The two Greenwood High School cross country teams are competing this week in the 5A West conference meet at Alma on Tuesday. Head Coach Jim Andrews and assistant Becky Ames hope their runners will accept the challenge of the postseason by performing well at the league event to qualify for the state meet in early November at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. The Lady Bulldogs are the two-time defending 5A champions and have won three state titles since 2019. The GHS boys have also shown significant improvement this season in Greenwood’s handful of scheduled meets.
The Cyclone Invitational
As reported in a previous article, the cross country season began for Greenwood in early September at Rogers. The GHS boys finished first and the Lady Bulldogs placed second. Their next event was nearly three weeks later, on Saturday, September 21st at Russellville in the Cyclone Invitational, a 5000-meter race.
The Bulldogs came in sixth out of 24 teams while the Lady Bulldogs finished third out of 19 teams. Greenwood had three girls finish in the top 16 out of 205 female runners who took part in the event. They had six athletes finishing in the top 49. There were 279 male runners, and the GHS boys had three athletes place in the top 25 and five place in the top 75.
Cabot High School won the boys’ competition with a low score of 73, the only team under 100 points. Pottsville High School finished second with 117 points, Little Rock Christian was third at 143 points, and Maumelle Charter school was fourth (147). The Bulldogs finished sixth with 161 points, right behind fifth-place Searcy High School with 157 points.
The Russellville ladies won their own invitational with a low of 36 points, followed by second place Cabot (83 points), and Greenwood (104) in third place. Julia Witherington led her GHS teammates by running fifth overall with a time of 20:56.05. Greenwood’s Camryn Coston finished 13th overall with a time of 21:34.22 and teammate Carole Werner placed 16th with a time of 21:37.70. Gracie Goines finished in 38th place with a time of 23:23.33 and Piper Ames was 45th with a time of 23:51.87. Kiera Johnson ran 49th for Greenwood, completing the course in 24:04.62. Lexi Gordon was 53rd at 24:13.49 while Annalise Johnson ran 77th with a time of 25:29.75, one spot ahead of teammate Pate Jones at 25:21.11. Olivia Weidner was 99th with a time of 26:16.24.
Among the Greenwood boys, David Coggin ran ninth with a time of 17:39.58 while Andrew Rye was 17th with a time of 18:00.75. Rhett Williams was 25th with a race time of 18:17.53 and Westin Rushing was 53rd with a time of 19:15.96. Dylan Nicholson finished in 72nd place with a time of 20:06.09 and Isaac Trice ran 83rd with a time of 20:26.43. Braylon Neece was 99th with a time of 20:50.90
The Chile Pepper Festival
On Saturday, September 28th both GHS teams traveled north to Fayetteville for the annual Chile Pepper Festival held on the University of Arkansas cross country course. Nearly 500 boys competed in the open category representing well over 100 high schools from multiple states, with the Bulldogs finishing 39th. David Coggin was Greenwood’s best runner, placing 151st with a time of 16:51.90. Only one other Bulldog finished in the top 200 and that was Braylon Neece at 199th in 19:41.60.
Other GHS boys who competed included Mickey Joe Thurman, who finished #262 with a time of 20:22.90 and Rhett Williams, who finished #316 with a time of 17:34.00. Andrew Rye (#332) had a time of 17:37.90 and Hayes Ciesla (#354) had a time of 22:06.30. Carson Thornberry (#397) finished the course with a time of 22:59.30. Seven other Bulldogs also competed in the meet.
In girls team competition, the Lady Bulldogs finished 11th overall. For the GHS ladies, Julie Witherington finished 13th overall with a time of 19:49.50 and Camryn Coston ran 23rd with a time of 20:12.80. Carole Werner ran 32nd with a time of 20:27.90 while Kiera Johnson ran 58th with a time of 23:18.50. Analise Johnson was 70th at 23:41.50, Lexi Gordon was 73rd (23:43.90, and Piper Ames ran 76th (21:23.60). Also finishing in the top 100 for Greenwood was Gracie Goines in 89th place at 21:40.60. Four other Lady Bulldogs competed as well.
The Greenwood Invitational
On Thursday, October 3rd Bell Park was the scene of the annual Greenwood “Thrill of the Hill” Invitational. The meet included both junior high and varsity cross country teams from dozens of area high schools. The Lady Bulldogs finished third behind Providence Academy and Rogers High School while the GHS varsity boys ran fourth behind Waldron, Heavener (OK), and Pea Ridge High School. In junior high competition, the Greenwood boys placed fifth while the Greenwood junior high girls ran second.
Individual results for the Lady Bulldogs include Julia Witherington (4th, 22:47.21), Lexi Gordon (11th, 24:40.22), Gracie Goines (14th, 24:47.44), Annalise Johnson (17th, 24:57.43), Elizabeth Moy (28th, 27:15.40), and Olivia Weidner in 39th place with a time of 30:04.72. For the Bulldogs, 16 runners took part in the meet with 12 finishing in the top 50. They included David Coggin (2nd, 17:58.06), Andrew Rye (6th, 18:38.64), Rhett Williams (12th, 19:27.82), Westin Rushing (27th, 20:23.09), Grant Fiala (32nd, 20:38.99), Dexter Coston (33rd, 20:41.06), Isaac Trice (36th, 21:01.96), Braylon Neece (37th, 21:02.33), Miles Wead (39th, 21:25.32), Ridik Lawless (41st, 21:34.96), Mickey Joe Thurman (49th, 22:00.82), and Dylan Nicholson (50th, 22:01.03 ). Carson Thornberry (61st), Hayes Ciesla (67th), Pablo Ambriz (68th), and James Rust (78th) also competed.
The Lake Hamilton Invitational
On the second Saturday in October (12th) the two GHS distance running squads traveled to Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs for their final regular season meet. On the boys’ side of things, 429 runners participated with Bentonville High School winning first place, followed by Bentonville-West, Ft. Smith Southside, Bryant, and Little Rock Catholic. The Bulldogs placed 12 overall out of 31 participating schools. For the varsity girls, 280 runners took part with Bentonville and Bentonville-West finishing taking the top two spots again, followed by Russellville, Cabot, and Greenwood in fifth place.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Julia Witherington continued her season-long dominance by leading her teammates with a time of 20:39.32, good enough for 22nd place overall. She was followed by Camryn Coston (39th, 21:25.31), Carole Werner (46th, 1:52.50), Piper Ames (50th, 21:58.51), Annalise Johnson (61st, 22:16.25), Gracie Goines (63rd, 22:28.30), Lexi Gordon (70th, 22:52.44), Pate Jones (94th, 23:52.98), and Presley Zimmerman (100th, 24:12.99). Ellie Wilkinson (102), Kiera Johnson (137), Elizabeth Moy (139), Olivia Weidner (175), and Haylee Young (181) also participated for Greenwood.
For the GHS boys, Andrew Rye was their top performer, finishing in 50th place with a time of 17:23.00. Others who placed in the top 150 included David Coggin (54th, 17:26.81), Rhett Williams (93rd, 18:11.54), Westin Rushing (123rd, 18:43.93), Grant Fiala (135th, 19:00.55), Miles Wead (139th, 19:09.16), and Dexter Coston (144th, 19:14.68). Other Bulldogs who ran were Dylan Nicholson (152), Isaac Trice (153), Mickey Joe Thurman (169), Braylon Neece (172), Ridik Lawless (210), Yadiel Rivera (241), Carson Thornberry (246), Kobe Lewis (286), Hayes Ciesla (331), Pablo Ambriz (361), and James Rust (405).