Contributed by Coach John Mackey
For the first time in her rookie season with the UA Rich Mountain Lady Bucks, former Mansfield Lady Tiger Jadelynn Wood ran her first college cross country race outside the state of Arkansas. On September 23, Wood and company found their way to Stillwater, Oklahoma for a morning 6K run on the Greiner Family Cross Country Course.
Wood had started the 2023 college cross country season in the comforts of her own backyard with the UARM Home Opener in late August. A week later on the first Saturday of September she and her two teammates ventured to central Arkansas for the UCA Bear Invitational. This past Saturday’s trip to Stillwater for the Cowboy Jamboree hosted by Oklahoma State University was the college freshman’s first racing venture west of the Arkansas border.
The Lady Bucks were scheduled to head south to Texarkana in Bowie County, Texas on September 8 for the Eagles Opener. That meet was canceled due to severe storms and lightning. That made the Mena based university’s recent Oklahoma commute their first long trip for a long distance race.
“After everything, I’d say it was a pretty good day,” said Wood through a message she sent to her former high school coach John Mackey after the trip to Stillwater. “I placed 199 out of what seemed like a thousand girls.”
Officially, there were not that many competitors in Wood’s actual race. However, according to the Track & Field Results Reporting Service website, there were 1,239 athletes overall that received a time throughout the 4 event jamboree.
The OSU Cowboy cross country event schedule included a pair of 5K races for high school boys and girls, a 6K race for the college women, and an 8K race for the college men.
Nineteen universities received a team score in the older women’s race in which Wood participated. Some of the other postsecondary schools that competed carried unattached athletes or were without the necessary five person scoring limit.
Wood’s UARM team fell into that final category. The Lady Bucks ran shorthanded with only three official entries. Therefore, their team results were deleted from the final standings.
Mansfield’s former All-Star racer competed at OSU in her first 6K race which is equivalent to 3.7 miles. The normal distance that she competed at while in high school and for her first two collegiate meets were all 5K races or 3.1 mile equivalents.
“The cutoff time was supposed to be 30 minutes,” continued the message from Mansfield’s former team captain. “Today, I ran a 30:19.9 and I just barely made it in time.”
A review of recent race results revealed Wood’s typical pace may have been affected by the longer distance. An adjustment to the unfamiliar distance failed to reach her best rate registered at the UCA Bear Invitational from a few weeks ago.
At that University of Central Arkansas race around Beaverfork Lake Park in Conway, Wood averaged 7:10.9 per mile. Along the longer Greiner Family OSU course, Wood slowed to an 8:08.1 per mile average.
The OSU collegiate course went through a state-of-the-art renovation in 2019. According to the Oklahoma State University Cross Country website, “The Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course is unlike any other in the nation, making it the standard for collegiate cross country competition”.
The facility’s multi-million dollar upgrades were completed in time for the 2019 Midwest Regional, the 2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships, and the 2022 NCAA National Championships.
At the same time Wood started the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, her younger sister Laney was racing back in Mansfield at the 20th Annual Today’s Bank Invitational. Laney finished in sixth place in the 1A-3A division with a 5K time of 24:25.3. It was also just days after her older sister Hailey had given birth to a baby boy.
“I’m glad you got to go watch baby sis today,” wrote Wood, UA Rich Mountain’s top female cross country runner through the team’s first three meets, to her former coach. ”And, I’m going to have that nephew of mine running as soon as he can walk.”
UARM is scheduled to run the twilight race at the prestigious Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville on Friday, September 29. There Wood will meet among the masses her former MHS teammate, Darby Jones. Jones is a sophomore runner competing for Ouachita Baptist University.
Mansfield’s prep team will compete in the Chile Pepper open division high school race the next morning. If luck lends a hand, the once dynamic Lady Tiger trio of Wood, Jones, and Wood will gather for a weekend reunion.
