Cross Country is approaching the end of the season with their two most important meets; being the Conference and State meets. Conway Cross Country attended one last meet before conference. On October 22 the annual Arvest Bank Blazer Invitational was held at Jonesboro. A special rule about conferences that allows Freshmen from Conway Junior High to run up for Conway High Cross Country. These freshmen runners ran at the Blazer Invitational to get experienced with a 5k race and 4 freshmen ran up for this meet. Among these 5 freshmen, 4 of them ran up for the Varsity boys and 1 ran up for Varsity girls. Another freshman girl is running up for Conway, who has been running up the whole season for Conway. Her name is Ellie O’Neal and she was pulled up from the beginning of the season to help out the Senior High girls. She has proven herself to be Conway’s best girl runner; additionally, she has placed in the top ten countless times this season and has established herself as Conway’s best female runner.
Conway Varsity Lady Cats ran at the Arvest Bank Blazer Invitational and performed well as they finished 2nd out of 7 teams. The Lady Cats had two runners finish inside the top 10 with Ellie O’Neal(9) finishing 5th overall with a time of 21:26 and Abby Allison(12) who finished 9th overall with a time of 22:06. The majority of Senior High girls are Sophomore girls who have been placing for Conway High so their placement will be important to how the team does at Conference. These Sophomore girls have been improving throughout the season and particularly Molly Henry is looking to come back from an injury and do well at conference. When we asked her what her goals for conference were she said, “My goals for conference is to have fun and get a personal record.” The Lady Cats have improved throughout the season and are now showing their potential when it matters the most. The Lady Cats look to continue their success into Conference and State and bring some hardware home for Conway.
Conway Varsity Boys also ran at the Arvest Bank Blazer Invitational and they performed well despite the absence of their best runner. They finished 5th out of eight teams, and Sophomore Raven Fuller finished 1st for the boys with a time of 17:39. The Varsity Boys have an outstanding Freshman runner Nate Atwell. Atwell has been an exceptional runner for Conway Junior High, as he has placed inside the top 5 for every meet this season. Another runner for Conway is senior Isaiah Strack, who has been improving throughout this year and has been pulling personal records at meets. When we asked Strack if he was excited for the conference meet he said, “I am excited to run at conference because it is my last chance to prove something to myself and others.” The Varsity Boys are poised to make a late-season surge with their top runner John Wofford running at Conference and State meets, with Atwell running up and the Wampus Cats look to compete for metals and plaques to bring back to Conway.
Conway Cross Country will run the 6A Conference meet at Little Rock on October 30. The girls will run at 2 pm, and the boys will run at 2:45 pm. After conference, Conway Cross Country will run at Oaklawn Casino on Friday, November 8 with the girls running at 10:30 am and the boys running at 11:15 am.
