CABOT -Brendan Taylor said he was “low on iron” when he finished seventh in the 2012 7A-Central cross country meet.
A year later, the Little Rock Catholic senior appeared to be more of an ironman.
Taylor cruised to the individual title Monday afternoon, running the 5K course in 15:23.23 at Rolling Hills Country Club. His brother, sophomore Kieran Taylor, finished second, more than 65 seconds behind Brendan at 16:28.25.
“I was almost anemic,” said Brendan, who was timed at 16:50.80 in last year’s meet. “I got that taken care of this year.”
Catholic placed five runners in the top seven, including the top four finishers, and easily repeated as the conference champion with 17 points. Cabot edged Conway for second place.
Although he seemed comfortable with his running, Taylor said not having anyone close to him was a bit troubling.
“It’s much easier to run with someone,” Brendan Taylor said. “When you’re by yourself, you have to constantly tell yourself to push and push. I just wanted to run pretty quick, but I didn’t mean to run that fast for the first mile. I did want to get out front, and since it was mostly downhill it wound up being pretty easy.”
Catholic’s Matt Tulley was third and one of only three runners to break the 17-minute mark at 16:54.22. Matthew Forte finished fourth at 17:05.20.
The Rockets came close to posting a perfect score. Catholic’s Jake Allison was in position to finish fifth, but he stumbled with less than 100 yards to the finish. Allison recovered and finished seventh behind Toler Freyaldenhove of Conway and Nicholas Vasquez of North Little Rock.
Micah Huckabee repeated as the girls individual champion, but the Cabot junior more than bettered her previous effort on the Rolling Hills course. Huckabee clocked in with a 18:55.03 , which was 36 seconds better than her time of a year ago and 33 seconds better than Monday’s second-place finisher, Alex Ritchey of Mount St. Mary (19:27.07).
“It was awesome,” Huckabee said of coming in under the 19-minute mark. “It was a lot of hard work, but I felt like I really wanted to beat 19 minutes. I was willing to work as hard as I could to break it.”
Huckabee said her previous best was 19:26.
“I thought I could break 19 minutes this year, and I really felt like this was the race to do it,” Huckabee said.
Huckabee broke out to an early lead. She was 20 seconds ahead of Ritchey at the halfway point of Monday’s race.
“[Ritchey] was pushing me enough that it kept me focused,” Huckabee said. “Knowing that she was that close behind me helped push me.”
Mount St. Mary, with six in the top 10, won the girls title with 22 points.
Taylor Catlett, a junior from Mount St. Mary, finished third at 20:34.14 while Belles senior Andrea Nunez-Garcia was fourth at 20:37.54. Fort Smith Southside’s Alondra Gomez was fifth with a timeof 20:41.58.
All of the runners will advance to the Class 7A state meet, which will be held at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs on Nov. 9.
Monday’s results Rolling Hills Country Club, Cabot BOYS TEAM RESULTS 1. Catholic 17, 2. Cabot 74, 3. Conway 82, 4. Fort Smith Northside 88, 5. North Little Rock 129, 6. Fort Smith Southside 137, 7. Little Rock Central 205 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS Brendan Taylor, Catholic ................................15:23.23 Kieran Taylor, Catholic ...................................16:28.25 Matt Tully, Catholic .........................................16:54.22 Matthew Forte, Catholic .................................17:05.20 Toler Freyaldenhove, Conway ........................17:13.56 Nicholas Vasuez, NLR ....................................17:21.21 Jake Allison, Catholic .....................................17:38.12 Simon Pereira, Northside ..............................17:46.23 Bryan Wilson, Conway ..................................17:47.08 Jason Farrar, Northside .................................17:48.94 Nick Davis, Cabot ...........................................17:52.61 Alexander Propes, Catholic ............................18:00.83 Parker Dey, Cabot ..........................................18:02.59 Moses Mclaughlin, Northside ........................18:02.92 Kris White, Cabot ...........................................18:04.64 Cole Rickard, Southside ................................18:12.73 Caleb Schulte, Cabot ......................................18:17.13 Adam Stivers, Cabot ......................................18:19.51 Jacob Fahr, Conway .......................................18:27.40 Tate McKay, Catholic ......................................18:31.08 Chris Owen, Cabot .........................................18:35.07 Kolten Speaks, Southside ..............................18:41.09 Alan Secundino, NLR .....................................18:42.20 Pable Hurtado, Conway .................................18:43.49 John Mark Stodola, Catholic .........................18:43.73 Carson Davis, Conway ...................................18:45.95 John Murtha, Catholic ...................................18:47.57 Zechariah Montgomery, Northside ................18:51.78 Jonathan Morris, Conway..............................18:53.16 Jack Lawlor, Catholic .....................................19:01.51Tyler Banks, Catholic......................................19:01.81 Logan Boyer, Cabot........................................19:02.87 Gray Stell, Southside .....................................19:03.15 Riley Hillegas, Cabot ......................................19:04.51 Andrew Wooley, Catholic ...............................19:04.93 Rolando Rodriquez, Northside ......................19:05.57 Joshua Cotton, NLR.......................................19:07.49 Garrett Gentry, Southside ..............................19:09.57 Cooper Tribett, Conway .................................19:14.14 Stephen Babb, NLR .......................................19:14.14 Kaleb Jones, NLR ..........................................19:17.86 Chance Garrett, Conway ................................19:18.29 Manuel Alvarez, Central .................................19:18.80 Henry Edwards, Catholic ...............................19:22.16 Ryan Wass, Central........................................19:26.95 Ethan Echols, Southside ................................19:32.06 Chris Eckes, Northisde...................................19:33.28 Hunter Herrera, Catholic ................................19:33.67 Ryan McKenna, Conway ................................19:36.32 Benjamin Paladino, Catholic ..........................19:37.01 GIRLS TEAM RESULTS 1. Mount St. Mary 22, 2. Cabot 66, 3. Conway 85, 4. Fort Smith Southside 107, 5. North Little Rock 108, 6. Little Rock Central 160 INDIVIDUAL RESULTS Micah Huckabee, Cabot .................................18:55.03 Alex Ritchey, MSM .........................................19:27.07 Taylor Catlett, MSM .......................................20:34.14 Andrea Nunez-Garcia, MSM ..........................20:37.54 Alondra Gomez, Southside ............................20:41.58 Elika Hamer, MSM .........................................20:46.97 Claire Kane, MSM ..........................................20:48.64 Lauren Campbell, Conway .............................20:53.92 Samantha Nickell, Cabot ................................20:54.22 Mary Kate Wendel, MSM...............................21:15.97 Lillian McEntire, NLR .....................................21:29.98Cally Cochran, MSM ......................................21:34.17 Caroline Spellins, MSM .................................21:35.47 Grace Ann Robinson, MSM ...........................21:42.04 Kayla Rogers, NLR .........................................21:45.94 Jennifer Poole, Conway .................................21:47.73 Brynn Lea, Conway ........................................21:48.79 Rachel Murtishaw, Cabot ...............................21:54.82 Ashley Gore, Cabot ........................................22:07.67 Katie Miskin, MSM .........................................22:19.07 Divina Flores, Northside.................................22:35.08 Sabrina Espinoza, Southside .........................22:36.45 Landyn Jefferson, Central ..............................22:45.00 Hope Durham, Southside ..............................22:53.44 Kaylie Roberts, NLR .......................................22:55.16 Angel Mapp, Conway .....................................22:57.16 Brayden Giesler, Cabot ...................................23:11.25 Kaitlin Mayhair, Cabot ....................................23:18.86 Tyler Godsey, Cabot .......................................23:31.78 Elise Moix, Conway ........................................23:31.78 Shea Ashby, Conway .....................................23.32.18 Ashley Odom, Cabot ......................................23:33.53 Helen Raya, Northside ...................................23:37.17 Casey Campbell, Conway ..............................23:46.87 Courtney Crossland, Cabot ............................23:49.46 Alexis Eberle, Cabot .......................................23:52.72 Kelsey Kordsmeier, Conway ..........................23:54.14 Savannah Lawrence, Southside ....................23:54.85 McKenna Tribett, Conway ..............................24:04.61 Seaton Howard, Cabot ...................................24:05.59 Allison Fones, MSM .......................................24:07.59 Lucy Moore, MSM .........................................24:23.20 Brett Ironside, Central ....................................24:27.40 Destiny Gaines, NLR ......................................24:31.42 Nicole Penn, Conway .....................................24:38.71 Lexie McKedy, Cabot .....................................24:39.53 Kimmie Croson, NLR .....................................24:44.83 Morgan Sweere, Conway...............................24:54.72 Sarika Maymoudok, Northside ......................25:02.93 Ashley Jolly, NLR ...........................................25:26.36
Sports, Pages 22 on 10/29/2013