Hot Springs hosted the 6A Cross Country State Tournament for 2023. The tournament took place on November 2nd, and both Conway Cross Country teams attended. This event officially wrapped up the season, with the varsity boys finishing 10th out of the 17 teams, and the varsity girls finishing 8th out of the 16 teams.
This placement wasn’t what the Wampus Cat boys were hoping for, but they showed significant improvement from the previous state tournament. Last year, they finished 14th out of 16 teams and got an egregious score of 362. You could tell that they worked very hard this off-season because they finished 10th out of 17 teams this year with 252 points, which is a difference of 110 points. Among those who improved from last year is Max Henry(12), who last year finished with a time of 17:32.96 and got the Wampus Cats 65 points. This year, his time was 16:48.78, which was a noticeable improvement, and he got 25 points for the Wampus Cats. In Cross Country, a lower score is better, and the team with the lowest score wins the meet, so Max showed a lot of improvement. He said one of the keys to his success, “When I first started the cross country season, I was really focusing more on time and how other people were doing. Then as the season went on I realized that it’s really just your own race and I stuck with the people I knew I could compete with.” Seniors Jake Tatom, Max Henry, Cade Harris, Bryson Jay, and Will Bates have been leaders to underclassmen and have inspired them to continue improving for the 2024 season.
The Cross Country girls also finished 8th out of 16 teams at last year’s state tournament, but they improved by 20 points compared to last year. This year they finished with 229 compared to a score of 249. The Varsity Girls have a lot of talented seniors this year. Jada Harell, Lilli King, and Meg Swindle; both Swindle and King have had top-two finishes this season, with Swindle finishing first at the Wampus Cat Invitational and King finishing second at the Falcon Run Invitational. Cross Country additionally teaches members of both teams life lessons. When we asked Swindle what she has learned from Cross Country she said, “ I learned that hard work pays off because I have worked very hard over the years, and it pays off because I get to run in college.” The Varsity Girl’s seniors have displayed their leadership skills and paved the way for underclassmen.
Overall, both Varsity Boys and Varsity Girls Cross Country are on the rise and are inspired to perform better next season. Through their excellent seniors, Conway’s Cross Country program has a bright future ahead of them.
