HOT SPRINGS -- Elise Reina's final cross country race turned into a dual to remember.
Reina outkicked Alex Ritchey in the final 500 yards to earn her third consecutive Class 7A state title Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn Park.
Reina, a Springdale Har-Ber senior, put forth her best time in the state's premier high school cross country event, completing the 5-kilometer race in 18:44.9.
As it turned out, Reina needed it. Ritchey, a senior from Mount St. Mary, clocked in at 18:47.9, battling the three-time winner every step of the way.
"Ritchey is a great competitor, and I love racing against her," Reina said. "I've raced against her for four years now and I just love her. She's awesome."
But it was Reina who continued to dominate the Class 7A field. Reina ran the course in 19:03 as a sophomore and in 19:11.3 as a junior. On Saturday, Reina and Ritchey were shoulder-to-shoulder for most of the race.
"The wind was really rough today," Reina said. "I was just planning to hang with her and using my strength at the end."
Reina finished the race with a big kick and an even bigger smile.
"My goal was to just finish strong," she said. "This was my last cross country race ever, so I just wanted to finish as strong as I could."
Ritchey knew what to expect from Reina at the end.
"She always decides to put together this massive kick at the end," Ritchey said. "I really didn't have a certain plan against her. I just wanted to run my race."
The team title went to Bentonville, which had three runners among the top 10 finishers. Junior Katie Andrews led the Lady Tigers with a third-place finish with a time of 19:08.7. Andrews finished second to Reina in 2014.
Fayetteville finished as the runner-up, 17 points behind Bentonville.
Josie Carson of Lake Hamilton also repeated as an individual champion, winning the Class 6A title in 19:25.2.
Carson, a sophomore, ran behind Siloam Springs junior Jasmine Gullien for the first two-thirds of the race but wound up winning the race by 12 seconds.
Carson and Guillien also finished one-two in the 2014 state meet.
"Running behind someone helps," Carson said. "It helps me settle in. I was going to do that for at least the first mile and see how she was feeling and how my legs were feeling. I decided to stay there until I definitely felt like I could make a move past her."
Siloam Springs won the team title with 24 points. Lake Hamilton was the runner-up with 33.,
Erin Woodward and her Little Rock Christian teammates were too much for the 5A field. Woodward won the individual title in 19:08.4 while leading the Lady Warriors to the team title with 41 points, 36 better than runner-up Harrison.
"I've only broken 19 minutes once before, but it was nice to get down in the low 19s today," Woodward said. "Before the race I knew I had to stay strong and not let any outside distractions get into my head and mess me up. I was able to run my race."
Little Rock Christian freshman Allison Risius finished second in 19:37.5.
In other races Saturday:
• Trinity Christian senior Elizabeth Gillette ran the day's third-fastest time (18:54.4) in winning the 2A/1A meet. Gillette's time was eight seconds better than Tori Willis, a freshman from Bentonville Haas Hall. Trinity Christian rolled to the team title with 25 points. Runner-up Acorn compiled 92.
• Bekah Bostian of Prairie Grove won the Class 4A race in 20:05.5. The freshman trailed Gosnell senior Jessica Weiss until the final 300 yards, but Weiss took a wrong turn, following the lead cart instead of the marked trail. Weiss was originally disqualified but was reinstated to second place. Pottsville won the team title with 61 points.
• West Fork freshman Kendall Hays ran away with the Class 3A individual race, winning in 20:47.9, which was 18 seconds better than Genoa Central's Tera Frost. Genoa Central won the team title with 24 points. Greenland was second with 110 points.
Sports on 11/08/2015