The Carroll Dragons took first in the Boys’ and Girls’ divisions at the Chile Pepper Invitational held last weekend at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. In its 24th year, the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival is now one of the premier running events in America. Each year over 80 college teams and 120 high school teams run at the University of Arkansas’ grassy, rolling off road course perfect for hot competitors.
With 54 schools and 410 runners in the competition, the Lady Dragons Varsity-I ran away with first with only 22 points to the runner-up, Lady Dragon Varsity-II with 170. Five Lady Dragon runners finished in the top 10.
The Boys’ competition included 64 teams and 494 runners ready to run. Not to be out done, the Dragons Varsity-I were on fire with six runners in the top 10, the boys scored 19 points to beat Bentonville’s (Ark.) 115 points for second. The Dragon Varsity-II grabbed 6th place.
“All teams did well this weekend,” Carroll coach Justin Leonard said. “The Chile Pepper Festival is a great course and racing environment for our runners to compete. The teams wanted to have a good race to propel them into the championship portion of their season and I feel they did.”
Both Carroll teams are ranked No. 1 in the state.
Girls Varsity – Top 7
1st – Courtney Kriegshauser 17:55
2nd – Tig Archer 18:00
7th – Elena Arriaza 18:39
8th – Shelby Chapin 18:46
10th –Katie Burnham 18:50
16th -Taylor Ullmann 19:16
18th – Sarah Cory 19:17
20th – Maddie Keen 19:23
23rd – Lauren Berry 19:30
24th – Laura Lashus 19:35
25th – Sam Young 19:39
42nd – Vicki Borttoff 20:05
89th – Kate Brekken 20:55
97th – Rianna Randolph 21:02
100th-Morgan Baulier 21:04
Boys Varsity – Top 7
1st – Joe Sansone 15:06
2nd – Nate Sullivan 15:19
3rd – Trevor Gilley 15:26
4th – Connor Hendrickson 15:27
9th – Alec Garner 15.58
10th –Jacob Pickle 16.01
15th –Eli Canal 16:13
30th – Chase Wichman 16:34
41st – Luke Lanham 16:35
55th – Joeseph Zapinski 16:46
64th – Regen Hatcher 16:54
66th – Brent Aydon 16:56
70th – Matt Odneal 16:58
86th – Matt Carson 17:09
90th – Eric Vetere 17:12
202nd-Timou Toure 18:10