The Pea Ridge Lady Blackhawk athletes added more track and field hardware to the school trophy case with a strong championship performance in the Gentry Pioneer Track Invitational last week.
The girls meet became a two-team battle from the get go as the Gravette Lady Lions were playing catch up to the 'Hawks from the outset. Behind a big 31-point effort by junior Mikhaela Cochran in the field events, the Track 'Hawks took the lead early on and led all the way to the finish. Pea Ridge got scores from four other athletes in the field events to pile up enough points to take a 3-point lead, 55-52, over Gravette before going into the running events.
With Ashtyn Monday and Emma Pitts scoring well in the sprints along with 14 points from Cochran in the two hurdle races, the 'Hawks gradually padded their lead. Eventually, Pea Ridge managed to take a 25-point lead just before the 800 run, one of the last events on the meet schedule.
Gravette tightened things a bit by outscoring Pea Ridge 14-1 in that (800) event to close to within 11, but the 'Hawks outscored their nemesis by seven the rest of the way to take the championship by a score of 139 to 121 over the Lions. Cochran again was the recipient of another High Point Trophy as she accumulated overall 45 points in the competition to best all other athletes.
The host school Gentry finished third with 70 followed by Elkins 58, Farmington 55, Shiloh 51, Prairie Grove 50 and Decatur 26.
Cochran's score included a pair of first place finishes in the high jump and discus events. The lanky junior leaped 4'10" in the high jump while flinging the discus 92'10". Cochran also took a second in the 100-meter hurdles (18.15), two thirds in the 300-meter hurdles (53.33) and shot put (29'8") events, and also finished fourth in the long jump (14'9").
Monday and Pitts were the second and third leading scorers with 19 and 18 points respectively. Monday took thirds in the 200 (28.19) and triple jump (30'5"), was fourth in the 100 (13.59), ran a leg on the third place 4x100 relay (54.80) and was on the winning 4x400 relay team (4:51). Pitts took fourths in both the 100 (13.56) and 200 (28.20), took fifth in the long jump (14'5") and finished sixth in the discus (69'6"). Pitts was also on the third place 4x100 relay.
The third place 4x100 relay was composed of Vanessa Wing, Pitts, Gloria Vargas and Monday. The 4x400 quartet was made up of Monday, Lexi Bradrick, Wing, and Vargas. The 4x800 relay unit finished in second place (12:26.4) with a team of Casi Caton, Kelsie Merritt, Bradrick and Wing.
Other Pea Ridge athletes scoring individually for the 'Hawks include: Casi Caton, eighth in the 800 (3:03) and eighth in the 1,600 (7:16); Lexi Bradrick, sixth in the 1,600 (6:54); Kelsie Merritt, fourth in the 3,200 (16:39); Vanessa Wing, seventh in the high jump (4'4"); and Liz McGowan, second in the shot put (29'8.5") and seventh in the discus (64'2")
Rose leads 'Hawks on track
Senior Logan Rose scored in four events and was easily the Blackhawks' best boys athlete on the field at the Gentry Pioneer Track Invitational last week.
Rose leaped to a second-place finish in the high jump with a 6'0" effort and was also a third-place finisher in the triple jump with a jump of 40'5". The football/basketball standout also took a fifth in the long jump event with a 20'4" leap and ran a leg on the Blackhawks' sixth place 4x100 relay team which turned in a time of 46.45.
The next highest finisher in the meet was Lloyd Kalberloh who grabbed fourth in the long jump with a 20'5" leap. Kalberloh was also a member of the 4x100 relay, along with Rose, Ryan Jackson and Nick Mooneyhan. Jackson also earned a ribbon in the 200 as he finished eighth in 24.5. Mooneyhan matched Jackson's efforts as he also garnered an eighth place ribbon, his in the long jump event with a leap of 19'5".
Jesse Undernehr was a double scorer in the hurdle events, taking sixth place in both the 110-meter hurdles (18.99) and the 300-meter hurdles (47.11). Rounding out the scoring was Trysten Hooks, seventh in the 800-meter (2:32); and Dakota Winn, eighth in the triple jump (37'4").
Elkins dominated the meet, winning by a wide margin over runner-up Shiloh by a score of 147-105. Third place was Gravette with 99, followed by Farmington 93, Gentry 83, Prairie Grove 46, Pea Ridge 36 and Decatur 20.
Sports on 04/16/2014