El Dorado runners compete in Louisiana Mile Festival
El Dorado’s distance runners traveled to Ruston Saturday and competed in the Louisiana Mile Festival. Zachary McMillon finished 13th overall in the boys’ division with a personal best time of 4:34.19 in the 1,600-meter run.
“We were looking for something to push Zach before the Lake Hamilton Invitational so he could focus on that 1,600. So I was looking around and saw Ruston was hosting the Louisiana Mile Festival,” said El Dorado coach John Koonce. “I went to him and the rest of the distance runners and I said, you know it’s going to be good for y’all, too.”
The Wildcats’ Riley Dumas ran 4:54 and Jake Dilworth finished in 5:30. For the Lady Wildcats, Ainsley Colvin recorded a time of 6:15 and Abby Mitchell ran 6:31.
“All five kids ran a personal best 1,600 time,” said Koonce.
The event featured several heats of the 1,600-meter run.
McMillon won his heat.
“If he had been in the fast heat, he probably would’ve finished about sixth or seventh overall,” Koonce said. “It was the best distance runners in Louisiana. It was a chance to go push ourselves. You have five PRs, that says the kids had a good week of training and they really embraced the opportunities this unique type of event presented. But, it also gives them that confidence going forward.
“For Zach, it really moved him up in the state. It gives him a better positioning when you look at the best 1,600 times that have been run in the state of Arkansas. It moved him up really high. For the rest of the kids, it moved them up in conference. It was good for everybody.”
El Dorado, which won the Cardinal Relays at Camden Fairview on Thursday, will travel to Pearcy next week for the 34-team Lake Hamilton Invitational.
“It’ll be much better than what state’s going to be,” said Koonce. “You’ve got Fayetteville and those schools from up north coming down. It’ll be significantly better than what we’ll see at state.”