Anna is in the best shape of her life. She has yet to run a great cross country meet but she has worked hard and she's our top runner. Kayla has put in a lot of miles this summer and she's our best practice runner. |
If I can get the girls all healthy, and there is no margin for error, we could be a solid team. I'm hoping for Russellville on Oct. 1 that we can get the team back together without any injuries. |
It was race over after Kayla's injury. And having Anna out I knew was going to hurt us about six team places. |
It's a good starting meet on a great course. We will see a lot of the top Class AAAA and AAA schools. It's a meet we should win but Springdale will be there and they are usually strong. |
Our top three finishers ran excellent races. None of the three are in the shape our top two are in and they have a lot of room to improve but they showed a lot of improvement in just a week's time. Once we get everyone back and healthy, I'm optimistic about the girls. |
Outside of the state meet this is as big a meet we run in. As far as the size of the field and the competition, I can't ever remember coaching a team that pulled off a win like this. |
The boys team is a real mystery to me right now. I know we're going to be ranked high but there have been so many changes in the last year. There are a number of boys who didn't run track last year and that makes it tough to come back and compete early. I hope they all understand how special a team they can be this year. I don't think they have grasped that yet. |
They are really coming together as a team and are running with each other. We haven't run against Rogers and we suspect Benton and Bentonville are good but after that there are a lot of things that can happen in front of us. |
This is a strong senior class. They've got a lot of talent but they just have to prove it in a race. |
To get a sophomore to crack your top five is big. Daniel was only 62 seconds off Willy's time. In a race like this, having 62 seconds between your No. 1 and your No. 5 puts you in good shape. |
We won the race on our No. 3 and No. 4 runners. Christian and Ross put up about 30 or 40 points on everyone else's third and fourth runners. That was key. |
Wes surprised me and I didn't expect him to be in this position. He ran a smart race. |
Willy went out and established himself in the lead pack. And they dragged him through the first 2 1/2 miles and he faded at the end. But he ran a great race and that's his strategy to be aggressive and be in the lead to see if he can pull it off. |
Winning the race never crossed my mind. I had three goals going in and winning wasn't one of them. We were on the bus when we found out we won. It was a mad dash to the award stand. We were getting there from the skin of our rear. I was pleased after the race and it looked good for a top-five finish. |