PEA RIDGE — Last week the northwest Arkansas news group named freshman Emma Pitts the “Newcomer of the Year” award in the sport of track and field.
The ninth grader was featured in the news organizations’ group of publications that includes the Benton County Daily Record.
Pitts was the seventhplace finisher at the state 4A championship meet in Nashville earlier in May, thus being the top freshman finisher from our area. She was an intregal part of Pea Ridge High Schools’ startling second-place team finish in the district competition on both the junior high and senior levels. Pitts placed in four events at the senior high district meet including second in the 200, fifth places in the 4x100 relay and 300hurdle events and seventh in the 100.
Not only is it exciting that Pitts was awarded such an honor, it is even more exciting that so many of the possible considerations for the honor were also Pea Ridge athletes. While there may have been other schools that had a candidate this season, it is certain that no other school had so manypossibilities.
Freshman Anna Morgan was an eighth-place finisher in the 1,600 run at state, coming off a double first place performace at the high school district meet. Also to be considered was ninth-grader Mikhaela Cochran who led the varsity team in scoring in the district meet by scoring in six events although not advancing to the state meet.
Cochran did well in the field events, did well in the hurdles, and was a strong leg on the relay teams. One more freshman athlete that came out late and came up with big performances in the short three weeks she was on the team was Riley Patrick. Patrick finished 10th at the state meet in the 3,200 meter run, a pretty good finish for someone who had only been working out for a few days.
The foursome mentioned above have the potential of leading the high school track and field team to greatness over the next three years.All told, this quartet of athletes have state potential in nearly every event that track and field offers.
They can sprint, hurdle, jump, throw and go the distance.
With other athletes getting more and more motivated along with the influx of some talented younger athletes, Pea Ridge is looking to go places. Maybe these freshman athletes will our version of the “Fab Four.” Cross country girls ‘top returner’
With the varsity girls coming off a second place state performance in last fall’s cross country championship, I have been looking at statistics to see what the schools’ chances might be in 2012. The girls one-point loss was to De-Queen, a team that has the overwhelming majority of their runners back from2011. With Pea Ridge having their top runners back in 2012, it looked like this year’s meet could be like last year’s close affair.
While DeQueen has a good team back and will most likely be even better, they will not be a threat to Pea Ridge as they have moved up to 5A for the next cycle. Their 520 average for their top threegrades puts them well out of 4A. Pea Ridge had a 380 average, a lower half of the 4A ranking.
The first-place (De-Queen) and fourth-place (Shiloh) teams have moved up to 5A this fall, leaving Pea Ridge along with Heber Springs as the teams to be beat in 2012.
That means that the Lady ’Hawks are the top returning team for 2012.
Based on last year’s results, the ’Hawks have the fifth, sixth, seventh and 12th best runners returning to the fold. Potentially, Pea Ridge has five runners who could make All-State in the sport.
Heber Springs had two sophomores place first and third in last years championships but lacked team depth as the ’Hawks beat them by 5 in 2011.
Those same two finished first and third in the state 1,600 this spring.
Cross country is a sport that is perhaps the ultimate team sport. If you field a team with four stars and the others being mediocre, then a team title might be hard to capture.
In Arkansas cross country, each school brings nine runners to compete at state. While only the top five have scoring marks, the other four runnerscan make their opponents score worse by beating their fifth runner. In 2011, while Heber had the best 1-2 punch in the state, the ’Hawks placed their first four girls ahead of Heber’s third best, thus providing the margin of victory.
Of course, the championship will come down to which team works the hardest for it, as it should be. Knowing the staff and philosophy of the Heber Springs folks, they are aware of all the above facts and will use those facts to motivate their team.
Winning a state title in anything is never easy, if it were, it wouldn’t be as nearly as much fun.
Razorbacks stumble to finish
The Arkansas Razorbacks’ once promising season has almost crumbled to the point of oblivion. The Hogs boasted a formidable pitching staff for 2012, and for a fact they have the best E.R.A.
in the league. However, their average offensive punch has dwindled down to where it barely registers.
In the just finished SEC tournament, the Hogs scored just a single run in two days to be the firstteam eliminated in the tournament this year. Not long ago, the Razorbacks were ranked third in the nation and looked like a lock to get to host regional and super-regional tournaments. Their plummet from the high ranking has dropped them from the top 20 and could even drop them from an NCAA bid. However, I think they will get a bid because of their 39 victories and a super tough schedule.
Maybe they could pull a “St.Louis last second drive” and get into the College World Series anyway. They will have to get past four other teams to get there. The NCAA regionals pit four teams together with the winner facing the winner of another regional for a berth in the CWS. A team could conceivably get hot and pull some upsets to getto Omaha, the site of the college world series every year. They have the pitching.
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Editor’s note: John Mc-Gee 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 05/30/2012