20:03.9. She had placed second to Hyde a year ago.
Bostian said she was pleased with Friday's time.
"I was expecting to go a little faster but I might have killed my chances of that by sprinting too much at the beginning," Bostian said. "I got burned out a little. That hill at the end [of the course]. It's kind of tough having to sprint up that hill. Other than that, it's a pretty nice course."
Bobbie Johnson, a freshman from Huntsville, finished second in 20:22.4.
Heber Springs claimed the team title with a score of 126. West Fork was second with a 131.
Kiley Webb, a freshman from Melbourne, earned Class 3A individual honors with a 20:00.6 finish. She was 56 seconds better than runner-up Moraylia Huaracha, a freshman from Elkins.
Genoa Central won the team title with 58 points. Runner-up Green Forest came in with 111 points.
Running in only her second cross country event ever, Haley Gentry was an easy winner in the 2A/1A event.
Gentry, a freshman from West Side Greers Ferry, captured individual honors with a 20:24.2. Her time was 1:08 better than runner-up Haley Trawick, a sophomore from Quitman.
Gentry had also won her previous cross country meet, a district race at Quitman.
Quitman was the team winner, scoring 49 points. Runner-up Acorn compiled 105 points.
Sports on 11/04/2017