The Pea Ridge girls varsity track team made good on their favorite status and ran away with the 4A State track championship title last week in Pocahontas.
The Lady 'Hawks were heavy favorites going into the meet and they did not disappoint, more than doubling the second place finisher in points. Pea Ridge scored 106, far ahead of runnerup Crossett which took second place with 53. Third-place winner Ashdown rang up 50 points which meant the second and third place teams together couldn't match the Blackhawk scoring machine.
Head girls coach Heather Wade said: "I'm so proud of this group of girls! They are a very talented group that works hard to be the best at all they do.
"They all competed hard and the state meet and came home champions!" Wade said.
Leading the scoring was freshman sensation Blakelee Winn, who took gold medals in the 100 (15.69) and 300 hurdles (45.83), 2nd in the long jump (16'9"), second in the 4x100 (Winn, Jamison Toms, Shelby Dunlap, Cassidy Mooneyhan, 50.94), fourth in the 200 (26.37), and fifth in the triple jump (33'7") for a whopping 39 points.
Winn's victories in the 100 and 300 hurdles were at the expense of the defending state champion Natalie Toney of host Pocahontas. Both Winn's and Toney's time in the 300 hurdles was considered by Milesplit.com as earning second team All-American status. Milesplit.com has data and meet results from every state in the United States.
The Lady 'Hawks were third in team standings coming out of the field events, trailing Ashdown by 19. Ashdown led with 47, Pocahontas 29, Pea Ridge 28 and Gentry with 20. Mooneyhan captured her third state vaulting title, winning that event in 11'0", with Shelby Dunlap's fourth in the triple jump (34'1") and Meredith Mitchell's eighth in the discus (93'3") combining with Winn's points in the horizontal jumps.
Once the running events started, the 'Hawks went to work, grabbing third in the 4x800 (Destiny Roughton, Harmony Reynolds, Maddyson Robinson, Means, 10:42.0) for 6 points with Means overtaking West Fork with a sparkling 2:30 anchor leg to make up a 2-second deficit in the last exchange. Winn then won the 100 hurdles with a blazing 15.69 time for 10 points to nearly catch Ashdown, trailing only 47-46. Harmony Reynold's seventh place in the 1,600 (6:00.7) provided the 2 points to get Pea Ridge the lead at 48-47. Shortly afterwards, Means cruised into second in the 400 (1:02.75) for 8 points to broaden the lead and then the points started flowing.
Winn won the 300 hurdles with Dunlap taking third (48.14) and Olivia McCracken seventh for a combined 18 points. Winn took second followed by Mooneyhan in sixth (26.21) in the 200 for 11 points in a subequnt event and the rout was on. At that point the 'Hawks were ahead by more than 30 and the meet was essentially decided.
The 'Hawks' entrants in the 3,200 had their best outing of the year, with Maddyson Robinson claiming fourth (13:23) and Reynolds taking sixth (13:32) for 8 more points. All that was left for the Lady 'Hawks to do was capture the 4x400 meet ending relay, and they did that with a blazing time of 4:13.59. Crossett briefly led the 4x400 in the final lap but Dunlap motored past the Lady Eagle anchor to post a 3-second final win margin. Dunlap was joined by Means, McCracken and Mooneyhan in the victory.
Final point standings were: Pea Ridge, 106; Crossett, 53; Ashdown, 50; Pocahontas, 49; Hamburg, 38; Robinson, 34; Gravette, 29; Ozark, 28; Gosnell, 26; Waldron, 25; Arkadelphia, 24; Gentry, 21; Prairie Grove, 20; West Fork, 19; Shiloh, 19; Monticello, 16; Central Arkansas, 16; Warren, 13; Star City, 11; Dardanelle, 8; Pottsville, 8; Malvern, 6; Fountain Lake, 5; Riverview, 5; Berryville, 5; Heber Springs, 5;, Booneville, 5; Brookland, 4; West Helena, 3; Mena, 3; Southside, 2; Stuttgart, 2; Dewitt, 2; Trumann, 1; and Huntsville, 1. There were 14 teams that did not score.
This was quite a year of firsts for Lady 'Hawk outdoor track and field history. Never before had a team won a state team title, never before had more than one athlete won an individual state gold medal, and never before had a girls' relay team won a state gold medal, and never before had three relay teams placed in one state meet.
The last time a Lady 'Hawk won a state outdoor gold medal was Diane Miller's victory in the 3,200 in 2001 (11:51) at the Meet of Champs and Stacy Collins' victory in the discus throw in the 1980s when the school was in Class A.
Winn will be competing in the Meet of Champs in both hurdles this week with the 4x400 relay competing as well. The Meet of Champions combines the champions of all seven Arkansas classifications as well as some of the best times overall, usually the larger school athletes.
General News on 05/09/2018