Three local runners bid for repeat XC titles
Meet host Lake Hamilton and Jessieville have reigning individual champions in the state cross country championship Friday at Oaklawn Park.
Josie Carson seeks her fourth consecutive girls’ individual title and Colby Swecker his second straight in the boys’ division for Lake Hamilton in Class 6A. Girls run at 3:45 p.m. with the Lady Wolves, second the last two years to Siloam Springs, seeking their first state title since 2014. Swecker leads Lake Hamilton in pursuit of its fifth consecutive 6A boys title at 3:15 p.m.
Eskew seeks his fourth consecutive title in the 3A boys race, starting at 11:30 a.m. The Jessieville senior outran three Green Forest runners for the 2016 crown.
Carson faces a battle, coach Karl Koonce says, from season-long rival Gracie Hyde, of Benton. Carson and Lady
Wolf teammate Morgan Pruitt were all-state performers last year. Other Lady Wolf runners are senior Caybrin Chapman, freshman Claire Evans and sophomores Anna Cole, Meighan Mears, Madison Mears, Katherine Scalzo and Anacaron Ramos.
Swecker made the 2016 all-state team along with teammates Cody Weldon (senior), Skylar Davis (junior) and Noah Smith (sophomore). Completing the Wolves’ roster are juniors Omar Ramos, Nick Davis and Ramon Morales, sophomore Adam Albrecht and freshman Billy Swecker.
Class 7A teams run first, boys at 9 a.m. and girls at 9:30 a.m. Class 1A/2A boys follow at 10:15 a.m. and girls at 10:45 a.m. Class 3A girls run at noon, Class 4A boys following at 12:45 p.m. and girls at 1:15 p.m. Class 5A boys run at 2 p.m. and girls at 2:30 p.m.
All races are 5,000 meters on the Oaklawn infield. Each team may enter up to nine runners with the top five finishers comprising the team score. School entries of less than five runners may compete for individual places. Ninth-grade students are eligible to compete with the senior high in all divisions.
Admission is $6 for adults and students.
Missouri State golf wins individual, team crowns
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — Missouri State edged Central Arkansas by three strokes for the Little Rock Golf Classic championship Tuesday at Diamante Country Club.
Missouri State shot 301-305-302 for a 908. UCA, led by fifthplace finisher Emma Svennson, followed at 302-299-310_911. Svennson had back-to-back 73s before finishing with a 78.
UTEP (913) finished third, followed by Sam Houston State
(914), Houston Baptist (915), Jacksonville State (916), Utah Valley (918), Oral Roberts (919), Arkansas State (920), Louisiana-Monroe (936), UALR and Stephen F. Austin (937), Northern Iowa (940), Texas-Rio Grande Valley (945) and Texas-Arlington
(949).
Missouri State’s Verena Gimmy, with a 54-hole score of 220, took medalist honors.