FAYETTEVILLLE, Ark. – The No. 7 Arkansas women’s cross country team is set to run in front of its home fans for the first time during the 2014 season on Saturday morning, as they will partake in the 26th Annual Chile Pepper Festival at Agri Park. Race time is slated to begin at roughly 10:20 a.m.
The Razorbacks, who will be running for the first time since winning the Missouri Southern Stampede back on Sept. 20, will be looking for their third straight Chile Pepper Festival title on Saturday. The No. 7-ranked team in the nation will also look to continue its winning trend, as they have won all three meets they have ran in this season.
This year’s version of the Chile Pepper will feature nearly 50 teams from 12 different states. 18 NCAA Division I schools, including No. 24 Baylor and Southeastern foe LSU, will be among those in attendance, along with a slew of NCAA Division II and NAIA schools.
Redshirt senior Grace Heymsfield is the defending Chile Pepper champion, as she won last year’s 5K race in a personal-best time of 16:55.80. It was the first-ever individual collegiate title for the Elkins, Ark., native as she was paced a 1-2-3-4 finish for Arkansas to help the scoring rotation collect 16 points.
All-American Dominique Scott finished just one spot behind Heymsfield in last year’s Chile Pepper with a time of 17:00.80. It has being a dominating first half of the year for Scott, as the redshirt junior has set a new meet record in both races she has ran in this year.
Most recently, Scott set the meet record at the historic Missouri Southern Stampede, as she finished the 5K course in 16:32.78. The time was not only a personal-best for Scott in the 5K, but it is the fastest 5K time recorded by an SEC runner so far this season.
The performance also helped Scott earn the USTFCCCA National Runner of the Week honor, as well as the SEC Runner of the Week honor for the second time in her career.
The Razorbacks collected their third event title of the season at the Southern Stampede, as Scott and senior Shannon Klenke posted a 1-2 finish. Klenke’s time of 16:58.52 placed her one spot behind Scott, as the duo helped Arkansas scoring rotation collect 24 points. The 5K course was running particularly fast on that day, as all eight Arkansas runners set a new personal-best time.
For more information on the Arkansas women’s cross country team, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.
Arkansas Runners Expected to Compete
R-Fr., Chandler Crumblish
R-Sr., Grace Heymsfield
Sr., Shannon Klenke
R-So., Samantha Mohler
R-So., Valerie Reina
R-Jr., Diane Robison
Fr., Kelsey Schrader
R-Jr., Dominique Scott
So., Regan Ward