Nine Blackhawk tracksters score state medals

Eight boys and a lone girl were among the medalists at the Class 1A-4A State Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the University of Arkansas last week.

The boys had the best finish of a Pea Ridge boys team in the history of indoor track, taking 17th place from among the 40-plus teams in the meet. The girls team had one medalist but it was the Blackhawks highest medalist as Cassidy Mooneyhan cleared 9'6" to take the second place silver medal in the pole vault.

The highest boys finish came with Beau German's sixth place throw of 41'6" in the shot put. German finished just ahead of another 'Hawk medalist, Brett Kirby, who took seventh place in the same event with a 41'3" throw.

The 'Hawks had two eighth place finishes in the 60 dash and pole vault. Cooper Elliot took his medal in the 60, racing the distance in a time of 7.37, just 0.17 seconds behind the state champion time of Palestine-Wheatley's Antwan who won it in 7.20. Bryce Wall cleared 11'6" in the pole vault for eighth. Wall tied the seventh place winner in height cleared, Brayden Hensley of Genoa Central, but had more misses to break the tie.

The Blackhawk relay quartet of Shaed Cates, Connor Escajeda, Peyton Galbraith and Maguire Smith turned in a clocking of 9:26.19 to claim the eighth place medal in the 4x800-meter relay. They were the third best team among the 4A participants.

The indoor state championships is sponsored by Wal-Mart and the Arkansas track Coaches Association and has two divisions. The 5A, 6A and 7A athletes compete Friday evening in the upper division with the other classifications (1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A) competing on Saturday.

The Arkansas Activities Association sanctions the meet but does not administer the competition. The AAA made the offer to take over the meet a few years ago, but the coaches (wisely, in my opinion) voted to retain control over the two meets. The coaches association awards medals to the top eight finishers in each event, as does every other state in the United States in state competition. The official Arkansas high school state outdoor track meets only award the top three in each event.

Blackhawk junior district at home this week

The Pea Ridge Junior boys and girls basketball squads will be competing this week in the 4A-1 District Basketball Tournament right here in Pea Ridge.

This will be the first time this year all eight teams of the district will be competing in basketball at the same with the advent of the blended 4A-3A conference allignments. Berryville and Huntsville were shunted off to another conference to make room for three 3A teams and 4A-4 West Fork to be included with the other 4A-1 teams.

The Blackhawk girls have been seeded second in the week long tournament. They played seventh seeded Prairie Grove Monday and will play thr winner of Berryville/West Fork if they win. Gravette is the topseeded team in the girls competition.

The boy cagers have the sixth seed and play at 7:45 Wednesday against the No. 3 seed Berryville. The winner of Wednesday's game will go up against the winner of the Huntsville/Gravette encounter. Shiloh is the top seeded team in the boys tourney.

District tournament seedings posted today

The seedings and pairing for the 2017 4A-1 District Tournament will be decided Wednesday in a meeting of all the coaches.

Since the Arkansas Activities Association did away with the 4A-1 Conference round robin home and home game schedule, the seedings will now have to be awarded by committee. In seasons prior to 2017, the head to head competition during the regular season decided the seeds.

In addition, the top two regular season teams received byes to the semi-finals, granting them automatic berths in the Regional the following week. It appears, for this year and next anyway, that the district will be seeded like a normal tournament with first playing eighth, second playing seventh, etc.

The controversy in the seeding may be the fact that Huntsville and Pea Ridge boys teams are both undefeated in conference play. Pea Ridge is 16-0 with the Eagles 10-0 in their league, a separate league which has three less teams than the Blackhawks' conference. However, in both the MaxPreps and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette polls, the 'Hawks are ranked higher than are the Eagles, so there is a high chance that the 'Hawks will get that top seed.

It would appear to be a safe bet that Gravette is a lock for the No. 3 seed in the boys tourney, with either Shiloh, Gentry or Prairie Grove taking the fourth seed.

In the girls tournament, the Lady Blackhawks have a good chance for a top four seed. Huntsville will likely draw the No. 1 seed with Gravette positioned well for the No. 2 seed. The No. 3 seed, I believe, will come down between Berrryville and Pea Ridge. The Lady 'Hawks have played a much tougher schedule and have a better record than the Bobcats, so maybe they will get the nod.

In any case, all teams making the semi-finals will earn a berth in the Regional Tournament in two weeks in West Fork. The district meet is being hosted by Berryville this year.

The season is looking like it could be the best boys basketball record the Blackhawks have ever had. They have an excellent chance to secure 25 wins before beginning play in the districts. While the girls may not be the best girls team ever, they have improved dramatically this season and will go down as one of the best girls teams Pea Ridge has had in a very long time.

3A-4A-1 Boys conference standings*

1. Pea Ridge 16-0

2. Gravette 13-3

3. Gentry 10-6

4. Prairie Grove 9-7

Shiloh 9-7

6. West Fork 8-9

7. Elkins 6-10

8. Lincoln 5-11

9. Greenland 3-13

10. Haas Hall 1-15

*Feb. 7

3A-4A-1 Girls conference standings*

1. West Fork 15-1

2. Gravette 13-3

Greenland 12-4

4. Pea Ridge 11-5

5. Gentry 9-7

Elkins 9-7

7. Prairie Grove 6-10

8. Shiloh 4-12

9. Haas Hall 2-14

10. Lincoln 2-15

*Feb. 3

CBS/MaxPreps State 4A Boys and Girls

Basketball Polls, Feb. 3

Boys won- power

loss rkg

1. Baptist Prep 20-4 20.9

2. Southside 21-2 17.6

3. Pea Ridge (N.R.#1) 22-1 16.0

4. Huntsville (N.R.#2) 21-2 15.3

5. Cave City 21-2 15.2

6. Pottsville (N.R.#3) 19-4 14.3

7. Westside 16-6 13.1

8. Nashville 17-3 12.1

9. Bauxite 17-6 10.6

10. Gravette (N.R.#4) 17-6 10.0

11. ESTEM 14-11 10.0

12. Riverview 16-6 9.9

13. Monticello 17-6 9.3

14. Gosnell 15-7 9.1

15. Robinson 10-8 9.0

16. Stuttgart 14-4 8.5

17. Dumas 14-7 7.8

18. Dardanelle (N.R.#5) 16-7 7.7

19. Ozark (N.R.#6) 15-7 7.4

20. Pocahontas 9-7 5.1

21. Brookland 10-12 4.4

22. Arkadelphia 14-9 4.1

23. Subiaco Academy (N.R.#7) 10-9 3.5

24. Booneville (N.R.#8) 16-8 3.0

25. Ashdown 9-7 3.0

26. West Fork 14-9 2.5

27. Shiloh Christian (Springdale) 12-10 2.0

28. Central Arkansas Christian (North Little Rock) 8-11 1.6

29. Gentry 11-8 1.0

30. Prairie Grove 10-12 0.9

31. Warren 14-11 0.8

32. Mena 10-12 0.6

33. Malvern 10-9 0.2

34. Lonoke 8-14 -0.2

35. Heber Springs 9-15 -0.8

36. Berryville 12-12 -1.0

37. Highland (Hardy) 11-15 -2.3

38. Fountain Lake (Hot Springs National Park) 8-15 -2.5

39. Harrisburg 8-15 -3.5

40. Central (West Helena) 4-10 -5.2

41. Trumann 4-16 -5.4

42. Hamburg 9-14 -5.6

43. Dover 5-15 -6.0

44. Dollarway (Pine Bluff) 6-16 -6.2

45. DeWitt 7-15 -7.8

46. Waldron 5-19 -8.0

47. Crossett 6-14 -8.3

48. Star City 5-17 -8.7

49. Lincoln 5-16 -8.7

Girls poll

1. Central Arkansas Christian (North Little Rock) 21-2 21.0

2. Pocahontas 22-3 19.9

3. Monticello 23-3 18.7

4. Nashville 19-2 18.2

5. Star City 23-2 17.9

6. Huntsville 19-6 17.9

7. Ozark 18-2 16.3

8. West Fork 22-1 15.8

9. Pottsville 15-8 12.5

10. Lonoke 13-6 11.7

11. Brookland 15-8 10.0

12. ESTEM (Little Rock) 16-10 9.4

13. Gravette 16-8 8.8

14. Berryville 13-12 8.5

15. Central (West Helena) 10-3 7.4

16. Southside (Batesville) 10-12 6.5

17. Heber Springs 11-11 6.3

18. Pea Ridge 13-10 5.2

19. Bauxite 13-10 5.2

20. Riverview (Searcy) 9-10 5.0

21. Ashdown 11-11 4.4

22. Harrisburg 13-10 4.2

23. Dardanelle 11-13 3.5

24. Gentry 12-8 2.9

25. Arkadelphia 12-11 2.7

26. Highland (Hardy) 8-12 2.0

27. Dumas 16-9 1.6

28. Malvern 8-9 1.4

29. Warren 8-10 -1.1

30. Prairie Grove 6-14 -1.2

31. Cave City 5-12 -2.3

32. Trumann 8-12 -3.2

33. Robinson (Little Rock) 6-16 -3.2

34. Stuttgart 7-10 -3.6

35. Hamburg 8-13 -3.6

36. Dover 6-14 -3.9

37. Westside (Jonesboro) 7-14 -3.9

38. Shiloh Christian (Springdale) 7-16 -4.6

39. Gosnell 8-13 -5.0

40. Lincoln 4-19 -7.0

41. DeWitt 7-16 -7.7

42. Booneville 5-12 -7.9

43. Fountain Lake (Hot Springs Natl Park) 6-17 -8.0

44. Dollarway (Pine Bluff) 6-17 -8.4

45. Baptist Prep (Little Rock) 3-13 -8.7

46. Mena 1-20 -10.2

47. Waldron 3-20 -12.4

48. Crossett 1-19 -15.7

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Editor's note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. The opinions expressed are those of the author. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].

Sports on 02/08/2017