Runners take your mark
Siloam Springs XC to begin season.
Cross country meets this fall could look quite different from years past, according to Siloam Springs head coach Sharon Jones.
Some meets may have a limited amount of teams that are attending. Some teams may have a cap on the number of runners running.
And some meets may have staggered start times to limit possible exposure to covid-19.
What all that looks like remains to be seen, but the Siloam Springs cross country teams are scheduled to get their first look at it this Saturday when they participate in the Shiloh Christian Saints Invitational in Springdale.
“I think everybody’s waiting on somebody to be the first one,” Jones said.
Siloam Springs is scheduled to host its home cross country meet on Sept. 19 at the Simmons Course.
Jones said the Arkansas Activities Association is leaving the particulars of the meets to the individual schools. Jones said last week that she presented her
program’s plan to administration for approval.
Jones said she didn’t want to limit the number of teams in the meets but did want to cap the number of runners for each team. If approved, she also said fans would be limited to watching the race from the wooded area on the course, which is normally where the teams set up camp, and the teams would be across the ditch far away from the spectators.
“I want (the runners) to be safe,” Jones said. “I think they will be safe. … I feel like if we can keep them spread out right before the start, they’ll all be in their own boxes, then once the gun goes off, they naturally spread out. I don’t know that we have a high-risk sport here. As long as we get to do it, we can do it safely.”
In varsity girls, Siloam Springs saw its streak of five straight state titles end last fall as they wound up placing third.
The Lady Panthers have 15 runners on the roster and so far they’ve been running really well, Jones said.
“It’s different than in years past,” she said. “We don’t have a huge number of girls packing together in the front.”
Jones said senior Quincy Efurd, who finished 12th overall at the state meet last year, is leading the team with senior Macie Herrel right there with her.
Sophomore Emily Brown and Rachel Rine and juniors Shayla Conley, Jacilyn Weilnau and Kadynce Hilburn-Frost have been running well.
Jones expects freshmen Ellen Slater and Shelby Smith to also make an impact.
“We have a pretty good, strong seven or eight runners,” Jones said. “They’re just not packed up there with Quincy the way we want them to be. They’re getting there. These girls have never had anyone depending on them before. I think they’re gaining confidence in what they can pace and where they should be in the pack. I’m really excited to see them run because I think they’re really going to surprise themselves. I think they’re stronger than what they think they are.”
On the varsity boys side, Jones is excited about the potential the Panthers are showing.
“The boys are crazy good right now,” she said. “We’ve got so much competition within our own team that they just keep pushing each other farther and farther.”
The Panthers finished fifth at the state meet last year but return more than half the squad that participated at Oaklawn.
Senior Michael Capehart leads the Panthers and has had a strong summer, Jones said.
“Right now Michael’s still number one and I don’t see that changing,” Jones said. “We have our time trials where we do a mile every two weeks, and he’s already PR’d. He’s beat his personal best in track when he’s training for a mile, and we’re not even training for miles, so I know he’s stronger than he’s ever been.”
Sophomore Wilson Cunningham is right behind Capehart in training along with senior Blake Morrison.
“Those three guys are really, really strong,” Jones said.
Jones said sophomores Levi Fox, Riley Harrison and Caleb Rodgers, juniors Jordyn Baskins, Jason Flores, Liam Scott, and senior Luke Fields have been running well.
Billy Samoff, a sophomore move-in from Indonesia, is a strong runner, Jones said.
Freshmen Noah Granderson, Nathan Hawbaker, Charlie Hyde, and Tyler Cottrell all could make an impact.
“We’re deeper than we’ve ever been in the boys,” Jones said.
“We knew these younger boys were coming up. We knew this was going to be a strong year. We’ve anticipated Michael’s senior year for quite a while and everything is stacking up right. They love each other. They encourage each other.”