HOT SPRINGS -- The two most important parts of a cross country race, according to Ali Nachtigal, are the first 400 meters and the last 400 meters.
The latter part is what led the Rogers junior to her third consecutive state championship as she pulled away late to win the Class 6A state individual title during Saturday's race on the Oaklawn Park infield.
CLASS 6A
TEAM SCORES 1. Bentonville High 36; 2. Fayetteville 38; 3. Rogers 51; 4. Bentonville West 150; 5. Springdale Har-Ber 150; 6. Springdale High 171; 7. Cabot 218; 8. Bryant 254; 9. Conway 257; 10. Rogers Heritage 306.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 1. Ali Nachtigal, Rogers, 18:28.4; 2. Grace Litzinger, Fayetteville, 18:50.7; 3. Anabelle Bradley, Bentonville, 19:05.9; 4. Emily Robinson, Bentonville, 19:16.4; 5. Carson Wasemiller, Fayetteville, 19:30; 6. Hailey Day, Rogers, 19:35.1; 7. Mary Margaret Harris, Fayetteville, 19:35.4; 8. Elizabeth Heffernan, Bentonville, 19:45; 9. Kourtney Gage, Bentonville, 19:49.1; 10. Kenja Dresel, Fayetteville, 19:49.8.
CLASS 5A
TEAM SCORES 1. Greenwood 65; 2. Lake Hamilton 107; 3. Siloam Springs 113; 4. Hot Springs Lakeside 118; 5. Russellville 123; 6. Mountain Home 136; 7. Little Rock Christian 148; 8. Vilonia 149; 9. Benton 198; 10. Jonesboro 205.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 1. Marcie Cudworth, Mountain Home, 19:08.2; 2. Macie Cash, Greenwood, 19:18.2; 3. Olivia Pielemeier, Lake Hamilton, 19:33.1; 4. Taylor Koeth, Greenwood, 19:44.0; 5. Whitley Terry, HS Lakeside, 20:03.0; 6. Emma Selph, Benton, 20:08.7; 7. Charissa Helms-Pittman, Russellville, 20:17.4; 8. McKaila Davis, HS Lakeside, 20:17.6; 9. Mary Beth Bailey, Jonesboro, 20:27.9; 10. Madelyn Wilkinson, Greenwood, 20:31.1
CLASS 4A
TEAM SCORES 1. Harrison 39; 2. Valley View 54; 3. De Queen 112; 4. Pea Ridge 146; 5. Heber Springs 161; 6. Prairie Grove 212; 7. Clarksville 242; 8. Monticello 295; 9. Farmington 306; 10. Batesville 315
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 1. Ruthy Ryan, Harrison, 19:50; 2. Chloe Weathers, Clarksville, 20:13.7; 3. Kendal Minton, Valley View, 20:20.5; 4. Noelle Pall, Harrison, 20:25; 5. Camryn Casey, Harrison, 20:29.5; 6. Reese Gardner, Batesville Southside, 20:35.7; 7. Heidy Galvan, De Queen, 20:37.0; 8. Gisselle Estrada, Berryville, 20:57.1; 9. Reese McMillan, Valley View, 21:09.1; 10. Harmony Reynolds, Pea Ridge, 21:09.7.
CLASS 3A
TEAM SCORES 1. Waldron 84; 2. Jessieville 105; 3. Harding Academy 111; 4. West Fork 122; 5. Elkins 134; 6. Bald Knob 137; 7. Genoa Central 161; 8. Greenland 175; 9. Green Forest 195; 10. Mansfield 224.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 1. Juliah Rodgers, Jessieville, 20:29.5; 2. Joyce Ferguson, West Fork, 20:48.7; 3. Maria Grano, Waldron, 20:57.8; 4. Sadie McDonald, Manila, 21:02.4; 5. Brooke Wyatt, Fountain Lake, 21:20.5; 6. Katie Greene, Elkins, 21:26.4; 7. Aubrey Campos, Greenland, 21:27.7; 8. Nealie Den Herder, West Fork, 21:46.7; 9 Joanna White, Harding Academy, 21:51.9; 10. Brooklyn Langer, Marshall, 21:59.5.
CLASS 1A/2A
TEAM SCORES 1. Quitman 48; 2. Greers Ferry West Side 55; 3. Melbourne 77; 4. Izard County Consolidated 147; 5. Haas Hall-Fayetteville 147; 6. Salem 159; 7. Horatio 206; 8. Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy 206; 9. Mulberry 213; 10. Acorn 222.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS 1. Becca Beard Academics Plus, 20:11.9; 2. Abbey Linville, Rural Special, 20:34.9; 3. Lillian Hellwig, NWA Classical, 20:46.8; 4. Taylor Hooten, Quitman, 20:51; 5. Ali Looney, Parkers Chapel, 21:07.2; 6. Ashtyn Knapp, GF Westside, 21:13.3; 7. Haley Gentry, GF Westside, 21:17.6; 8. Kenley McCarn, Melbourne, 21:21.4; 9. Kate Provence, Melbourne, 21:30.2; 10. McKenzie Greeson, Sacred Heart, 21:46.9.
Nachtigal ran the 5,000-meter course in a personal-best 18 minutes, 28.4 seconds, which was more than 22 seconds faster than second-place finisher Grace Litzinger of Fayetteville.
"I'm just so blessed," Nachtigal said. "I can't even fathom that it happened. It was completely God-given.
"I really didn't do a whole lot differently. I just did what I did last year. It was a perfect day with not a whole lot of wind. I just stuck with Grace and worked together, then I just kicked when I felt like I needed to go and get a strong enough lead."
Nachtigal and Litzinger were almost side by side through the first half of the race, and they were by themselves at the halfway point. It wasn't until the final half-mile when Nachtigal took off and became the first girl to win the largest classification three consecutive times since Springdale Har-Ber's Elise Reina did it in 2013-15.
"You just go for it for the first 400 meters, then do it again in the last 400," Nachtigal said. "The crowd will just carry you through it."
Bentonville found a measure of revenge in winning its second consecutive team title as the Lady Tigers edged second-place Fayetteville by a 36-38 margin. It was the same margin of victory that Fayetteville had over Bentonville in last week's 6A-West Conference championship.
Bentonville and Fayetteville each placed four runners in the top 10 and were still in a 24-24 deadlock at that point. The difference came in the fifth runners as Bentonville's Madison Galingo -- a freshman who was moved up from junior high this week -- took 12th place at 19:56.4, while Fayetteville's Jade Devine was 14th at 20:10.2.
"I thought our girls ran hard at conference," Bentonville Coach Randy Ramaker said. "I'm not going to hate on them for their conference performance because they ran well. This was a state meet, and the state meet is always different.
"Kortney Gage ran really well. She ran out of her mind. We moved up Madison Galingo, and that proved to pay dividends because we had a couple of girls that didn't run as well. We didn't have anybody that won the race, but they stuck that five together enough ahead of Fayetteville."
5a girls
Macie Cash paced three Greenwood runners who finished in the top 10 as the Lady Bulldogs won their first cross country title in program history.
Cash finished second at 19:18.2, 10 seconds behind individual winner Marcie Cudworth of Lake Hamilton. Taylor Koeth helped Greenwood's cause by finishing fourth at 19:44, while Madelyn Wilkinson was 10th at 20:31.1.
Greenwood finished with 65 points, while Lake Hamilton was second at 107. Siloam Springs, whose streak of state championships ended at five, finished third at 113, followed by Hot Springs Lakeside with 118 and Russellville with 123.
4A girls
Harrison repeated as state champion as the Lady Goblins placed four runners in the top 12.
Ruthy Ryan led Harrison by winning the individual championship with her time of 19:50.0, more than 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Chloe Weathers of Clarksville. Noelle Pall and Camryn Casey finished fourth and fifth, respectively, while Madison Trammell took 12th for Harrison.
The Lady Goblins compiled 39 points, followed by Valley View with 54, De Queen with 112, Pea Ridge with 146 and Heber Springs with 161.
3a girls
Maria Grano had a third-place finish and led Waldron to its first state cross country title.
The Lady Bulldogs finished with 84 points to 105 for second-place Jessieville. Harding Academy took third with 111 points, while West Fork had 122 and Elkins rounded out the top five with 134.
Jessieville's Juliah Rodgers captured the individual title at 20:29.5 to finish 19 seconds ahead of West Fork's Joyce Ferguson.
1A/2A girls
Quitman captured its third state title in four years as the Lady Bulldogs edged Greers Ferry West Side by a 48-55 margin.
Taylor Hooten paced Quitman with her fifth-place performance, finishing in 21:07.2. Three other Lady Bulldogs -- Haley Trawick, Halle Bennett and Silver Mulliniks -- were in the top 20.
Becca Beard of Academic Plus won the individual championship with her time of 20:11.9, 23 seconds ahead of second-place Abbey Linville of Rural Special.
Sports on 11/10/2019