FISCHER RACES TO SECOND CHILE PEPPER CHAMPIONSHIP

Camren Fischer had no problems taking an early lead, but he could sense opposing runners on his heels as he headed toward the finish line Saturday morning. The Fayetteville senior, however, held off the competition enough to win the boys "El Caliente" portion of the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival for the second consecutive year. Fischer covered the 5,000-meter Agri Park course in 15 minutes, 20.3 seconds, more than 6 seconds faster than second-place finisher Haftu Knight of Tyler (Texas) Lee. His time, however, was 14 seconds off the time he turned in to win last year's competition when he won by 25 seconds. "It was a decent race," Fischer said. "I'm going to call it a decent workout. I've been going through a hard training for a little bit now, so my legs are tired. "Since the Hogs moved it up a week this, that had something to do with it. Even though it was just a week, it could have a huge impact on my legs and how they feel. I think I was better prepared last year, so that's why I ran a better time. I'm also going through that training period, which makes things a little harder." The Woodlands, Texas, earned the team title by placing two runners in the top 10 and finishing with 116 points. Keller (Texas) Blue was next with 211 points, five ahead of third-place Festus, Mo. Bentonville had the highest finish of any Arkansas team as the Tigers took fifth place with 250 points, just four behind Spring Branch (Texas) Smithson Valley, while Fayetteville was ninth at 357. Junior Lukas Pabst led Bentonville with his time of 16:11.4, good enough for 22nd place individually, while Daniel Graham was 29th at 16:21.7. "We had a goal of winning," Bentonville coach Mike Power said. "We had never won this competition. We have a very strong team, and this would have stamped some authority in the region. "Some of our boys performed excellently with personal-bests in heavy ground. Others didn't perform as well, so we have some work to do." In the girls division, Bentonville came away with a second-place finish in the team division. The Lady Tigers, led by senior Lainey Quandt's personal-best performance, compiled 151 points, while Keller Blue won with 121 points and West Plains, Mo., was a close third with 155. "This probably started at Missouri Southern, when we didn't run very well," Bentonville coach Randy Ramaker said. "I wasn't very happy with them, and I think they knew it. "They were focused and ran better races today. To place second to a team like Keller, that's awesome. Lainey finally broke out and had a good time in a big race, and Tori Willis ran a solid second. The difference was the third, fourth and fifth girls who were packed up pretty good." Quandt finished fourth overall with her time of 18:36.6 and clipped more than 30 seconds off her personal-best mark. She finished one second behind third-place Payton Hinkle of Broken Arrow, Okla. Keller-Blue senior Isabel Van Camp won the individual title as she finished in 18:06.1. Quandt was all smiles after she finished her race. "It was getting harder near the end, but I'm happy with my race," Quandt said. "I felt pretty good during the race, and I really didn't know what I was going for. I just wanted to do my best, and I stayed a little more relaxed than I normally do."

FISCHER RACES TO SECOND CHILE PEPPER CHAMPIONSHIP

Photo Credit: J.T. Wampler

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