PEA RIDGE — The Pea Ridge Blackhawk girls track team ended the 2010-11 athletic school year on a high note as they placed in three events at the Arkansas 4A State and Field Championships held Saturday in Heber Springs.

For the first time in many, many years, Pea Ridge had more than one athlete bringing home an individual ribbon with a relay team scoring as well. Senior Kim Cribbs came in seventh in the 800-meter run, with a time of 2:43.49, while Megan Harris was taking eighth in the 3200-meter run with a 14:15.58 clocking.

The pair was joined by Kaylee Nivens and Miranda Patrick as they teamed up to capture seventh place in the 4x800-meter relay race. The quartet recorded a time of 11:30.76 to post their best time of the year on a hot day in humid lake country.

This marks the initial time that a Blackhawk athlete has scored state points since the school was moved up to 4A competition a few years ago.

The last time points were scored by Pea Ridge at state were a few years back when horizontal jumper Haley Bone scored in consecutive years in 3-A competition. Exactly 10 years ago was the last time a Blackhawk won an outdoor state gold medal, which was in the person of freshman Diane Miller who won the 3200 run.

Miller went on to win the Meet of Champions, besting the winners of all other classifications with a time of 11:51.

The team champion for the girls meet was again Nashville High School. The Lady Scrappers piled up 110 points to finish well ahead of second place DeQueen, who finished with 80. Two teams from the 4A-1 conference placed in the top 10 teams. Gravette finished sixth, with 37, while Shiloh ended up ninth, with 24.

Pea Ridge’s three places gave them five points for the meet to give them a 24th-place tie with Prairie Grove. Other conference teams from the 4A-1 that scored at the state meet include: Berryville 7 points (20th), Ozark 4 (26th) and Gentry 1 (32nd). Farmington had no qualifiers for the state meet.

Complete results are: Nashville 110, DeQueen 81, Hamburh 60, Valley View 54, Lakeside 41, Gravette 37, Heber Springs 31, Waldron 26, Dollarway 24, Shiloh 24, Pulaski 21, Dover 20, Booneville 17, Marianna 15, Gosnell 11, Stuttgart 9, Lonoke 8, Pocahontas 8, Batesville Southside 7, Star City 7, Berryville 7, Westside 6, Clinton 6, Pea Ridge 5, Prairie Grove 5, Bauxite 4, Warren 4, Ozark 4, Dewitt 3, Ashgdown 3, Clarksville 3 and Gentry 1.

Sports, Pages 7 on 05/11/2011