By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers took first place in the 7A Central Conference Cross Country meet on Monday at Rolling Hills Country Club in Cabot. The Lady Panthers easily beat second place Bryant with 21 points to the Lady Hornets’ 44.
The Cabot boys also turned in a good performance, taking second place and almost upsetting favored Little Rock Catholic. The Rockets edged out the Panthers 30 to 34, despite five Panthers finishing in the Top 10.
The Cabot ladies swept the top three spots and also put five runners in the Top 10.
Senior Emkay Myers won the event with a time of 19:09.61. Sophomore Allison Sinning took second, finishing in 19:18.44 and freshman Micah Huckabee finished third with a time of 19:44. 92. Freshman Rachel Murtishaw crossed the finish line fifth at 20:10.71, and junior Marlene Sheehan finished in 10th place with a time of 21:07.24.
“I guess our girls were favored, but they still did really well,” Cabot coach Leon White said.
The Cabot boys’ highest finisher was junior Casey Vaughn, who took fourth place with a time of 16:42.38. He barely beat out classmate Scott Foltz who was fifth with a time of 16:43.33. Freshman Lee Sullivan took sixth place, finishing in 16:44.45, Freshman Alex Simpson was ninth at 17:08.28 and senior Reed Harrell was 10th at 17:11.70.
Catholic’s Noah Findley crossed the finish line first with a winning time of 16:12.81. Central’s Jerry Melnyk took second and Catholic’s Brendan Taylor was third.
“Catholic was favored coming in here but we thought we had a chance to upset them,” White said. “It was really close and our guys did a great job. You usually expect to win when you make up half the Top 10. Catholic is just very strong and those two guys finishing ahead of us made the difference.”
Rockets Colin O’Mara and Adam Pryor finished seventh and eighth. The Cabot boys and girls will compete in the state meet at Harrison on Nov. 5.
