The wildly successful 2018 Pea Ridge Blackhawk track and field season has come to a close with the conclusion of the State Heptathlon which was conducted in Cabot last week.
A pair of Lady 'Hawk athletes were among the nearly 100 pre-registered athletes who competed in the two-day, seven-event competition which informally determines the best athletes in the state.
The winners of the Olympic decathlon (men) and heptathlon (women) gold medals are routinely hailed as the world's best athletes due to the nature of the event. Athletes are tested for speed (200 meters), speed and agility (100 hurdles), stamina (800 meters), strength (shot put), strength and agility (discus), leaping ability vertically (high jump) and leaping ability horizontally (long jump).
Not all athletes are good at every event, but no one can be bad at any event if they hope to finish well in the standings. Each event was score on how well their mark/time was and point values were added for each effort. The order of finish in the different events had nothing to do with the scoring.
Shelby Dunlap finished 19th with Jamison Toms taking 58th among all the athletes in the heptathlon, which was made up athletes from the 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A classifications. Thirty-one of the top 50 finishers were from the 7A-6A classes.
Taking into account just the 4A participants, the Pea Ridge tracksters did quite well. Dunlap would have won the silver among 4A competitors with Toms taking the seventh position. The finish among 4A athletes was:
4A Heptathlon
State Top 10
1. Natalie Toney^Pocahontas^4,043 points
2. Shelby Dunlap^Pea Ridge^3,438 points
3. Georgia Battles^Waldron^3,066 points
4. Jaylynn Hampton^Crossett^2,841 points
5. Haven Calavitta^Dardanelle^2,837 points
6. Chastery Fuamatu^Gentry^2,781 points
7. Jamison Toms^Pea Ridge^2,686 points
8. Lydia Burnett^Crossett^2,627 points
9. Kristin Sutton^Gosnell^2,509 points
10. Kylie Cross^Ashdown^2,456 points
The question I have been asking for along time is this. Why doesn't the Arkansas Activities Association break up the competition into individual classes?
Granted, there were not a whole lot of athletes from the 2A or 1A schools competing, but that is primarily due to the perceived hopeless task of taking on the big school athletes with their better programs and better competition. Decatur's Desi Meek finished 15th, one of the highest finishes ever for a 2A athlete, but she was an exception to the rule.
All that having more classes in the event would require is a little more expense in the distribution of medals. There wouldn't have to competition in every class, as the AAA combines classes in lots of sports with low numbers. There ought to be separate awards for at the top five classes, with perhaps the 1A and 2A combined together or placed with the 3A.
The multi-event competitions are grueling affairs over a two-day span. The athletes train extra hard to get to the event and they are tested to the max in the competition. At least the AAA wouldn't be so chintzy when it comes to rewarding their athletes.
I have long been a bit opposed to a sporting culture which awards athletes (mainly young ones) for simply showing up. I've heard stories of kids who have signed up for various sports but then miss most the practices and games but then line up at season's end to proudly accept the trophy that they have "won."
However, to under recognize and under reward high school athletes (something the Arkansas Activities Association has always done) is a travesty and something that ought to be addressed.
Summer track is back
Though the high school track season in in the books, the summer track and field competition is about to get fired up.
The Arkansas Amateur Athletic Union will be having their state meet June 9 at Joe T. Robinson Stadium in Little Rock on June 9. It is an open meet for anyone in the state with bunches of age categories. It will have all the typical track events with added events like the javelin and race walking as well. The high school age events has a 400 hurdles event rather than the 300, and there are events for athletes as young as 8 years of age.
The age group is determined by what age an athlete is on Dec. 31, 2018. The youngest age group is the 8 and under age group, with separate age groups for 9 year- olds, 10 year-olds, 11 year-olds, 12 year-olds, 13 year-olds and 14 year-olds. There is a 15 to 16 year-old combined age group with a 17 year-old through graduating senior in the oldest age group.
The top four finishers in each event in the state meet will be qualified for the regional competition which is being held in Joplin, Mo., at Missouri Southern State University. That meet will be two weeks later on June 19-21.
The top four finishers at Joplin will qualify for the National AAU Junior Olympic Games to be held in late July in Des Moines, Iowa. The games will include competition for more than 20 sports other than track and field, so it is a grand experience to attend. My son qualified and competed in every national games from 1988 through 2000 so I have seen first hand how the meets have grown over the years.
I was the Arkansas state track and field for the AAU for a dozen years in the 1980s and 1990s. During that time I saw an awful lot of really top athletes come through the AAU ranks to become top collegians in later years. For football players, lot of athletes who participate come into the fall drills in top shape which is no small thing.
Arkansas has one of the shortest track and field seasons in the nation, with Missouri schools still a couple of weeks away from their state track finals. Texas runs their state meets in June. The short season is one of the reasons that Arkansas does not rank highly compared with other states with the longer seasons.
For an Arkansas track and field athlete wishing to improve their game, this would be a good year to compete with the national meet not that far away. I have officiated in AAU meets on both the west and east coasts so having it in Iowa is a blessing.
More information will be published next week on the availability of the summer track program.
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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. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 05/23/2018