Some of the best teams in the state traveled to Russellville for the Cyclone Invitational on Saturday and the home team found help in unexpected ways to lead their team to a dominant victory.
Paxtin Lawlis led the way for the Cyclones on Saturday, finishing 2nd and running a 19:48.71, just 1.1 seconds behind the winner. Lilly Stubblefield joined in on the fun and finished 6th.
Finishing next for Russellville were a pair of freshman: Madelyn Honghiran and Alyvia Davis.
Hongrhian finished 8th, running a 21:10.20 while Davis came in 11th, running a 21:27.92. The duo helped their team pick up a dominating victory, scoring just 36 points - enough to take down last year's 5A state champions by 86 points.
Russellville is among one of the many girls team in 5A capable of winning a team championship in November and with the emergence of Honghiran and Davis, the Cyclones have set themselves apart from the group.
Following their victory this weekend, Russellville is now ranked first in 5A according to the Milesplit XC Team Scores feature.