Chile Pepper Girls Preview

McKenzie Bergman

The Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival is now one of the premier running events in America. In 2017, the Chile Pepper hosted approximately 6500 runners and over 6000 spectators. Each year, top high school athletes from the midwest and the south descend on Fayetteville, Ar. looking for fast times on this fairly flat course. The course is known for producing many PR's.


The girls race this year will be "Who wants to be the team to chase Texas?" Two of the top 7 girls teams from Texas will be in Fayetteville looking for fast times. #5 ranked Houston Stratford and #7 ranked Keller will bring the challenge to the top 3 teams from Arkansas. #1 Rogers, #2 Bentonville, and #3 Fayetteville will look to knock off 2 time defending champion Keller HS. Don't count out some of the top teams from Oklahoma and Missouri. #1 ranked Deer Creek from Oklahoma and #2 ranked West Plains from Missouri will be right in the middle of this team battle.


The battle for the individual race will be who can catch Isabel Van Camp from Keller HS. Isabel ran a very fast time of 17:34 on a sloppy course at the Marcus 1 Invitational. It will be very interesting to watch and see who goes out with Isabel. Keep an eye on Anna Jeffcoat, Ali Nachtigal, and Hailey Day of Rogers, Tori Willis and Lainey Quandt of Bentonville from Arkansas. Oklahoma is bringing a strong group of girls also. Watch for Aubrey Byers and Kendall Edelen of Deer Creek HS, Payton Hinkle of Broken Arrow, and Delanie Crawford from Piedmont HS to be in the mix. The West Plains girls, Kaylee Hatley, Mia Harris, and McKenzie Bergman, all have run under 19 minutes and will be in that lead pack.

National ranked: MileSplit 50 
On the Bubble Watch List:
Isabel Van Camp, Keller (TX): Opened with a 17:36.00 at Marcus I 

AR  MileSplit Girls Individual Rankings: 
#1 Anna Jeffcoat 18:56
#2 Ali Nachtigal 18:59
#3 Tori Willis 19:05
#4 Hailey Day 19:25
#5 Laney Quandt 19:32

 
AR Girls Team Rankings: 

#1 Rogers High School
#2 Bentonville High School
#3 Fayetteville high School  



TX MileSplit Girls individual ranked by time: 

#3 Isabel Van Camp Keller High  17:34

TX Girls rankings Teams
 #5  Houston Stratford
 #7  Kellar High School



OK MileSplit Girls Individual ranked by time 
#2 Aubrey Byers Deer Creek High School 18:52
#3 Payton Hinkle Broken Arrow High 18:52
#4 Delanie Crawford Piedmont High 19:06
#5 Annabel White Westmoore High 19:06
#6 Avery Mazzei  Jenks High 19:10
#7 Kendall Edelen Deer Creek High 19:15
#9 Madeline Medina Edmond North 19:25
 
OK Girls Team Rankings: 
#1 Deer Creek High School
#3 Westmoore High School
#4 Piedmont High School
#5 Guthrie High School
 


MO MileSplit Girls ranked individual by time: 
#2 Kaylee Hatley West Plains High 18:35
#3 Mia Harris West Plains High 18:46
#7 McKenzie Bergman West Plains High 19:01
#8 Miranda Dick Raymore-Peculiar High 19:03
#10 Makenzie Stucker Raymore-Peculiar High 19:08

MO Girls Team rankings: 
#2 West Plains High School
#4 Raymore Peculiar High school


 
KS MileSplit Girls Individual ranked by time 
#8 Sarah Whitaker Olathe North High School  19:20

KS Girls Team rankings:
#4  Olathe North High School



Special Thanks to Tim Fischer for the research help