The Pea Ridge Jr. Boys Blackhawk track team came mighty close but fell 5 points short in their attempt to claim a third district athletic championship this year in 4A-1 boys competition.
Gentry outscored the 'Hawks 135 to 131 to claim the crown, opening up a big lead in the field events that the 'Hawks could never quite close. The biggest edge the Pioneers managed to get was finishing 1-2-3-4 in the pole vault to score 29 points to start the meet, an event that most schools didn't enter.
Gravette finished third overall with 114, followed by Berryville, 64; Prairie Grove, 63; Ozark, 55; Farmington, 41; and Lincoln, 17.
Sixteen Pea Ridge athletes figured in the scoring with 'Hawks placing in all but two of the 16 events. Two individuals and two relays claimed district event championships.
The foursome of Hunter Shackleford, Jesus Munoz, Jacob Tores and Robby Pickthall blazed to a relatively wide margin of victory in the 4x100 relay winning in 48.07. Munoz and Torrez joined Clayton Brown and Shackleford to capture the meet ending 4x400 relay in 3:59.1. Running on the 4x800-meter relay team finishing fifth was Peyton Galbraith, Vernon Leach, Zachary Law and Shaed Cates.
Both the 'Hawks' individual championships came in the throwing events with Beau German and Britton Caudill taking top honors in the shot put and discus events, respectively. German tossed the shot 45'2" while Caudill flung the discus 129'5". Caudill also was the second place finisher in the shot with a 42'11" effort.
Jacob Torres was the 'Hawks high point scorer for the meet, accounting for 25 of the 'Hawks' total. Torres was second in both the 100 (12.48) and 400 (57.09), was fifth in the long jump (16'8") and ran legs on two winning relay teams.
Other 'Hawks who scored individually include: Zaine Holley, second 200 (25.32), fourth 100 (12.57); Jesus Munoz, sixth 100 (12.70); Robby Pickthall, seventh 200 (26.33), seventh long jump (16'3"); Hunter Shackleford, fifth 200 (26.2); Clayton Brown, seventh 400 (59.83); Drew Winn, second triple jump (34'11"), sixth 400 (59.44); Shaed Cates, sixth 1,600 (5:28.2); Eric Gamez, fifth 100 hurdles (18.98), eighth 300 hurdles (49.9); Brandon Johnson, sixth long jump (16'4"); Zach Law, fifth, triple jump (33'4"); and Tyler Randall, fifth shot put (36'3"),and sixth discus (102'9").
The junior boys had earlier won football and basketball championships in the 4A-1 District and were close to perhaps an unprecedented triple crown in athletics. As it was, the meet closed out one of the most succcessful athletic years in Pea Ridge junior high history.
Coach Lafe Caton said: "I am so proud of the team for what they were able to accomplish this year. They worked hard and continued to improve all year. We were a little disappointed that we did not win the meet as we were only 4.5 points behind Gentry which scored 29 points in the pole vault an event that we hope to be able to participate in next year. It was a great year and I know the kids and coaches are excited about the future."
Sports on 04/30/2014