HOT SPRINGS -- Camren Fischer admitted he looked back a couple of times Friday morning, but only to notice how well his Fayetteville teammates were running.
The Bulldogs' junior standout pulled away from the pack during the early stages of the Class 7A state boys cross country championships and breezed to his second consecutive individual title in muggy, humid conditions at Oaklawn Park. Fischer covered the 5,000-meter course in 15 minutes, 44.3 seconds, almost 28 seconds faster than runnerup Coleman Wilson of Bentonville High.
Despite the comfortable margin of victory, Fischer only gave his race a "a solid 5" on a scale of 1 to 10 as he had a substantial lead over the rest of the field before he reached the first mile marker. His lead was big enough to where he had his wind back and was giving out water to teammates as they finished.
"It was decent. The goal was the state time," Fischer said. "I guess my fitness level wasn't quite there yet, but I always have next year and try to be stronger.
"The humidity definitely plays a factor with the lungs. I probably could have prepared better during the week. I did the workouts, but I guess there's always that little extra you can do. I might have had a smarter pace because I was a little slow over the first 2 miles."
Wilson, meanwhile, led Bentonville to its sixth team championship, and its first since 2012, in almost the same fashion the Tigers won the 7A-West Conference meet last week. Bentonville placed its five runners within the top 13 and compiled 35 points to Fayetteville's 46, while Rogers High took third with 72.
Fayetteville had a one-point lead over Bentonville through its first three runners, but Carter Quandt and Colton Simmons made the different for the Tigers when they finished 10th and 13th, respectively.
"At the start of the year, I thought we had a really great foundation of a time," Bentonville coach Mike Power said. "I think over the season, they grew even closer as a team. That showed in conference, and they were super hungry to win state.
"They knew the job we needed to, and we had a race plan. They executed the best they could and came away with a victory. They all did exceptional. We had nine guys that made a great team, and if they could get it together, they would come away with a great result."
Sports on 11/04/2017