Local XC runners in today's Nike South Regional meet
Posted on Saturday, November 22, 2008
BENTONVILLE — Arkansas’ two dominant Class 7 A high school cross country teams see how they fare against regional competition today at the Nike South Regional Cross Country meet. The meet is held just outside of Houston at Bear Branch Soccer Fields in The Woodlands, Texas.
The Bentonville Lady Tigers make their debut while the Rogers Mountaineers make their third straight appearance.
Both schools — running as club teams — will be trying to finish well enough to receive bids to the NXN national finals Dec. 6 in Portland, Ore.
The top two teams from each region advance along with four at-large teams around the country. Rogers received an at-large invitation in 2007, finishing third at this meet.
The South Region consists of teams from Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi.
Bentonville coach Randy Ramaker told his girls to try and improve on what they’ve accomplished this season — conference and state championships.
“ I told them to go out and have some fun, ” he said. “ It’s a big race with some excellent kids running. I want them to enjoy the fact that they’ve had a great year and this is the top of the cake.
“ We expect them to run the best that they can. ”
Bentonville has entered Mackenzie Bloom, Katie Dalton, Bailey Pearson, Elena Sanz, Shannon Sullivan and Kelsey Wheelhouse.
Rogers, the seven-time Class 7 A state champions, has entered Cameron Efurd, Jordan Falls, Jeremiah Fleeman, Anthony Melia, Ben Peterson, Martin Resendiz and Danny Saldana.
Lady Mounties senior Courtney Efurd is entered in the championship race as an individual.
Bentonville is on the bubble of the South Region rankings, which influenced the team’s decision to make the trip.
“ We’re going to go down there and see how we rank with those teams ahead of us, ” Ramaker said. “ I don’t think if we weren’t at least registered on their radar we’d do the trip. That gets us into the (South ) championship race. ”
Rogers coach Carlton Efurd has three runners entered who were there in 2007 — Cameron Efurd, Falls and Fleeman.
“ It’s definitely a fast-start course; if you don’t get out quick you get caught in the pack and a struggle the whole way, ” Carlton Efurd said. “ It’s a little different because of the numbers up front. ”
There are 20 teams entered in each division with approximately 175 runners in each race.
“ I’d like to show that we’re a top-10 team, ” the Rogers coach said. “ I think we’re capable of doing that if we run well.
“ Whether we do better than that, it’s up to them. I told them I’d let them decide. I’m not putting pressure on them this meet. ”
Both teams have a lot of momentum entering the meet. Besides conference and state titles, they had runners help Arkansas teams sweep the Arkansas-Oklahoma All-Star Meet last Saturday in Fayetteville.
“ The girls are excited, ” Ramaker said. “ They like to run races like this, especially Katie and McKinzie because they were at Portland (in the open meet ) and they know what it’s like. Get to see different kids from different areas that are really fantastic runners. ”
“ They’re passionate about the sport. Even if they don’t run as fast as some other girls, they like to see those girls’ performances. ”
Both teams left XNA for Houston on Friday morning.
Entered from Rogers in the boys’ open race are Henry Wildenborg and Andrew Evans.
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