Four divisional races took place around the outskirts of Perryville High School on August 30. Among the 25 schools in attendance, Mansfield High School made the longest trip to open the 2022 cross country season.
Perryville, a class 3A participant, openly invited an abundance of large size schools. Mansfield, a class 2A cross country school, saw the likes of Benton, Conway, Hot Springs, and Little Rock Catholic among other higher classification schools in attendance.
Mansfield fared well despite the big school competition and the high heat overwhelming the afternoon events.
Tigers Laney Wood, Rylan Jones, and Joey Wiiliams all finished inside the top ten for their respective races. Sporting less than five person scoring teams at each level other than the junior boys, the Tiger units could not score as a team.
Mansfield’s junior boys were the only squad with the required number of runners to qualify as a team. The young Tigers didn’t disappoint as they finished as the third best team on the night.
Catholic easily took the team title with 29 points and an average time of 10 minutes for the 1.7 mile race. Conway came in second with a 10:31 average. Mansfield closed with an 11:08 average for their scoring five.
Williams led the junior Tigers with a 10:06.20 clocking. He finished in 8th place overall. Younger brother Gunner Williams received 12th place points at a time of 10:30.20.
Mansfield’s other junior boy scorers included Jonah Martin (16th), Hunter Whittaker (39th), and Braxton Bartlett (47th). Joseph Carter (58th) was the lone displacer.
Sophomore Laney Wood came across in tenth place for the senior girls. The 2021 All-State runner struggled somewhat with the high temperatures. She took the reconstructed course in 12:29.40.
Senior Jadelynn Wood, Laney’s older sister and a River Valley All-Star participant from last season, finished outside the medals in 14th place position. Her measurement was timed at 13:02.50.
Newcomer Rylan Jones, a seventh grader, snuck into the top ten among the junior girls. The first time distance racer completed the 1.7 mile course in 12:42.20 for 9th place.
Neither of the MHS girl teams qualified for the team scoring. Both squads were hamstrung due to running mates that double as volleyball players. A host of those dual sport Mansfield athletes stayed home for a conference game at Tiger Gymnasium.
Austin Ruiz was the lone senior high competitor for the Tiger men. Just a sophomore, the first time distance runner came in 23rd place.
There were 119 recorded finishers in the senior boys race.
Ruiz would have earned a second place medal had the scores been divided into big school and small school outcomes.
Mansfield’s Trinity Triska along with running mates Wood and Wood would have fared similarly had the divisions been split in the senior girls race as well. The trio of Lady Tigers would have each received top 10 medals for small school top tier finishes.
Sophomore Ashley Martin and seventh grader Lilly Young were the only other runners that competed for Mansfield. The team's complete roster is expected to expand as other runners have begun working into the rotation.
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