The girls softball teams started playing last week, the boys baseball team has already jumped out to a 2-0 mark with wins over Gentry and Huntsville, with the track and field athletes battling the cold and rain to get in some early season competition.
As a former longtime track coach and former track and field athlete myself, it is heartening to me to see so many youths out for the sport this spring.
I have heard that counting the senior and junior highs together, there are over 100 athletes working out under the direction of several coaches.
The past year has seen a resurgence of track and field competitiveness unseen since the 1990s when the ’Hawks were in a much lower classification. Both boys and girls teams won the district cross country championships last fall and the high school girls are coming off a second place finish in the 2012 high school 4A-1 District meet.
The girls runner-up trophy award they took last year was an enjoyable experience especially in the way it was accomplished.
They were down quite a few points from second place late in the meet before they put on a run to nip Gravette by a single point.
An unexpected second place finish by freshman Emma Pitts in the 200, and a lot of points in the 3,000 left the girls tied for second with Gravette with only the 4 x 400 relay left.
The girls were short relay runners on the relay so freshman Rilee Patrick, who had only been out for track a couple of weeks, was added at the last minute. In spite of the fact that she had just finished third in the 3200 run in the event prior, Patrick gutted out the race, passing the Gravette runner and giving a lead to the anchor who held it, allowing the ’Hawks to take their first district track trophy in decades, and their first as a 4A school.
The press box had stopped announcing scores before the relay and virtual no one knew that Gravette and Pea Ridge were tied before the event which led the Lions to believe that they had already sewn up second place. They even assembled on the field to accept their runner-up trophy which was a little embarrassing when the announcer revealed that Pea Ridge was the second place team one point ahead of Gravette.
Only a single athlete graduated from last year’s team and the girls have the potential to be a very strong team this season.
Multi-event standout Mikhaela Cochran is coming off a good cross country season, as well as a good first year as a varsity starter in basketball. She could be one of the highest scorers the girls have had in a long time.
While not having the track success of the girls last year, the boys cross country team was much better than it has been in many a year and the interest is up. I expect their track fortunes will fare better than they have in quite a spell.
Going further, I think the renewed track interest bodes well for the general success of the ’Hawks athletic program in general.
When I was a high school athlete back in the very old days, every high school athlete in every sport that wasn’t a spring sport was required to attend seventh-period track practice. Those that didn’t want to be on the track team went home after school with those of us on the team staying.
The rationale was quite simple. A faster, stronger, quicker athlete was a better athlete. Lots of athletes love to lift weights but quite a few would rather avoid running if at all possible, which is the number one barrier to a lot of athletes becoming more successful.
When Dave Van Horn took over the reins of the Razorback baseball team, his players were openly shocked at the amount of running he required in the fall. Of course, they could hardly disagree with his stated goal of making them a step or two faster come spring. Two steps faster would boost any players batting average,and a two steps faster fielder would make more put outs.
Track stamina will take a running back through a tackle that might have brought him down before.
Even better, a couple of steps faster could help a running back be gone before the tackle even occurs. A whole team faster is a whole team better.
I happened to be in the field house while coach Lafe Caton was talking to his players about dedication. He made reference to a famous quote from Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi who believed that winning was an all-the time thing. Winning is habit which comes from preparation and dedication.
Athletes who prepare some of the time or who are dedicated part of the time, will have success very little of the time.
I ate my words
The recent national title won by the Razorbacks at the NCAA Men’s National Indoor Track and Field Championships was something I formerly believed would never happen.
As a longtime friend and home meet official of John McDonnell, the former coach who won 42 national championship trophies, I was doubtful anyone could remotely approach the success that the lad from Ireland had accomplished. Mc-Donnell was a genius at recognizing talent no one else could see and was renowned for the ability of motivating his athletes to accomplish things unheard of.
So great was the legend of McDonnell’s coaching ability, there were multiple future All-Americans who were walk-ons at the university, turning down offers of scholarships at other schools for the privilege of being coached by the best. I thought, who could even approach the status of what McDonnell had done.
I thought that meant that the multitude of national championship banners hanging in the Tyson Track Center would never be increased since Mc-Donnell retired five years ago. Well, I was wrong.
The Hogs had developed into a No. 1-ranked team this year, and in spite of suffering some setbacks in the meet last week, they won the title by a comfortable margin, even winning the 4 x 400 relay in a new national record time of 3:03. A time of 3:03 indoors could well translate into a sub-3-minute 4 x 400 relay come June. That kind of time could put you into the top of the Olympic finishers!
The track ’Backs are back!
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Editor’s note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He 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
Sports, Pages 8 on 03/13/2013