On the heels of a very productive cross country season, Mansfield continues to keep the home fires burning by hosting the 2022 Farm Bureau River Valley All-Star race on Saturday, November 12. The 10:00 AM start along the MHS campus will bring together 50 of the top small school distance runners in the greater River Valley area for a two race lineup.
Among the top 25 women and top 25 men invited to participate will be Mansfield products Joey Williams, Laney Wood, and Jadelynn Wood. On the short list of alternates that have potential to move up to All-Star status are three more Mansfield players. Trinity Triska, Raine Hecox, and Jonah Martin are on that waiting list.
This is the fourth consecutive year Mansfield has elected to play host to this exclusive event. As the original brainchild of Magazine Coach Randy Bryan, the postseason finale is conducted one week after the state finals. It brings together some of the best small school runners from classifications 1A - 4A for one last competition for the season.
Farm Bureau Insurance agent Roger Thompson is the exclusive sponsor of team uniforms and awards for the FBRV All-Stars. The River Valley FCA and the Mansfield FCA Huddle group will provide the post race All-Star luncheon.
A larger radius of schools stretching from DeQueen to Clarksville was included in the invitation pool. A weekly watchlist was generated from that collection of 35 schools. As the weeks moved along and top times were monitored. A final ranking of seasonal bests was established after the state meets last Thursday and Friday to determine the final invite list.
The Top 25 women accepting invitations will run the first race. The Top 25 men accepting invitations will run the second race.
All players will be introduced and awarded participation medals and keepsake uniform tops before their particular race. Runners will be divided equally among three competing teams for a chance to win a team award as well as a Top 10 race medal.
The top five scoring players from each winning team will appear on a perpetual trophy to be housed by the host team. Individual overall champions will take home an exclusive Farm Bureau medalist trophy.
Mansfield along with schools from their district and region will be well represented. Magazine, Mt. Ida, and Clarksville all offer individual state champions to the mix. Acorn, Bigelow, DeQueen, and Pottsville bring players off their runner-up state team finishes in their respective divisions.
“This event has really evolved over the years,” said meet director John Mackey. “Mansfield has tried to upgrade the experience from its origins. We’ve added a team element to this year’s race along with even more individual accolades.”
Mansfield freshmen Joey Williams brings with him the sixth best qualifying times among the men All-Stars at 17:47.80. Sophomore Laney Wood is rated 11th among the women while older sister Jadelynn Wood comes in at 20th position.
Among the women runners are 11 All-State athletes, 2 individual state champions, and a state runner-up. Magazine’s Elizabeth Merritt and Mt. Ida’s Peyton Macejewski are the class 2A and 1A state champions respectively. Acorn’s Bella Tedder was the class 2A runner-up.
The men’s race is equally populated by star power. Seventeen All-State runners, a state champion, and a state runner up are among the top 25 invites. Clarksville’s Matthew Dunsworth headlines the group with the top time at 16:01.90. Scranton’s Peyton Jones is the fastest 1A competitor at 18:13.35. Class 4A DeQueen has seven All-Star invitations.
General admission is free. Races begin near the MHS storm shelter.
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