Loafman, Mayberry capture 6A-West solo titles

ROGERS -- Those competing in the 6A-West Conference cross country championships had to endure chilly temperatures and a wet course for a second consecutive season.

Mia Loafman didn't mind a return to those conditions at all. The sophomore used them to her favor and gave Rogers High its third straight individual runner when she claimed the individual title Tuesday afternoon on the Rogers High course.

"I feel like I run good in the cold, so I use that to my advantage," Loafman said. "My strategy was to stay with the pack -- the front group -- and draft off of them for the first mile. From there, I just tried to do what my body felt."

Loafman was well in charge and built a big lead with under a mile remaining in the race. She completed the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes, 30.3 seconds and beat teammate Ali Nachitgal, last year's winner and a three-time state champion, by 17 seconds.

Fayetteville sophomore Carson Wasemiller was third at 18:51.2

"I definitely use the downhills and the uphill over there to my advantage," Loafman said. "Mostly, It was just all mental, and I kept telling myself I could do it. When my legs started getting tired, and I just kept pushing myself and keeping a positive mindset."

After falling short of the team title the past 2 years, Bentonville won the meet this time by a 33-42 margin over second-place Fayetteville. Rogers was third with 64 points.

Bentonville's top five runners finished among the top 10 runners and finished within 30 seconds of each other. Freshman Kayla Hurley led the Lady Tigers with her fourth-place finish in 19:25.7, immediately followed by teammates Madison Galindo (19:30.2) and Emily Robinson (19:40.1).

"This is a difficult race," Bentonville coach Randy Ramaker said. "I was happy the course was in the shape it was in because we had quite a bit of rain.

"The girls got the job done, and that was about it. It's always a race like this were we have some girls run well and some didn't. You just hope you have enough depth and kids that want to win enough to get up there and get the job done."

In the boys race, Bentonville senior Dylan Mayberry admitted he made his first big move a little too soon, but it was his next big move that helped him take the individual title.

Mayberry made his move after being passed by Fayetteville's Jack Williams with almost a mile remaining. Mayberry said he took the lead again a quarter-mile later and completed the race in 15:56.2, 5 seconds quicker than Williams did.

"I felt pretty good around the halfway mark," Mayberry said. "Then my knee started hurting a little bit, so I had to taper off a little. But as soon as Jack passed me, I thought 'Man, I've got to go.'

"I tried to kick it into another gear, and it felt good that I caught him."

Bentonville claimed the boys' team title with 39 points, followed by Fayetteville with 68, Bentonville West with 73 and Springdale Har-Ber with 90.

The Tigers' third through fifth runners made the difference as Aiden McDaniel (ninth, 17:04.2), James American-Horse (11th, 17:04.4) and Simon Piscotta (14th, 17:08.9) all finishing before Fayetteville's third runner cross.

"We went in with the right frame of mind," Bentonville coach Mike Power said. "We can't control the weather, but we can control how we go into a race. They performed really well, and I was happy with their performance.

"We have a good group of guys, a good squad this year. We were limited to 12 guys, and it was hard to pick because there are some excellent runners that didn't get to run this race."

Mountie Classic

West Fork's girls placed five runners among the top eight and captured Class 3A division of Tuesday's earlier races at Rogers.

The Lady Tigers finished with 19 points, while Greenland took second with 63 and Elkins finished third with 67.

West Fork's Joyce Ferguson won the meet with her time of 21:24.1, while teammate Nealie Den Herder was second at 22:56.3.

More than five runners were needed to determine a Class 3A division boys winner after Haas Hall-Fayetteville and West Fork finished with 44 points. Haas Hall-Fayetteville won as its sixth runner, Kyler Pitts, finished 22nd while West Fork's sixth runner, Kaleb McIntyre, was 28th.

Aidan Rheay led a 1-2-3 finish for Haas Hall-Fayetteville as he won the individual title in 18:21.9, followed by Sean Worthman at 18:33.3 and Jack Waggoner at 19:02.7.

In the Class 1A boys division, Haas Hall-Bentonville's Jacob Tyburski finished in 17 minutes flat and won the individual title by more than a minute. Northwest Arkansas Classical won the team title with 22 points to 64 for second-place Ozark Catholic.

Northwest Arkansas Classical was the only Class 1A girls team with enough runners to field a full squad. Ozark Catholic's Mary Helena Schafer was the individual winner with her time of 22:26.6.

4A-1 Conference

Pea Ridge placed four runners among the top eight and captured the 4A-1 Conference boys championship Monday at Springdale.

The Blackhawks had 31 points while Gravette was a distant second with 74, 10 points less than Farmington.

Josiah Small and Levi Schultz provided Pea Ridge with a one-two finish as Small won in 18:32.9 while Levi Schedult was second at 18:56.2.

Pea Ridge's girls did the same thing with four runners among the top eight as the Lady Blackhawks captured the league title. Pea Ridge finished with 28 points while Harrison was second with 45.

Liz Vazques paced the Lady Blackhawks as she won the individual title in 21:44.55, while teammate Harmoney Reynolds was second at 21:55.78.