GRAVETTE — Like Yogi Berra once famously said, “It’s like deja vu all over again,” as the Lady ’Hawk varsity track team put on a late surge to unexpectedly take the runner-up trophy at the 1-4A District Championships in Gravette last week.
The previous week, the junior Lady ’Hawks put on a late charge to pass two favored teams and claim the second place district hardware and the senior ’Hawks replicated the effort.
Four Lady ’Hawks came home with blue ribbons, led by double first place winners Anna Morgan and Natalie Flippo. Morgan claimed first in the 1,600 with a 6:06 clocking, with Flippo taking the 3,200 with a 13:48 effort.
Morgan and Flippo were joined by Savannah Cypert and Kaylee Nivens as they overtook Gravette in the final lap of the 4x800 relay to win in 11:12.6. It was the first district relay championship for Pea Ridge in over 20 years.
In addition, the 112 team points scored by Pea Ridge was the most ever all-time.
Berryville was the overall district champion with 180 points, followed by Pea Ridge 112, Gravette 111, Ozark 81, Prairie Grove 60, Gentry 54, Shiloh 33 and Farmington 15.
With just four of the 17 events left in the meet, second-place Gravette led fourth-place Pea Ridge by 28 points, 95-67. The ’Hawks’ Morgan, Rilee Patrick and Casi Caton finished 3-4-5 in the 800 to score 14 points to cut the deficit to 12. Gravette got 2 points in the event as their advantage shrank to 93-81.
Gravette expected to expand their lead with big points in the 200, but freshman Anna Pitts took a surprising second in the event. The Lions fifth- and sixthplace finish in the race allowed Pea Ridge to take another point off their lead as the Lions led by only 11 with two events left.
Gravette’s once insurmountable lead soon melted away as Natalie Flippo, Rilee Patrick and Kaylee Nivens took first, third and sixth in the 3,200 to outscore Gravette 19-8. The ’Hawks’surge left the two squads deadlocked at 108-108 heading into the final event, the 4x400 relay.
The first two legs (Bailee Lessenberry and Mikhaela Cochran) of the relay had the ’Hawks dogging the heels of Gravette. Third-leg runner, Patrick, quickly went to the attack and passed up her Lion counterpoint heading into the last leg.
Anchor runner Morgan not only held the lead, but increased it, as Pea Ridge gained one more point over Gravette, enough to take home the trophy.
The meet was filled with heroes as Cochran came home with six ribbons to lead the team in scoring with 21 points. She was third in the 100 hurdles, fourth in the discus and 300 hurdles, fifth in the shot put, eighth in the long jump and ran a leg on the fateful 4x400 relay. Others scoring in the meet included Morgan with 19, Flippo 17, Pitts 15, Patrick 12, Cypert 11, Nivens 8, Caton 4, Lessenberry 2 and Felicia Walker 1.
Flippo, Nivens, Cypert and Morgan will compete at the 4A State Championships in Nashville in the 4x800 relay, with Morgan also running in the 1,600 finals. Flippo and Patrick will be competing in the 3,200 run.
The future looks good for Blackhawk track as over half of the points scored were recorded by ninth graders , with no senior on the team this season.
Event placing, time or distance:
100, Pitts (13.54), 7th
200, Pitts (29.76), 2nd
800, Morgan (2:24.5) 3rd, Patrick (2:49.1) 4th, Caton (2:49.2) 5th
1,600, Morgan (6:06) 1st, Flippo (6:18) 4th, Nivens (6:34) 6th
3,200, Flippo (13:48) 1st, Patrick (13:57) 3rd, Nivens (14:49) 6th
4x100, Lessenberry, Walker, Cypert, and Pitts (57.6) 5th
4x400, Lessenberry, Cochran, Patrick, Morgan (4:48.7)5th
4x800, Nivens, Cypert, Flippo, Morgan (11:12.6) 1st
Long Jump, Cochran (14-4) 8th
Triple Jump, Cypert (29-6) 5th
Shot Put, Cypert (27-1)5th, Cochran (26-11) 6th
Discus, Cochran (77-6) 4th
Sports, Pages 7 on 05/02/2012