BLACK & GOLD NIGHT Friday, 11.15 Gates open @ 4:30 Events start @ 5:00 Come out and support the beginning of the Winter seasons - Bentonville Basketball Club, WJHS Cheer, WJHS Dance, WJHS Basketball, FJHS Cheer, FJHS Dance, FJHS Basketball, BHS Cheer, BHS Dance, BHS Wrestling, BHS Basketball, BHS Swim & Dive See Full Schedule in the HUB - BHS Events...

NEXT LEVEL TIGERS - Signing Celebration Thursday, November 14 - 10:45 @ Tiger Arena ...

HOT SPRINGS -- Mike Power summed up the Class 6A boys state cross country championship as "a different day and a different course." But the final results remained the same. Power's Bentonville team, led by individual champion Lukas Pabst, edged Fayetteville to win its third consecutive state title and eighth overall during Saturday's races on the Oaklawn Park infield. Bentonville compiled 30 points to 36 for Fayetteville, which was a 13-point turnaround from last week when the Bulldogs claimed the 6A-West Conference by a 37-44 margin at Rogers. Bentonville has edged Fayetteville in the past three state meets by a combined 22 points. "When you have a leader like Lukas Pabst out there and those other guys are hungry to perform, it came down to doing it on the day," Power said. "We knew this was the biggest day on our calendar, and they performed great. "They really wanted it, and it showed in their performance. These guys were focused on the state meet, and if there's one meet you want to win, it's state. I think this course suited our athletes and the type of athletes they are, so it felt pretty good." All five Bentonville runners ran personal-bests over the 5,000-meter course, and four Tigers finished among the top-five runners. That included Pabst, who ran with the early leaders for the first half-mile and made his move before he reached the 1-mile marker. Pabst finished his race in 15 minutes, 21.9 seconds, almost 13 seconds faster than Fayetteville's Carter Betts. A trio of Tigers -- twin brothers Dawson and Dylan Mayberry, and Daniel Graham -- were the next three to cross the finish line within 14 seconds of each other. "We were looking forward to the team win," Lukas said. "We were focused on team runs and everything. I just went out with the pack. When the pace started slowing down, I took it. I knew I did it last week and it worked, so I decided to do it again." Fayetteville and Bentonville each had four runners among the top eight, but Bentonville had 13 points at that point to Fayetteville's 23. Fayetteville had the first No. 5 runner as Gabe Craig finished 13th, but it wasn't enough as Bentonville's fifth runner, Colin Conway, was 17th. Springdale Har-Ber was a distant third with 89 points, while Conway and Bryant closed out the top five with 138 and 149 points, respectively....

HOT SPRINGS -- The two most important parts of a cross country race, according to Ali Nachtigal, are the first 400 meters and the last 400 meters. The latter part is what led the Rogers junior to her third consecutive state championship as she pulled away late to win the Class 6A state individual title during Saturday's race on the Oaklawn Park infield. Nachtigal ran the 5,000-meter course in a personal-best 18 minutes, 28.4 seconds, which was more than 22 seconds faster than second-place finisher Grace Litzinger of Fayetteville. "I'm just so blessed," Nachtigal said. "I can't even fathom that it happened. It was completely God-given. "I really didn't do a whole lot differently. I just did what I did last year. It was a perfect day with not a whole lot of wind. I just stuck with Grace and worked together, then I just kicked when I felt like I needed to go and get a strong enough lead." Nachtigal and Litzinger were almost side by side through the first half of the race, and they were by themselves at the halfway point. It wasn't until the final half-mile when Nachtigal took off and became the first girl to win the largest classification three consecutive times since Springdale Har-Ber's Elise Reina did it in 2013-15. "You just go for it for the first 400 meters, then do it again in the last 400," Nachtigal said. "The crowd will just carry you through it." Bentonville found a measure of revenge in winning its second consecutive team title as the Lady Tigers edged second-place Fayetteville by a 36-38 margin. It was the same margin of victory that Fayetteville had over Bentonville in last week's 6A-West Conference championship. Bentonville and Fayetteville each placed four runners in the top 10 and were still in a 24-24 deadlock at that point. The difference came in the fifth runners as Bentonville's Madison Galingo -- a freshman who was moved up from junior high this week -- took 12th place at 19:56.4, while Fayetteville's Jade Devine was 14th at 20:10.2. "I thought our girls ran hard at conference," Bentonville Coach Randy Ramaker said. "I'm not going to hate on them for their conference performance because they ran well. This was a state meet, and the state meet is always different. "Kortney Gage ran really well. She ran out of her mind. We moved up Madison Galingo, and that proved to pay dividends because we had a couple of girls that didn't run as well. We didn't have anybody that won the race, but they stuck that five together enough ahead of Fayetteville."...

An old, gold toilet greeted Bentonville's players as they walked from their dressing room to Wolverine Stadium....

https://5newsonline.com/2019/11/08/bentonville-beats-down-west-to-enter-playoffs-10-0/...