Amid the 90 degree plus heat and prior to the on-slaught of heavy rain and thundershowers that delayed the start of the college races by more than two hours, several Arkansas individuals and teams competed in the Brooks Memphis Twilight XC Meet. Billed as the largest twilight XC meet in the United States, well over 1000 total runners stepped up to the start line on Saturday night, September 1st at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex to race against some of the best runners in the region.
Arkansas teams and individuals competing ranged from relatively close-by schools such as Harding Academy, Jonesboro, Marion, Nettleton and Valley View; and others from the south such as Dewitt, the north as in Mountain Home and Melbourne, and as far west as Van Buren (apologies to any schools missed).
In addition to the host state of Tennessee and those listed for Arkansas above, schools from Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri also participated. The top high school boys teams were Brentwood, TN (1st – 36 points); West Plains, MO (2nd – 66 points); and Daviess County, KY (3rd – 117 points). A total of 41 varsity boys teams competed and 323 individuals. Valley View HS was the top AR team finishing in 27th with 758 points. They were led by Carter Shelton (SO; 4A 2nd place in 800 and 4th in 1600 last spring), the top AR finisher, who led the race for significant portions and ultimately placed 6thand finished in 16:45. Brentwood teammates, Taylor Caldwell (JR) and Alec Thomas (JR), went 1 (16:27.68) and 2 (16:27.74) as they pulled away from the pack and Shelton on the 3rd mile. Caldwell and Thomas, as members of their Brentwood team, ran at the 2011 Nike Cross National XC meet in Portland, OR finishing 17th in the nation last fall.
The top AR HS varsity girls team was Van Buren who finished 11th out of 38 teams and 283 individuals. They were led by Rebekah Gibbons (SR) who finished 36th in a time of 21:02 and Maria Valente (JR) who finished 40th in a time of 21:18. The top three teams were Bowling Green, KY (67), Dupont Manual, KY (101), and Daviess County, KY (115). The individual winner, Cassidy Hale (Dupont Manual-SR), won this race as a freshman and used a surge just after the mile mark to break away from the lead pack and finished in a time of 18:38 in the 2nd race of her SR campaign. Hale is the KY 3A XC state champion and finished 15th in the Footlocker South Regional XC meet last season. She was followed by Whitney O’Bryan who finished 3rd at the state meet to Hale last fall (Daviess County, JR – 19:12) and freshman Rebecca Buteau, the 6A state champ in the 1600 (Madison Central, MS-19:19.24). The top AR individual finisher was Nettleton’s Kyandra Chandler, who last spring broke the 5A state meet record in the 1600 (5:04) and who also won the 800 (2:19). Chandler chased Hale after the break at the mile and ran in 2nd place the rest of the race until being overtaken by O’Bryan and Buteau over the last 150 meters in finishing 4th in a time of 19:19.75.
Overall course conditions were good considering the rain over the past few days, though, the footing was softer than in years past with some sections a bit mushy/muddy. Temperatures at race time for the HS girls were 90 degrees with heat index in the mid to upper 90s and the low 80s/upper 70s for the HS boys with heat index in the mid 80s.
