The clouds were coming. You could definitely see those rain filled puffs closing in fast. So, the decision was made by the Mena/Acorn Lions Club meet directors to run the senior high cross country races together. It really didn’t matter. The rain hit anyway and nearly every runner was soaked in a matter of minutes.
The men and women started at the same time at the Mena hosted cross country meet on Oct 9. The plan was to try and beat the inevitable downpour that was clearly on its way.
The strategy worked for about seven minutes. The bulk of the runners including Mansfield’s had cleared the one mile mark just before the bottom of the sky opened up. Buckets of cold, wet rain plummeted to the earth and “washed the spiders out”.
The Tigers of Mansfield and the other eight or so teams in attendance all got wet. However, the weather brought a cool breeze and carefree vibe hit. It the runners as hard as the rain, and allowed them to run uninhibited.
Mansfield’s Artem Zirka made the most of his run around the former golf course. The Ukrainian exchange student set a personal best over the two loop track. He completed the course in 21:06.2.
“Artem has been training hard and putting in the extra miles over the weekend,” noted Mansfield mentor John Mackey. “It’s nice seeing his time get down there. He averaged 6:47 miles today. We’ve been trying to get him to the six minute mark.”
Zirka finished 21st out of 68 participants in the senior men’s race. Teammate Renden Emery finished just one place behind that. Emery’s time was 21:09.5 for his personal best of the season as well.
For the second time this season, Jessica George was the first MHS senior girl to complete the course. George had previously led the Lady Tiger pride just a few weeks ago.
George clocked in at 27:28.2 for 26th place. Alyssa Berry followed closely at 27:49.7 for 28th place. Sara Willadsen was near as well with a 28:21.3 for 32nd place.
Mansfield senior women’s team score was rounded out by Anina Reutter and Josefin Lofving. As a group, Mansfield older girl’s squad finished third behind DeQueen and Waldron.
Addison Goetz and Janna Coplin were the team’s top two displacers.
As always, the junior high teams were lifted up by Faith Rainwater and Ethan Chapman. The cross country freshmen both finished high among the rankings to give their respective gender squads solid standing.
Rainwater was 11th overall and second among class 3A runners for the junior girls. She averaged 7:37 miles for the 1.5 miles race. According to her coach, the plan is to get her below the seven minute mark.
“The winner of the first girls race averaged 6:49 miles,” said Mackey. “Faith has a chance to get there. It’s up to her how much she is willing to push to get there. She is a terrific runner and I’m glad I get a front row seat to see it live.”
Chapman was 10th overall and second among small school entries as well. His 9:46.6 clocking played out to 6:18 miles for the junior boys event.
“We’ve been pushing Ethan towards sub six minute miles,” spoke Mackey. “The muscle memory is a little off because there is no uniform distance for junior high races. Sometimes it’s 2 miles, 1.8 miles, or even 1.5 miles like today. That plays with the body clock somewhat.”
Olivia Bouse once again was among the junior Lady Tiger’s top scorers. The eighth grader was marked at 11:51.8 for a medal winning 15th place.
Bouse, Faith Rainwater, Hope Rainwater, Jadelynn Wood, and McKenzie Griffin produced the MJH scoring five. Their 79 point collection put them into third place behind DeQueen and Mena.
Steven Perez, Mikeal Harrison, Tommy Phang, and John Branche joined Chapman for the junior Tiger’s scoring five in the younger boys race. Collectively the troop finished fourth behind DeQueen, Mena, and Nashville.
Ashton Hinkle, Zac Desormeaux, and Logan Yoss completed the Tiger boys team.
Harleigh Mars, Raine Hecox, Alyssa James, Heidi Ebarb, and Lauren Poston all competed for the girls.
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