Pictured is Mansfield juniors McKenzie Griffin and Katlynn Moore
The eleventh-grade ladies that run for the Mansfield High School cross country team see their teammates more like family than friends. At least that’s the takeaway from a recent interview with two junior class members as they discussed the upcoming season and the people that train together.
“This senior high team feels more like family than friends,” McKenzie Griffin, an eleventh-grade runner off the MHS cross country team said.
“We are a big family,” Katlynn Moore, another junior class member of the Lady Tiger distance team expressed. “The whole senior high is really close. We feel like we understand each other.”
Interestingly, the two Mansfield athletes both touched upon the topic of team unity without influence from the other. Separate interviews with the pair simply opened the door for the Lady Tiger runners to speak freely. As it turned out, each found a reason to turn training into a conversation about friendship.
There are five eleventh grade girls on the senior high cross country team. Although only two of the five are actual siblings, the group bonds like sisters according to Moore and Griffin.
“We hang out together but follow social distance rules to save our season,” Moore said as the threat of the Covid-19 virus impacting their season still weighs on players’ minds. “We keep pushing and motivating ourselves to do better so we can make a run at state this year.”
“I couldn’t wait to get started,” Griffin said after athletes were allowed to return from a statewide shut down due to the pandemic. “The summer has been fun and encouraging. Getting to run with my friends again is the best.”
Griffin was the 2019 Mansfield Cross Country Player of the Year. She was the only senior high Tiger athlete to earn All-District cross country honors last season in the highly ranked 3A-1 West conference.
Griffin closed last season running personal records for the 5K distance in three of her last four races. Van Buren, Elkins, and Hot Springs were the locations of that trio of personal marks. The latter was a 23:25.5 posting around the infield of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs at the 3A state finals.
That momentous month to close her season prompted an invite to the Mansfield hosted Farm Bureau River Valley All-Star race in mid-November.
Although her state time and all-star selection highlighted her postseason, Griffin remembered Elkins as her most memorable race in 2019. It was there at the Elkins hosted 3A-1 West Conference Championships that the lanky runner earned her first high school All-District award with a top ten medal.
“I was proud of that district race in Elkins,” Griffin remembered. “That was a close one. All my coaches were there with Coach (Josh) Bryan and Coach (John) Mackey. I’m ready to start this season. I want to beat my 23 minute time from last year.”
Joining Griffin on last season’s RV All-Star roster was Moore. A late addition to the Farm Bureau sponsored race, Moore caught the eye of race watchers because of her 3 minute and 49-second improvement throughout the season.
Moore’s debut race in 2019 was a 29:02.26 timing at the Today’s Bank Mansfield Invitational in late September. By the state finals on November 9, the rookie cross country participant went 25:13.60 to move inside the Top 40 River Valley rankings.
“I feel more confident now,” Moore stated after a late afternoon thunderstorm last Thursday pushed a segment of the team indoors to the treadmills. “I’m feeling like this year will be one of our best. We will take medals and titles.”
This summer, Moore has put in nearly as much work as anyone on the team. She’s already competed in 5K road races at Waldron (twice) and Greenwood during the months of June and July. Furthermore, she’s consistently been among the top 3 Lady Tigers for most accumulated miles since pre-season camp began on July 6.
“My individual goal is to get under 23 minutes for cross country,” announced Moore, who when not running works as a checker at a local grocery store and who also volunteers for a local fire department. “My track goal is to get six minutes in the mile.”
“McKenzie, Katlynn, Faith (Rainwater), Hope (Rainwater), and Darby (Jones) are challenging each other to do their best,” Tiger mentor John Mackey stated. “Those five eleventh grade girls want to make history. They’re really close and really competitive at the same time. Their enthusiasm is what’s contagious in our camp.”
Hope Rainwater missed most of the 2019 season with an injury. However, she has been comparably close in athleticism to her counterparts based upon pre-season workouts.
Faith Rainwater and Darby Jones made the local All-Star list a season ago like their two friends. Moore and Griffin would most likely agree that their two classmates have been pushing the pace for all the Mansfield cross country teams so far this season.
“My miles are a little slower than I want right now,” Moore offered. “But, I’m hoping to get better. Darby showed it can be done. She really got good.”
“I’m proud of my friend Faith,” Griffin acknowledged. “She is motivating me and others.”
Mansfield’s five eleventh grade friends make up the majority of the senior girls’ team. Without any seniors on the roster, the group becomes the de facto leaders to four sophomore talents that join them.
Those four would most likely tell you they too share in the bond being built by the Lady Tigers. Count tenth graders Cassidy Carlton, Lita Hecox, Alyssa James, and Jadelynn Wood into also feeling the family dynamic.
