PREP CROSS COUNTRY: Sibling rivalry aids Tigers' cause

BENTONVILLE -- The top two runners for Bentonville's boys cross country team never have far to go to find some spirited competition.

In fact, they can just walk across the house.

Dawson and Dylan Mayberry were born seven minutes apart, but things are much closer these days for the identical twins when they are running. It doesn't matter whether they are running at a meet or just training.

"Oh man, it's pretty much every day," said Dylan, the older twin. "Even in practices, I'll go out and I'll push a rep in a workout, and he'll be right out there trying to pass me. And we'll go back and forth a little bit. It's just a typical sibling rivalry, and we're always competing in everything."

"We have to remind ourselves, every so often, that it's just practice," Dawson said. "It's not a race; it's just a workout. Just chill out. But I think it actually helps both of us. We want to beat each other so badly on the course that we end up beating everybody else."

The real winner in their battles has been Bentonville's cross country team. They have provided the Tigers with a quality one-two punch near the front of most of their races.

Bentonville Coach Mike Power wants to see that competitive nature come out of the Mayberry brothers one more time Friday as they compete in the state cross country championships, which will be held at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs.

"They help each other in a strange way, I guess," Power said. "If one wants to push the pace of a race, the other one wants to be ahead of him. That's the kind of competitive spirit they have.

"They don't like to get beaten by the other brother, and that's what fuels that brother rivalry. That's good for our team."

There are some distinctive differences between the twins. Dawson is right-handed and dons glasses, while Dylan is left-handed and wears contacts. Dawson would rather run cross country, while Dylan prefers track.

Power said he can see differences when they are running and know which one is which.

What he loves seeing more is how they have progressed during their time in high school. They finished finished seventh and 10th in the state meet as sophomore, and third and fourth during last year's race. Dawson bested Dylan each time.

"They've been great additions to our team," Power said. "They have been progressively getting better, and that's what I like to see -- that constant and consistent progression over the years.

"Their freshman year, they weren't the best freshmen out there but they were very good. They have been determined enough to keep training hard and keep moving up the ranks in the state and doing well. They made a decision in their sophomore season to jump up with those older guys and be part of that environment."

Dawson experienced what it was like to not have Dylan pushing him earlier this season. Dylan had to be quarantined just before the Chile Pepper Invitational because he was in close contact with another student who tested positive.

Dawson ran one of his better races that day. He used a push during the final 800 meters to become the first Bentonville runner to win at the Chile Pepper, finishing with a time of 15 minutes, 15.72 seconds.

"I had to sit out for two weeks and run on my own," Dylan said. "It wasn't very fun, especially watching Dawson just destroy at that meet. I wasn't very happy about it."

Dylan responded by winning the 6A-West Conference individual meet, using his strong kick near the final 800 to beat Jack Williams of Fayetteville by five seconds.

Dawson had to deal with the cold weather and mist fogging his glasses, as well as issues to his legs. He finished fourth, and wasn't pleased with the result.

"I got kind of mad because I didn't do well," Dawson said. "Having a bad day happens every so often, I know that. Still, I couldn't help it."

Friday will mark the sixth time the twins will run on the Oaklawn course. Their last effort turned out to be a one-two finish last month during the Lake Hamilton Invitational.

They know they need that kind of performance again to extend Bentonville's string of state championships to four.

"The course, for us, is a pretty fast course," Dawson said. "We have experience with the course, so we know what we need to do to win.

"I feel like I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Dylan said. "There are still some aches and pains, here and there, from conference. But those will be gone by the time state rolls around."