Beat Texas!

[andrea s-ski]

Another special feature for the 30th Running of the Grand Prix:

Run the Line Half Marathon will feature an Arkansas Vs. Texas Challenge!

I've been working with Julie-Ray Harrison, RtL RD, and the Texas RRCA State Rep on this idea for the last few months. There will be a traveling trophy presented to the winning state at the post race party!

I'll let Brian explain the scoring details later. It is completely separate from the Grand Prix, scoring for the GP will be the same as always. This is just something extra for fun.

Keep training all winter and put Run the Line on your calendar for 2011 to help Arkansas bring home the State Line Traveling Trophy!

[MWitt]

That will be very cool.

[Brian S-ski]

Here is how the scoring will work for the Arkansas-Texas Challenge:

The competition will basically be scored like the Grand Prix is (i.e. XC fashion). But instead of 3 or 4 scorers, there will be ten each for male and female. Then we will combine the scores for male and female and the state with the lowest total wins. Runners not in the top ten for their state can act as displacers and runners from other states will count as displacers as well.

Here is how it would look, using the 2010 results:

Men:
1 Justin Radke Little Rock AR 34 1:15:55.2 5:48
2 James Bresette Clinton AR 49 1:18:13.9 5:58
3 Matt Cochran Texarkana TX 16 1:18:38.8 6:00
4 Brian Sieczkowski Sherwood AR 31 1:21:19.1 6:12
5 Russ Nelson Texarkana AR 41 1:22:10.9 6:16
6 Tanner Elliott Texarkana TX 16 1:23:12.9 6:21
7 Jeremy Maxwell Ft. Smith AR 36 1:23:14.9 6:21
8 Carter Witt Dardanelle AR 15 1:24:45.7 6:28
9 Mark Davis Shreveport LA 22 1:26:43.9 6:37
10 Joel Perez Little Rock AR 31 1:27:41.4 6:42
11 Anthony Soto Hallsville TX 37 1:28:28.8 6:45
12 Billy Mills Russellville AR 47 1:29:44.4 6:51
13 Brian Wagner Vilonia AR 38 1:30:27.3 6:54
14 Michael Witt Dardanelle AR 42 1:31:37.5 7:00
15 Keith Willsey Mena AR 54 1:32:58.7 7:06
16 Joseph Nichols Little Rock AR 47 1:32:59.6 7:06
17 Chester Kennedy Pipe Creek TX 61 1:33:06.2 7:06
18 Clinton Moser Fort Worth TX 30 1:33:44.7 7:09
19 David Cox Texarkana TX 40 1:34:26.4 7:13
20 Jay Loppnow Shreveport LA 40 1:34:55.9 7:15
21 John Phillips Texarkana TX 39 1:35:01.9 7:15
22 Kim Howard Mineral Springs AR 48 1:36:02.1 7:20
23 Don Still Hope AR 53 1:36:59.0 7:24
24 Alex Spillers Texarkana TX 19 1:37:32.0 7:27
25 Mike Bonnette Benton AR 49 1:37:31.2 7:27
26 Jacob Wells Little Rock AR 40 1:38:42.8 7:32
27 Mark Parrish Glen Allen VA 52 1:39:16.1 7:35
28 Jeffrey Haynes Texarkana TX 50 1:39:31.7 7:36
29 Malcolm Smith Texarkana TX 46 1:40:48.1 7:42

To compute the Arkansas Men's score, you simply add up the finishing rank of the top ten Arkansas finishers, like this:
Radke - 1
Bresette - 2
Me - 4
Russ Nelson - 5
Maxwell - 7
C. Witt - 8
Perez - 10
Billy Mills - 12
Wags - 13
M. Witt - 14
Total: 76 points

The top ten finishers from Texas finished: 3, 6, 11, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24, 28, and 29. Add those up and you get 176 total points.
So, the Arkansas Men beat the Texas men by 100 points! But, we still have to compute the female scores and add those totals with the men. Which I will do on a follow up post later today.

Another quick point to make though is that Keith Willsey, Joseph Nichols, Kim Howard, Don Still, Mike Bonnette and Jacob Wells all helped the cause by serving as displacers. They were not in the top ten finishers from Arkansas so they didn't affect our score, but they beat the tenth Texas finisher, thus making Texas' score worse. Take away our displacers and Texas' score improves by 24 points. Had Texas had one or two more top guys, those 24 points could have been the difference between a win and a loss.

Point is, you don't have to be in the top ten to help Arkansas win the State Line Trophy!

[Brian S-ski]

Now, let's look at the how the female AR-TX competition would have played out this year.

1 Leah Thorvilson Little Rock AR 31 1:17:38.7 5:56
2 Elizabeth Oxford Dallas TX 36 1:32:45.2 7:05
3 Stacey Sewell Texarkana TX 41 1:36:20.3 7:21
4 Stacy Warren Texarkana TX 35 1:39:35.3 7:36
5 Tammy Walther Little Rock AR 38 1:39:41.4 7:37
6 Carrie Jarvis Allen TX 51 1:39:55.8 7:38
7 Laura Nanda Shreveport LA 48 1:42:30.7 7:49
8 Jackie Franks Forsyth MO 24 1:43:34.5 7:54
9 S. Shaw-Rose El Dorado AR 23 1:44:19.4 7:58
10 J.r Liles-Dorris Batesville AR 34 1:44:50.4 8:00
11 Kathy Stevens Texarkana AR 54 1:46:52.0 8:09
12 Jamie Merriman Hot Springs AR 50 1:47:16.8 8:11
13 Kendall Mears Simms TX 23 1:47:38.3 8:13
14 Cindy Knott Farmington AR 49 1:47:41.5 8:13
15 Bernita Lovelace Conway AR 55 1:48:14.9 8:16
16 Elena Thompson Texarkana TX 13 1:48:59.3 8:19
17 Jennifer Wright Texarkana TX 31 1:49:32.1 8:22
18 Carly Loving Wake Village TX 30 1:49:55.7 8:23
19 Angi Pauly Texarkana TX 36 1:51:20.3 8:30
20 Tina Coutu Little Rock AR 46 1:51:26.7 8:30
21 Madison Sewell Texarkana TX 16 1:53:04.3 8:38
22 Beth Fila Flint TX 39 1:54:28.1 8:44
23 Becky Humes Little Rock AR 31 1:55:17.2 8:48

Arkansas' Female score would be:
Leah - 1
Tammy - 5
Shaw-Rose - 9
JLD -10
K. Stevens - 11
Merriman - 12
Knott - 14
Lovelace - 15
Coutu - 20
Becky - 23
Total = 120

Texas would have had finishers 2,3,4,6,13,16,17,18,19 and 21 for a total of 119.
So, on the female side Texas is ahead by one point: 119 to 120.

But, this is a combined competition so, taking the men's numbers from above...

AR - 76 + 120 = 196
TX - 176 + 119 = 295

Lowest point total wins, so AR would have beaten Texas if we had the competition in 2010. But, there was no State Line trophy for the 2010 race. So get ready for 2011!

[andrea s-ski]

Behold! The AR vs TX RTL trophy.

[captkirk]

WOW, Maybe I shouldn"t come. I'm not a top 20 sort of guy right now or ever. doesn't look like I can help much

[Brian S-ski]

WOW, Maybe I shouldn"t come. I'm not a top 20 sort of guy right now or ever. doesn't look like I can help much

It's still GP, you can help out ARK.

Or you can show up and run for the intrinsic reward that it offers.

[sidewinder]

Captkirk....get yer glass half full not half empty.....and if you take your name from the star trek series you don't deserve it...lol capt kirk wouldn't say that....lol

[Brian S-ski]

Arkansas wins 215 to 285! Bad weekend for Texas.

Nebraska 70
#2 Texas 67