John McGee
Special to The TIMES
For most 4A athletes getting an invite to the annual Arkansas Meet of Champions, which pits the best of the state from every classification, that usually means perhaps a medal or two while they watch the state's big schools take home most all the awards. Pea Ridge took home 18 medals from the MOC Saturday, smashing the Blackhawk school record of two medals in one meet won back in the 1980s.
Coach Heather Wade's girls tracksters grabbed sixth place in the overall standings from among the 52 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A schools that scored points in the girls' meet. More than 75 teams were represented.
"The Meet of Champs had a lot of great talent," Wade said. "The girls improved their times in almost all events and competed well. I'm very proud of all their accomplishments this season!"
The top 10 finishing schools were all 7A/6A schools with the exception of 4A Pea Ridge. Sylvan Hills was first with 47, Bentonville second with 42, Conway third with 40, fourth was Sheridan with 38, fifth was Rogers with 36 and Pea Ridge in sixth with 28. Rounding out the top 10 was Lake Hamilton, 28; Little Rock Central, 27; Fayetteville, 23; and Russellville, 22.
Other girls' team scores were: Maumelle 20.5, Gentry 20, Bryant 20, Hamburg 20, Little Rock Parkview 19, El Dorado 18, North Little Rock 17, Rivercrest 13.5, Cabot 13, Har-Ber 12.5, Gosnell 12, Vilonia 9, Pocahontas 8, White Hall 8, Beebe 8, Jonesboro 8, Benton 8, Camden 8, Lafayette 7, Green Forest 6, Rogers Heritage 6, Little Rocks Mills 6, Mount St. Mary 6, Greenwood 5, Prairie Grove 5, Ozark 5, Crossett 4.5, Van Buren 4.5, Atkins 4, Alpena 4, Bald Knob 3, Springdale 3, Magnolia 3, Foreman 3, Decatur 2.5, Scranton 2, Little Rock Christian 2, DeQueen 2, Lakeside 2, Jessieville 1, Bearden 1 and Arkadelphia 0.5.
The girls brought back 13 of the medals with the boys adding five to the haul.
Freshman athlete Blakelee Winn earned four medals with a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles (15.59), a fifth place in the 4x100 relay (50.14) and seventh-place finishes in the long jump (17'0") and 300 hurdles (47.14). The others members of the school record setting 4x100 clocking were Shelby Dunlap, Cassidy Mooneyhan and Jamison Toms.
Dunlap came up with a fourth- place finish in the 300 hurdles (46.45) with Mooneyhan taking third in the pole vault with a 11-3 effort. Both these girls teamed with Adelina Means and Olivia McCracken to take fifth-place in the 4x400 relay with a 4:14.73 mark.
Dunlaps' time in the 300 hurdles earned her a second team All-American honor as compiled by the Milesplit.com national track and field organization. Winn had earned that same honor in the 4A state meet last week in the same event.
This season was the first time that a Pea Ridge sprint relay team has ever scored at the Meet of Champs and the boys provided a third unit to take home some hardware.
Coach Asa Poteete said, "The Meet of Champs was icing on the cake for our 4x400 team and Cooper in the 200.
"The boys were really excited about the chance to compete again and break their own season record. Really a great honor for these boys to get to be involved with the best of the best in Arkansas. Great way to end a great season for our boys."
The boys' quartet of Elliott Cooper, Shaed Cates, Jordan Witcher and Connor Escajeda raced around the Lake Hamilton oval competing in the 4x400, taking fifth place with a blazing time of 3:27.41.
Elliott scored a seventh-place medal in the 200 dash with a school record 22.64 to score the 'Hawks' other medal.
The boys finished 33rd with 6 points, their highest finish of all time in the Meet of Champs. There are more than 300 teams with track and field teams in the state. Bentonville was the overall boys winner with 42.
Track and field will have their last event this week with the State Decathlon and Pentathlon being held in Cabot.
Nearly 100 girl athletes will battle it out in the seven-event heptathlon. Representing Pea Ridge will be Jamison Toms and Shelby Dunlap. There are no class separations with the the 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A classes competing together.
The events in the pentathlon include the 100 hurdles, 200, 800, shot put, discus, long jump and high jump. Each event will be scored with the marks compared to a scoring chart. The highest overall total of the seven events earns the gold medal. The final event will be the 800 run, a race which often scrambles the final standings.
The event finishes at the Meet of Champs including Pea Ridge athletes were:
GIRLS
Long jump
1. Johnya Givens LR Parkview 18'7"
2. Mia Heard Sylvan Hills 18'4"
3. Lauren Godwin Sheridan 18'2"
4. Carly Strong Sheridan 18'0"
5. Alex Hill Alpena 17'3"
6. Hannah Brewer Benton 17'1"
7. Blakelee Winn Pea Ridge 17'0"
8. Kadi Downs Foreman 16'10"
Pole vault
1. Edie Murray Lake Hamilton 13'1"
2. Emily Roberts Har-Ber 12'5"
3. Cassidy Mooneyhan Pea Ridge 11'3"
4. Grace Cole Lake Hamilton 11'3"
5. Analee Busco Greenwood 11'3"
6. Mckenzie Moring Sheridan 10'9"
7. Lucy Lisle Har-Ber 10'3"
8. Caitlyn Fincher Rivercrest 10'3"
100 Meter Hurdles
1. Claire Luallen Maumelle 14.77
2. Georgia Brain Rogers 15.38
3. Blakelee Winn Pea Ridge 15.59
4. Johnya Givens LR Parkview 15.65
5. Breya Clark El Dorado 15.94
6. Adriana Kitchen Fayetteville 16.13
7. Ashlyne Silcott Rogers 16.14
8. Ally Swaim Vilonia 16.15
300 Hurdles
1. Taylor Conway Conway 44.32
2. Natalie Toney Pocahontas 46.14
3. Claire Luallen Maumelle 46.26
4. Shelby Dunlap Pea Ridge 46.45
5. Jaren Hernandez Bentonville 46.74
6. Ashlyne Silcott Rogers 46.94
7. Blakelee Winn Pea Ridge 47.14
8. Desi Meek Decatur 47.33
4x100 Relay
1. Sylvan Hills 48.07
2. LR Central 48.55
3. Camden 49.36
4. Conway 49.78
5. Pea Ridge 50.14
6. Crossett 50.34
7. Rivercrest 50.96
8. Bearden 51.27
4x400 Relay
1. Bryant 3:58.09
2. North Little Rock 4:00.73
3. Sylvan Hills 4:06.71
4. Lake Hamilton 4:14.20
5. Pea Ridge 4:14.73
6. LR Central 4:16.96
7. Foreman 4:38.60
BOYS
200 Dash
1. Travis Knight Pine Bluff 21.51
2. Destine Scott LR Central 22.08
3. Sean Jamerson Conway 22.10
4. Robert Whitfield Jacksonville 22.11
5. Daniel Collins White Hall 22.53
6. Cade Clark Benton 22.57
7. Cooper Elliott Pea Ridge 22.64
8. Knowledge Hood Lake Hamilton 22.79
4x400 Relay
1. North Little Rock 3:19.44
2. Lake Hamilton 3:22.23
3. LR Central 3:22.50
4. Maumelle 3:24.86
5. Pea Ridge 3:27.41
6. Crossett 3:29.47
7. Vilonia 3:30.15
8. Rogers Heritage 3:35.38
Sports on 05/16/2018