2023 MileSplit TX XC Inv. Elite Girls Race
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Seniors Haley Loewe and Devyn O'Daniel were two of Bentonville's runners to crack the top-10 at the MileSplit TX XC Invitational on Saturday. Loewe placed second with a time of 18:29 and O'Daniel ran 19:25 to finish in seventh place, respectively.
It was the the official opening weekend for the reigning and five-time defending state champions. With any opening, there is surely some dust to shake off and rust to break, but post race shows there wasn't much for the Lady Tigers.
"It was just based on us and I think it went really well, we stayed together in our workouts for the most part and we really bonded together and ran off each other."Devyn O'Daniels, Bentonville senior
An hour delay for the meet, due to storms in the area and lighting too close within the vicinity of the park, Bentonville had to wait even longer than they expected. However, finishing with a 19:39 team average gives plenty of optimism for the 2023 season.
From the thoughts and feelings of the runners in the program, off season training was a success. O'Daniels sentiments were, "it was just based on us and I think it went really well, we stayed together in our workouts for the most part and we really bonded together and ran off each other."
Loewe, the defending individual state champion agreed with her teammate, "I'd say the training went very well, so this race was really like the first test to see how that went."
TEAM SCORES PLACE TEAM POINTS SCORERS TIMES 1 Bentonville High School 46 1+5+9+15+16 (18+27) 1:59 1-5 Split | 19:39 Avg 2 Plano West 54 3+8+11+13+19 (29) 1:20 1-5 Split| 19:54 Avg 3 Keller 64 4+6+10+21+23 (34+35) 1:29 1-5 Split | 20:00 Avg 4 Hockaday 69 2+7+14+20+26 2:09 1-5 Split | 20:01 Avg 5 Denton Guyer 144 17+25+28+32+42 (43+45) 2:39 1-5 Split | 21:25 Avg 6 Argyle 152 22+24+31+36+39 (40+47) 1:46 1-5 Split | 21:32 Avg 7 Frisco Lone Star 182 30+33+37+38+44 (46+50) 2:26 1-5 Split | 22:12 Avg 8 Trinity Valley 201 12+41+48+49+51 8:48 1-5 Split | 24:36 Avg
2023 MileSplit TX XC Inv. Elite Boys Race
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For the Bentonville boys, it harder to imagine a better way of opening up the season. They also got the team win and at the same time they showed how effective their off-season work was preparing for the year.
The team went for a 15:57 team average, which was very good for a not-so-fast course. Most impressively was their team 1-5 split they paired with the team average.
James American Horse was the first runner across the line in fourth place overall and with a time of 15:40, but the rest of the scoring runners all had impressive season opening runs. Eli Seavey was only ten seconds behind American Horse and Matthew Shelly was two second behind him.
"You have to keep what you can't control out of your mindset."Eli Seavey, Bentonville senior
Seavey and Shelly placed sixth and seventh overall, but Payton Brack finished ninth overall in 16:11 and respectively Owen Kelley was eleventh with a time of 16:12 to help earn the team average and the 31 second deviation from the first runner through the fifth.
TEAM SCORES PLACE TEAM POINTS SCORERS TIMES 1 Bentonville High School 23 2+3+4+6+8 (12+15) 0:31 1-5 Split | 15:57 Avg 2 Keller 74 5+9+19+20+21 (22+33) 1:20 1-5 Split | 16:41 Avg 3 Plano West 82 7+10+14+23+28 1:34 1-5 Split | 16:53 Avg 4 Dallas St Marks 96 11+13+16+24+32 (35+36) 1:30 1-5 Split | 17:04 Avg 5 Denton Guyer 106 1+18+27+29+31 (39) 2:29 1-5 Split | 17:09 Avg 6 Trinity Valley 188 17+40+41+44+46 (52+54) 2:18 1-5 Split | 18:28 Avg 7 Killeen Shoemaker 189 26+30+38+45+50 (55) 1:36 1-5 Split | 18:29 Avg 8 Fort Worth Nolan Cat. 194 25+37+42+43+47 (53) 1:30 1-5 Split | 18:33 Avg 9 Home School Athletic 238 34+48+49+51+56 (57+58) 2:00 1-5 Split | 19:14 Avg
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What isn't a surprise to many Arkansans is that the Bentonville boys can run, but what they showed this weekend is that things don't have to be set up perfect for them to find a way to win.
They first had to travel six hours down to the DFW area, then they woke up at 5 a.m. to eat and go through their race day habits. However, the delay after warming up was a little kink in their schedule and plans.
The team didn't run as fast as they wanted to, but they were happy to take away the positives and with that they showed mental toughness. "You have to keep what you can't control out of your mindset," senior Eli Seavey said.
The mental toughness experience the exhibited in the opening week will be valuable experience for this team to be able to achieve the goals they have set for this season.
2023 MileSplit TX XC Inv. Elite Girls Race
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