The Arkansas men’s and women’s cross country programs get their 2025 seasons rolling on Saturday by hosting the 37th annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival at the University of Arkansas Cross Country Course in Fayetteville.

 

Nearly a year after finishing third at the NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships, the Arkansas men, ranked No. 19 in the latest USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll, aim to make it four consecutive team wins in the McDonnell Memorial 8-kilometer race, led by three returning-members from last year’s NCAA team in Ben Shearer, Brian Masai and Timothy Chesondin.

 

 

The Arkansas women, No. 22 in the coaches’ poll, will look to redeem last year’s third-place finish in the Harter’s Habanero 5k race and win another Chile Pepper title for a fourth time in five years.

 

Chesondin and Masai finished among the top six individuals in last year’s McDonell Memorial race, guiding Arkansas to a 29-point outing. Shearer, who didn’t race last year, finished second at the 2023 Chile Pepper.

 

In addition to those three, Arkansas welcomes freshmen James Sankei and Owan Logorodi from Kenya, who should contribute right away. Sankei has a 10,000 meters personal best of 29:42.47 from the U20 African Game Trials, and Logorodi finished second in the 1,500 at the U20 African Championships in 3:39.97.

 

Sydney Thorvaldson and Olivia Pielemeier are the only returning members from last year’s Arkansas’ women’s team that finished 17th at NCAA’s. Pielemeier finished 25th at last year’s Chile Pepper. Thorvaldson last ran at Chile Pepper in 2023, finishing second.

 

Sanu Jallow-Lockhart, a Paris Olympian for The Gambia in 2024, Oklahoma State transfer Josphine Mwaura, Bradley Weimer and Madeleine Gear and Morgan Kirkland will be key to Arkansas’ chances at a Chile Pepper team title for the first time since 2023.

 

Returning team champions Texas will feature Elizabeth Pickett and Sydni Wilkins, who finished sixth and 16th, respectively, in last year’s Chile Pepper.

 

No. 30 Tulane offers a challenge for both Arkansas and Texas, led by Blezzin Kimutai and Dorcas Naibei. The Green Wave were 14th in the women’s gold race at the Gans Creek Classic on Sept. 26.

 

Abilene Christian, Lamar, Little Rock, North Texas, Oral Roberts. SIUE, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton State, Texas Southern, Louisiana-Monroe, UAB, UT-Arlington and Wichita State round out the rest of the Division 1 teams.

 

Smaller division schools make up most of the field competing in Saturday’s races.

 

On the men’s side, Division 2 No. 9 Northwest Missouri, No. 26 Missouri Southern and No. 29 East Central (Oklahoma) and NJCAA Division 1 No. 2 Iowa Central and No. 5 Crowder (Missouri) bring in strong teams.

 

The women’s competition fields Division 2 No. 19 Missouri Southern and NJCAA Division 1 No. 4 Crowder (Missouri) and No. 8 Iowa Central

 

 

Lilly Beshears’ rise to stardom began at last year’s Chile Pepper when she won the girls El Claiente 5k race by over 30 seconds.

 

Now a senior, the Rogers AR star is on the verge of making it a repeat of individual titles when she toes the start line on Saturday for the high school competition.

 

Beshears, an All-American at both Nike Cross Nationals and Foot Locker Cross Country Championships last fall, ran her 5k personal best of 16:40.4 en route to winning last year’s Chile Pepper title. She began her senior season with a 16:47.7 effort at the Southlake Carroll Invitational, which is her only race contested so far this year.

 

Rogers is also the defending team champions, scoring 97 points last year to beat Piedmont OK by nine. Rogers returns its entire top five scorers in Beshears, Samantha Schmersahl (15th), Elizabeth Scudder (21st), Katherine Scudder (25th) and Anna Scudder (38th).

 

Last year’s runner-up Gabbie Bishop and third-place finisher Maggie Bishop of Providence Classical Christian AR figure to be in the mix with Rogers’ Beshears again for the individual title. Bishop won the girls 5k at Gans Creek Classic in 16:59.83.

 

Defending boys champions Bentonville AR graduated a talented trio of seniors from last year’s team but will replace them with Brian Burns, Sean Burns and Vini Pimentel.

 

Brian and Sean, younger brothers of Oregon’s Connor Burns, transferred to Bentonville from Southern Boone MO last indoor season and have become an immediate impact. Brian ran 15:00.28 and Sean ran 15:22.03 to lead Bentonville to a second-place team finish at Gans Creeks Classic.

 

Pimentel, third in the Chile Pepper El Caliente “2” race last year, is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was at this time last season, running 15:44.50 compared to running 16:11.

 

Logan Hurley is Bentonville’s top returner from last year’s Chile Pepper, finishing 44th.

 

The individual title race will feature Ethan Garza of The Episcopal School of Texas TX, Jackson Free of Mountain Home AR, Carson Driemeier of Festus AR and Dominic Matthias of Moore OK as top contenders.