Ridger Sports | Gentry gets Razorback standout as coach

Gentry High School obtained a great hire when they signed former Razorback basketball player Sarah Pfeifer to coach junior high girls as well as assisting on the high school level.

Pfeifer will be assisting Gentry head girls coach Tim Rippy, the son of Ron Rippy, the coach Pfeifer played for in high school.

Coincidentally, this fall marks the addition of Ozark High School to the 4A-1 Athletic District, replacing Huntsville which moves up to 5A.

Even more interesting for me is that I have known Pfeifer since she was a second grader at Ozark Elementary in the early 1990s. She was a member of the Ozark Elementary track team that was coached and led by Ozark Elementary teacher Milanie Matthews.

Ozark competed in an elementary league that I was directing back then, and the Junior Billies were the dominant team for all the years that Pfeifer competed.

She was a elementarystate champion in the high jump, long jump, triple jump, javelin, shot put, discus, hurdles, 400 meters and various relays. She went on to become a national shot-put champion, winning the event at the AAU National meet in New Orleans with a throw of 41-4 when she was a sixth grader. That is the current elementary state record and interestingly enough, it is two inches farther that the elementary boys’ state record.

Pfeifer went on to claim high school all-state honors in several track events as well as leading Ozark to state titles in basketball.

Along with several of her classmates who were runners and athletes all through grade school, the Ozark girls were considered by many as the best team in the state as theyroutinely defeated 7A size schools.

The 6-foot tall Pfeifer went on to play at Arkansas and was the first athlete in NCAA history to be allowed to play in six seasons. Normally, when a athlete goes down to an injury early in a season, they can apply to be redshirted, allowing them to have a make-up year. The rules normally allow for that to happen once, one year only. The nature of Pfeifer’s basketball playing style had her having many surgeries to repair the damage she did to herself crashing to the floor chasing a loose ball or crashing into backstops or tables in her drive to deflect a pass or make a steal. Because she was such a credit to her school and women’s basketball in general, the NCAA granted her an unprecedented sixthseason.

The only athlete to twice win the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year Award, Pfeifer is smart, dedicated and will do whatever it takes to be successful. The multitude of her surgicalscars bear witness to the type of competitor she was.

Perhaps one of her strongest attributes could be her personality. Anyone who remembers the TV interviews she was in following Razorback games can’t help but be struck by her comic timing.

For the past two years, Pfiefer has been employed by Washington University as a video coordinator. She coached AAU ball before she left for the west coast and her Arkansas homecoming will allow her to return to the game in which she was so good.

I wish her all the luck in the world though she has always been known to make her own “luck.” The only disclaimer I might add to that is I hopes she has great luck ... except when she comes up against the Blackhawks.

Razorbacks in Regional

The baseball Razorbacks had a big debut in the NCAA regional that was played last week. The they whipped Grambling 19-7, hammering nine homeruns in the process. The number was an all-time Razorback record.

The Hogs were to play Washington State Saturday night at 7 p.m. in semi-final action. Because of early deadlines, I had to submit my column before that game. The championship game was set for Sunday afternoon, unless an extra game was needed, which would put the final game off until Monday night.

If the Hogs manage to win the Regional which also included Kansas State, they would most likely travel to Arizona to play number-one-ranked Arizona State in a super regional if ASU hangs on to win their own regional. Should they stumble and not make the next round, Arkansas could possibly host the super regional in Fayetteville.◊◊◊

John McGee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The TIMES. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].

Sports, Pages 7 on 06/09/2010