Some of the best small high school cross country athletes in the area will be tightening their running shoelaces on Saturday, November 15 at Mansfield High School.
As an extension of the 2025 season, Mansfield will serve as host to the Greater River Valley All-Star Cross Country Meet. Qualifying athletes from class 1A through 4A schools in a localized radius including seven counties and 27 potential schools will run a final race of the season.
Making a special appearance will be Ouachita Baptist University senior cross country runner Darby Jones, a former Mansfield All-State and All-Star runner.
The objective of the River Valley All-Star committee is to bring the best small school runners in our area together. A select group including the top 25 boys and top 25 girls from grades nine through twelve based upon season-best 5K times including the results from the recently concluded AAA State Championships will be invited.
Based upon a watchlist that has been released weekly since the beginning of October, indications are this event will include some local flavor to its talented roster. Waldron, Booneville, Magazine, Union Christian, Cedarville, Acorn, Ozark, Mountainburg, Mena and Danville are among some of the local schools to have potential runners invited. Mansfield, as the host, looks to receive an at-large bid or “Coach’s Invite” into the field of participants.
Regardless if a Mansfield athlete makes the All-Star list or not, MHS will welcome home one of their most decorated former runners. Darby Jones, a long distance runner for the Tigers during the 2018-2021 cross country seasons is scheduled to make an appearance.
While in high school, Jones became a 3-time All-Star, 2-time All-State, 3-time All-District and 4-time All-Regional runner. As a scholastic senior, Jones ran 14 total 5K races. In those events, she never finished below sixth place. To her credit, that sixth place medal was in the class 2A state finals run along the infield of Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs to make her second All-State team.
In her last high school season, Darby won 5 gold medals, 3 silvers, and 3 bronze race medals along with a fourth, fifth and sixth place finish. She was the 2A-4 District champion, and helped lead the Lady Tigers to the class 2A state runner-up trophy.
Over her last two seasons as a Lady Tiger distance runner Mansfield won 2 runner-up state cross country trophies in back to back seasons. She was also instrumental in Mansfield earning a state runner-up outdoor track trophy, and 2 state indoor track championships. After a tremendous prep career, Darby signed to run cross country and track with Ouachita Baptist University on February 16, 2022.
Nearly four years later, this Lady Tiger legend recently finished her last college race at the Great American Conference Cross Country Championships. Held on October 25 on the campus of the University of Arkansas-Monticello, the OBU senior was happy with her efforts and her career.
“I feel I pushed the whole time,” read a message Jones sent back to her former high school coach, John Mackey, after the 5K finale. “So, I’m proud of it. I didn't want to have any regrets.
“It was definitely one of the colder races, but still a beautiful day,” continued the former Lady Tiger. “We’ve been lucky to run in good conditions the whole season.”
Since she has been in college, Jones has made it a habit to come home in the offseason to train with her old high school coach. She has also made it a habit to volunteer with Mansfield hosted cross country events and track meets when her busy university schedule allows.
Saturday, will be Darby’s second time to come back and assist with the RV All-Star event. Her sister Eden Jones, another former Mansfield state champion, and their mother Kymberly Jones also regularly give back to the community as volunteers at cross country and track events.
Reflecting over her time at Ouachita, a college running career that went by quicker than even she expected, Darby said that she felt like she “put it all out there” to being the best version of herself.
“I feel like there’s been a lot of growth in training,” she wrote. “I’ve been grateful and excited to see so much progress in senior year. I feel like I put it all out there. We’ve all trained hard and made a lot of progress.”
Darby confided the Ouachita players had a team meeting the night before her final college cross country race. Basically, it was to remind each other to have a confident mindset, be encouraging, and work together.
“Something we’ve been told several times before is to have a phrase or two to help block out any pain or discouraging thought during the race,” offered the veteran runner. “The two thoughts I used were ‘Jesus went through more pain’ and the prayer ‘uphold me with your righteous right hand’ referencing Isaiah 41:10.
“These were things and verses mentioned to us by Coach (Steve) Guymon (OBU HeadCoach) and one of our seniors last year that brought me a lot of peace before races. I feel like having those things in mind helped me to put it all out there so I wouldn’t have regrets.”
As a team, the Ouachita women finished second to Arkansas Tech University for the GAC Championship. OBU scored 64 points with a team average time of 18:19. ATU took the title with 59 points with an average time of 18:16.
In Darby’s junior season in college, the two teams reversed positions with OBU winning with 48 points and ATU placing second with 58 points. The 2024 GAC Championships was held at Oak Hills Golf and Country Club in Ada, Oklahoma. The conference title that season was Ouachita’s second such championship in school history.
“I’ve made a lot of amazing connections through the sport and know without a doubt it changed my life,” Darby expressed in her message to her high school coach as she was also confirming her appearance at the 2025 small school All-Star race. “My family and friends who constantly support me, and a God I’ve prayed to to help me in this sport since day one, I know I can count on as I keep setting goals in running and look to achieve them even after college.”
The RV All-Star Committee expressed how pleased it was that an All-Star alumna was returning to lend support to an event now in its second decade. Also of note, since the event’s inception, dozens of small school All-Stars have moved on to have distinguished college race careers.
The 2025 Greater River Valley All-Star Cross Country Race will begin with player introductions at 9:45 AM on Saturday. The first of two 5K races begins at 10:00 AM. All festivities will take place at the MHS cross country course near the high school storm shelter on the south side of campus.
Today’s Bank of Mansfield will be sponsoring a post-race meal for all participants prepared by MHS alumnus George Edelen. Members of the Mansfield FCA will be serving with FCA huddle leader and former Tiger football player, Pastor Trevor Cooper, offering post-race words of encouragement.
Tom Stuthard, a former Henderson State distance runner, is providing the commemorative jerseys and medal awards to each participating athlete. Keith Willsey of Acorn is the RV All-Star Committee chairman. Retired Mansfield coach John Mackey serves as meet director and a selection officer.
Mansfield’s coach country course was designed by Coach Bill Frye, a 2012 member of the Mansfield Wall of Fame, and Coach Keth Willsey in 2004. Both are expected to attend.
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