Davis fights the wind, sets record

ROGERS — Rogers cross country Coach Carlton Efurd took one look at the cold, blustery weather conditions Saturday morning and told his runners not to expect a fast race.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Alex Davis of Plainview (Okla.) set a quick pace, took control near the midpoint and held off Rogers’ Maggie Montoya in a course-record time of 17:50.81 to win the girls race in the 18th annual Arkansas-Oklahoma All-Star Cross Country Invitational.

“These conditions, a 35-mph wind out of the south. I’d say ‘no way,’ ” Efurd said. “They told me the time and I said ‘wow.’

“The girl from Oklahoma, she looked tough.”

Montoya, the Class 7A Arkansas state champion, ran her best time (18:08.51) on the Rogers course, but it was not enough for the individual victory.

Arkansas won the girls team challenge, 74-97. Arkansas placed six runners among the top 10.

Montoya, who will compete in the Foot Locker South Regional against runners from 14 states in two weeks, was taking Saturday’s race as a “hard training run,” Efurd said.

“We didn’t really want to take off three weeks,” Efurd said.

But it quickly turned into much more.

Montoya, a junior, said her legs were tired after running a 3.1-mile race on a tough hilly course at the state meet a week ago. By comparison, Oklahoma girls run only 2 miles in cross country.

“I stayed with her the first mile and then I let her go after the moguls,” Montoya said. “She gained some distance and I closed at the end, but not as much as I should have.”

Davis, who won the Class 3A state championship and the Oklahoma Meet of Champions, said she felt strong even though it was her first 5K cross country race of the season. Davis, a junior from Ardmore, Okla., remained undefeated in 14 races and will run in the Nike South Regionals next week at The Woodlands, Texas.

Tanner Satterthwaite of Norman (Okla.) won the boys race by 9 seconds over Christian Heymsfield of Elkins to lead Oklahoma to the team victory, 70-109. Oklahoma placed six runners in the top 10.

Satterthwaite, who won the Oklahoma Meet of Champions, led for most of the race. Heymsfield said he was part of a group of four or fiverunners that broke away from pack after the first mile.

“He was just better than me,” said Heymsfield, who won the Class 3A title for the third consecutive year. “I definitely ran as hard as I could and I’m happy with that.”