Organizers of the 2020 Today’s Bank Cross Country Invitational were excited to host Saturday’s event despite the new challenges brought on by the coronavirus. By implementing extra precautions and adhering to strict state health guidelines, Mansfield High School and it’s slew of masked volunteers managed 33 schools and 819 athletes for a beautiful morning of long distance racing.
“Our people really worked hard to operate this large scale event in the safest manner possible,” Mansfield cross country coach and meet director John Mackey stated. “Our maintenance staff, the meet workers, and the volunteers from Today’s Bank did an incredible job. I think the fans really appreciated the extra efforts. In response, most everyone was pretty good about following the rules. The race event really exceeded expectations.”
The four race schedule was split into two divisions. The large school division was comprised of teams from class 4A-6A. The small school group came from classes 1A-3A.
Host Mansfield, listed as a 2A school for the current Arkansas Activities Association cycle, managed six award winners and a couple of near misses in their division.
West Fork and Waldron, two schools from the Tiger’s former 3A league, were very strong in the small school races as well.
Bentonville West, Lakeside, Vilonia, and Grimsley dominated the big school ticket.
Mansfield’s senior girls were led by Faith Rainwater, Jadelynn Wood, Darby Jones, and Katlynn Moore. The four Lady Tigers saturated the back half of the Top 15 medalist list.
Rainwater was the fastest off the home town roster with a 5K time of 24:12.97. The eleventh grader was eighth place alongside her small school peers.
Wood, just a sophomore, came next for the Lady Tigers. She was clocked at a personal best 24:48.16 for tenth place.
Two places later junior Darby Jones completed the 5K course. She crossed the finish line in 25:33.93.
Again, two places later another Mansfield junior touched the time line. Katlynn Moore came across in 26:33.74 for 14th place.
All four of the Mansfield women earned medals. They were part of the top 15 runners from each division who were graced with Today’s Bank engraved hardware.
Defending class 3A state champions, the Waldron Lady Bulldogs, won the small school section with a team score of 29 points. West Fork behind individual winner Joyce Ferguson amassed 34 points for second place among the team rankings. Mansfield with a depleted roster finished third with 57 points.
Mansfield’s scoring five included Rainwater, Wood, Jones, Moore, and McKenzie Griffin.
Griffin, last season’s MHS Player of the Year, had been slowed by a leg injury through the early part of the season. The junior long distance runner was two places outside the Top 15. Her time was 28:15.00.
Alyssa James, a dual sport athlete that earned her way to the state golf championships, ran her first complete race of the season. She was the Tiger’s first displacer at 24th place.
John Branche off the Mansfield men’s team completed his race in 23:06:14. The junior athlete that splits time playing on the Tiger football team was one position away from a medal in the small school division.
Ethan Streets, a senior and first time cross country runner, only ran the first half of the 5K race as part of his training schedule. According to his coach, the new runner was still in the acclimation phase of his workout program.
Mansfield’s junior girls, who won last year’s event, finished third in the team standings with 52 points. West Fork (39), Lamar (48), Acorn (72), and Western Yell County (133) completed the top five teams among the class 1A-3A schools.
Laney Wood was the Tiger cubs’ fastest player on the day among the small schools at 11:43.60. She was 22 seconds off the lead runner for third place.
Trinity Triska, last year’s regional champion, covered the 1.75 mile course in 11:58.15. Her time was fourth in the small school section.
Aidan Fildes was Mansfield’s number three scorer for the second week in a row. She clocked in at 13:43.01.
“Aidan has been coming on of late,” Mackey said. “It was disappointing she was so close to a medal. She finished eighteenth in the race.”
Azlynn Stover (26) and Addie Bowman (28) completed the MJH scoring five. Summer Frazier (43) was the unit’s first blocker.
Rylan Nichols for the Mansfield junior boys team was another near miss. He too was 18th in the small school standings. His time was 12:39.66.
Jonah Martin (26) and Joseph Carter (33) also ran for the younger Tiger men’s team. They checked in at 13:13.40 and 13:59.18 respectively.
West Fork and Waldron were the top two teams for the junior boys small school race. Vilonia and Bentonville West were the big school winners for the junior high boys.
Vilonia also won the big school junior girls race. Grimsley, out of Bentonville, was second.
Bentonville West and Lakeside went one-two in both the men’s and women’s races in the 4A-6A division in the senior high 5K’s.
Complete race results can be found at ar.milesplit.com.
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