The second-ranked Mustang Broncos have rapidly progressed throughout the 2022 season and that trend continued last weekend in Fayetteville, Ark.
On a perfect day for racing, the Broncos notched their fastest team time ever at the 35th annual Chile Pepper Festival, finishing eighth overall out of over 80 teams from across the region.
“Just about every kid on the team put out their best time ever, so the course was definitely fast,” Mustang coach Mike McGarry said. “We were pretty quick, and it just shows how we’ve come along so far. We’re in much better shape at this point in the year.”
Cameron Langdon (So.) paced the Broncos, finishing 23rd overall with a time of 15:40.9. Carson Patten (Jr.) just missed out on the top-50, finishing 56th with a time of 16:00.6.
Jacoby Nance (Sr.), Dylan Chaoomchaisiri (Sr.), and Noah Thayer (Fr.) rounded out the team’s scorers, each finishing in just over 16 minutes.
Nance finished 60th overall with a time of 16:03.3, Chaoomchaisiri finished 69th with a time of 16:06.6 and Thayer finished 79th with a time of 16:10.1.
Luke Balliew (Jr.) and Ryan Cable (Jr.) finished as the team’s displacers. Balliew finished 108th with a time of 16:33.3 and Cable finished 116th with a time of 16:36.2.
Mustang’s average scoring time was 16 minutes flat and the team finished 27 points ahead of conference rival and top-ranked Edmond North. The Broncos now have a gauge for what’s to come in upcoming postseason races.
“We knew after the first race after Deer Creek and Edmond North pretty much waxed us, that we had a lot of work to do,” McGarry said about the Deer Creek Field Run earlier this year. “Now I think we’ve closed that gap and possibly Edmond Memorial has, too.
“Right now, I think we have a real shot at making the podium in conference and we’ll see what happens at the top. The kids would really like to get that ring.”
Over 500 individual racers competed in the El Caliente Race at the Chile Pepper Festival.
One of Southlake Carrol’s (TX) two team’s won the race while the other finished ninth. McGarry described the program as a powerhouse. Bentonville High School (AR) finished second while Liberty North (MO) finished third.
Mustang was the highest finishing team from Oklahoma, just ahead of Edmond North (11th) and Class 5A Piedmont (14th). Westmoore finished 17th.
The Broncos continue their season on Tuesday in the COAC conference race at Deer Creek. The gun is set to sound at 9 a.m.
