The start of the 2025 season, and state title defense for the Bomber Boys began in earnest in Bentonville Saturday. The Bomber boys and girls competed in the Sugar Creek Showdown in Bentonville, facing runners from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Jackson Free secured the win in a duel against two time defending 6A state champion Alan Gallardo-Lopez of Fayetteville scorching the competition with a time of 14:46:39, nearly 30 seconds better than the 2nd place finisher Lopez with a time of 15:14:04. The time was the first time that Free has broken the 15 minute barrier and the time ranks him 24th in the nation overall. The time is also the fastest 5k ever ran at the high school level in the state of Arkansas, according to AR MileSplit. Not far behind in 3rd was Garrett Barr finishing with a time of 15:25:74. Coming home in 21st was Trenton Smith at 16:12, right behind him in 22nd was freshman Simeon Costner finishing with a 16:15, the fastest time ever run by a freshman in school history. Other finishers included Wave Simmons who came home in 47th, Levi Payne in 50th, Jonah Hartman in 53rd, Caiden Kaspar in 60th, Tyler Lukac in 62nd, Kohler Mathews came in 64th, and Oakley Recktenwald rounded out the Bomber field in 85th with a time of 17:49. All 11 runners for Mountain Home finished under the 18 minute mark. Bentonville would take home the team title with 47 points, behind them was Fayetteville at 75, and Mountain Home would bring home the bronze finishing in 3rd place with 79 points.
On the girls side Lucy Koehn finished in 19th with a time of 20:13, Brook Betalotto came home in 38th, Jamie Chandler finished in 41st and Savannah Costner rounded out the field in 71st. Mountain Home did not receive a team score, as they only entered 4 runners and a minimum of 5 is needed to receive a team score.
Coach Wil Norris shares his thoughts after the races.
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Mountain Home will be back in action on Thursday, September 18th for the Bomber Open at ASU-Mountain Home.
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