6A Arkansas Cross Country State Championship: The Race

The 6A teams raced at 1pm. It was a nice day--mid 50s and sunny so not too hot. The course was inside the horse track in Hot Springs. It was a 2 1/2 lap course. The fastest Bentonville girl slowed down the first mile which paced Kate and Kayla well. Kate ended up passing a girl on the final 200m to finish 5th overall, behind her teammates Kayla (3rd) and Lilly (4th). She had a PR of 18:57.97. The course was long--3.19. She was All State (top 10%). Elizabeth set a PR as well, finishing 11th with a time of 19:27.30. Anna passed three girls in the last 200m (two of them Bentonville) to finish 12th and All State. Her time was not a PR (19:30.18) but she was just three weeks post-op from her appendectomy. Anna's final stretch gave Rogers a 5 point margin which ended up being the difference between number 1 (Rogers) and number 2 (Bentonville)--35-40. Our 6th runner also beat BHS's 6th runner which would have been the tiebreaker if Anna did not pass those three girls. Bentonville has won for the last 5 years. This win gave Rogers the state record in the number of state championships of all time (26). Jack rode down with me to Hot Springs to watch the girls and he was glad to see them win.