Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Oregon runner wins boys Chile Pepper race
FAYETTEVILLE — Max Girardet made a plane trip halfway across the country worthwhile Saturday.
The senior from Central Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon nipped two other runners at the finish line to win the high school boys division in the Chili Pepper Festival at Agri Park in Fayetteville. Girardet finish the 5K race in 14:55.5 to edge Connor Burns (14:56.3) of Southern Boone and Wes Shipsey (14.56.6), his teammate at Central Catholic. Girardet posted a personal best and he credited Shipsey, a junior who ran right with him until the final few feet, for pushing past the leaders.
“Wes and I, we just stuck behind the leaders who kept switching out,” Girardet said. “We run together all season. At the end, we saw an opportunity and we just throttled all the way.”
The finish to the girls 5K race was less dramatic with Cayden Dawson (17.28.2) of Bixby, Okla., winning by 15 seconds over her nearest competitor. Maddison Galindo (18:44.8) of Bentonville was the top runners among athletes from Northwest Arkansas when she finished 16th overall in a strong field. Bentonville placed fifth in the girls team standings.
Girardet said Central Catholic picks one cross country travel trip a year to participate in and they chose the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville. In doing so, the hometown Razorbacks may have picked up a new recruit from the backyard of another strong cross country program
in Oregon.
“We visited the university on Friday and it was amazing,” Girardet said. “The facilities were just breathtaking. It looks like a really nice college. I might apply.”
A first-time participant also won the high school girls division Saturday at Agri Park. Dawson was
all alone down the stretch and she even had the stamina to smile and pose for pictures with her family and teammates shortly after finishing her race.
“I’ve never been in a race this big,” Dawson said. “I didn’t know what to expect but I went out trying to hold a good pace and it worked out really well.”
Dawson said she adjusts her training to compete on different terrains and that the hills and wet running surface in Fayetteville didn’t bother her too much.
“I applied my training to the course but it really wasn’t that bad,” she said. “There were a few muddy spots but I just tried to avoid them.”
Galindo was the top runner on Saturday for Bentonville, the defending girls championship in Arkansas’ Class 6A. She welcomed the tough competition, which should benefit Bentonville as it moves forward in the season.
“We really like that,” Galindo said. “When we’re competing against smaller schools sometimes we’re all together at the top and we don’t feel like we’re being pushed. But there were a ton of faster girls here and they helped drag us through the race.”