ROGERS -- The temperatures hovered in the low 40s, and cold rain descended upon a soggy Rogers High course last week as runners took part in the 6A-West Conference cross country championships.
A majority of those runners would have preferred better conditions, but for Rogers High junior Ali Nachtigal, they couldn't have been much better.
"I just run better in the cold," she said. "I don't know what it is. I've just never been that good of a heat runner because I get light-headed and other stuff. Colder weather is where I really thrive."
Nachtigal admits she also thrives in bigger meets, and they don't get any bigger than today's races. Runners from all classifications will be on the Oaklawn Park infield in Hot Springs to take part in the Arkansas high school cross country championships.
A victory in the Class 6A girls race would give Nachitgal her third individual championship, a feat last performed when Elise Reina did it for Springdale Har-Ber in 2013-15.
"(Former Rogers and Baylor runner) Maggie Montoya only got two, and I thought she had won three," Rogers coach Carlton Efurd said. "It would be a pretty big goal. That's something that doesn't happen very often, and there haven't been very many opportunities for a girl to win three."
Nachtigal said she still doesn't know how she won her first title two years ago because all she wanted to do was catch teammate Emily Efurd, who is now at Arkansas State. Nachtigal eventually passed Efurd and won the 5,000-meter race with a time of 19 minutes, 25.1 seconds, while Hailey Day of Rogers Heritage -- who is now Nachtigal's teammate at Rogers -- finished 7 seconds later.
Nachtigal then did it again last year, despite the sloppy conditions on the infield. Her time wasn't that far off, finishing in 19:26.4, but her margin of victory grew to almost 16 seconds.
"That first title was God-given," she said. "I was just amazed, being a freshman. At first, I wanted to catch Emily, then after I passed her I thought I needed to win it for the team and give the team the points. The next year, I thought it would be crazy if I won two in a row, but it happened again. I'm just blessed every time I get it.
"That course is flat, and I like flat courses. There is a part of the back of the course where it gets super quiet, and I do like that sometimes. You get a moment to think to yourself, and that's where I try to pick things up and go."
While a third straight state title would be nice, Nachtigal admits she has her eyes on a much bigger prize. She wants to do whatever she can to help her team win a state championship -- something Rogers' girls haven't done since 2011.
With Nachitgal leading the way, the Lady Mounties have come close. They finished as the state runnerup the past two years and finished just nine points behind Bentonville in last year's race.
"She's always a competitor, and that's what I like about Ali," Efurd said. "When it comes to big-meet time, she's all in. She even gets better when the competition gets bigger.
"She's obviously more experienced now and a more seasoned runner. She knows how to run races and figure out her own strategy, like in the conference meet. She changed her strategy in the middle of the race when she saw how the meet was going to run."
At A Glance
ARKANSAS HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
WHERE Oaklawn Park, Hot Springs
LAST YEAR’S WINNERS Boys — 6A-Bentonville; 5A-Lake Hamilton; 4A-Huntsville; 3A-Cave City; 1A/2A-Ouachita. Girls — 6A-Bentonville; 5A-Siloam Springs; 4A-Harrison; 3A-West Fork; 1A/2A-Melbourne.
SCHEDULE Class 4A boys, 9 a.m.; Class 5A boys, 9:30 a.m.; Class 4A girls, 10 a.m.; Class 5A girls, 10:45 a.m.; Class 6A boys, 11:30 a.m.; Class 1A/2A boys, noon; Class 6A girls, 12:30 p.m.; Class 1A/2A girls, 1:15 p.m.; Class 3A boys, 2 p.m.; Class 3A girls, 2:30 p.m.
NOTABLE A new schedule format is being used this year. The new format gives the coaches who oversee both boys and girls teams a better way to manage both teams. … Lake Hamilton has won six consecutive state titles, the longest string of any boys teams. … Siloam Springs has the longest run of any girls team with five straight state crowns. … Little Rock Central has the most boys state titles with 22, but the Tigers haven’t won since 1982. … Rogers has the most girls titles since 17, but the Lady Mounties haven’t won one since 2011.
Preps Sports on 11/09/2019