Ridger Sports End of year kids’ 50 meter dash set Saturday

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The annual end of the year kid’s 50 meter dash had to be scratched last week when there was a shortage of volunteers to help with it. It usually happens on Field Day at the school which was held last Friday.

I still have the box of medals and ribbons I purchased to be used on this occasion so I decided to have the race this Saturday morning at the Primary School. There will be medals for the winners of each grade kindergarten through 6th grade with ribbons to all runners.

There will also be a long jump event and a shot put event as well. After the aforementioned events are over, there will be a mile walk/run with all finishers receiving medals. Like in the 50 meter, each grade will compete separately.

There is no charge nor fee to participate. Warmups will begin at 9:30 a.m.

with the first event to start at 10 a.m. There is no pre-registration and it is open to anyone. I can be e-mailed at littlehawkart@ live.com for more information.

4A-1 dominates 2010 baseball

Our local conference was by far the dominant one in 2010. Three of the four semifinalists were from our district with Shiloh, Farmington and Prairie Grove making the grade. All four of our district qualifiers (including Pea Ridge) made the state tournament, the only district in the state with that honor.

While Farmington lost 6-4 to Malvern and Prairie Grove fell 8-1 to Shiloh, Shiloh took home the championship with a 5-4 win over Malvern, scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

As in football, Shiloh had the help of a number of high school transfers onto their high school baseball roster the past couple of years to dramatically improve their standing. With the new rules that go into effect next year regarding transfers, this advantage will gradually level the playing field.

Hogs in SEC tourney

The No. 4 Arkansas Razorbacks will be playing No. 5 Vanderbilt this Wednesday in the first round of the SEC baseball tourney. This is the same Vanderbilt against whom the Hogs won two of three games from last week toput a halt to a late season tailspin.

The Hogs were leading the overall SEC at one point this season but dropped five of six conference games to kill their title hopes with Arkansas finishing the season second in the Western Division, fourth overall.

With 40 victories under their belt and a fairly high ranking, if the Hogs do well this week, they will more than likely host a NCAA Regional Tournament in Fayetteville at Baum Stadium. With the Hogs stadium one of the best, if not the best, places to play college ball in America, the NCAA will be favorably inclined to give Arkansas one of the 16 host sites.

Every time that Arkansas has hosted a regional, the event is one of the most profitable ones that the NCAA sanctions. Since is money is the SEC’s favorite language, if Arkansas can give them a reason to give them hosting rights, they will.

If they win Wednesday, they will play the winner of the No. 8 LSU/No. 1 Florida game. If they lose, they will play the loser of the same game. It is a double elimination tournament with the survivor of the Hogs’ bracket taking on the survivor of the upper bracket including No.

7 Alabama, No. 3 Auburn, No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 3 South Carolina. The tourney will conclude over the weekend at the SEC’s annual tournament spot in Hoover, Ala.

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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 8 on 05/26/2010