The cross country had a successful weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The girls competed in a 5k race with a total of 492 girls.

Cross country coach Stephen Stefanick is happy with the improvements that the team has made.

“They finally believe in themselves,” Stefanick said. “There is more motivation from the experience [at the Chili Pepper run].”

Athletic director Mylo Miller was pleased with how the cross country team performed at their meet.

“So many runners had personal bests at this meet,” Miller said. “It was a really impressive performance and other schools have begun to notice Harding is improving.”

Several girls had personal records at the meet. Freshman Gabrielle Jones ran her 5k in 26:30. Sophomores Vanessa Hernandez and Katelynn McLaughlin ran their 5k in 22:29 and 23:07, respectively. Juniors Julissa Soto, Abbie Poss and Claire Widmer ran had personal bests as well with 24:49, 25:22 and 25:51, respectively, for their times.

Stefanick was happy with how the team performed.

“They all did the best of their ability considering the fact that they were racing teams from all over the country who are very good,” Stefanick said.

The boys also had a successful weekend in Fayetteville with several personal records. The boys also competed in a 5k with 562 boys in the race.

Sophomore Martin Villalobos ran his 5k in 19:02. Juniors Daniel Heckman, Josh Anderson, and Jorge Chavez ran the 5k in 17:10, 18:56 and 19:25, respectively. Seniors Victor Franco, Roberto Barcenes and Bryant Colin had times of 18:24, 19:57 and 21:32, respectively, for their 5k.

Miller believes that the team has stepped up their game.

“I think that the new runners and everyone else has stepped it up because they have all put in the hard work starting in the summer,” Miller said. “Coach Stefanick and Coach [Mark] Busick have done well building the program.”