Girls track coach Heather Wade won a lot of awards as the skipper of the Blackhawks. Winning five of six titles in the 1-4A conference has made her an easy choice for area awards.
Winning both the indoor and outdoor 4A titles in state competition made her the most recognized coach in the classification in 2018, and this summer, Coach Wade won an honor that no previous Pea Ridge coach has ever achieved. It is any honor that is usually reserved for the higher classification coaches with 4A coaches no matter the sport.
The Arkansas Activities Association selected Coach Wade as the 2019 top track and field girls coach in the state regardless of class. In other words, she is the best of the best.
It takes a special personality to get students to put in the work to achieve the most of their potential in this particular venue. In the sport of track, every one is a "starter." Getting athletes to believe in themselves and having the knowledge and expertise to train them to succeed is no small thing. To be successful in track and field, you have to be self aware which helps you realize that you have to put a lot into your effort if you hope your time spent to be worthwhile.
To build the girls program into the juggernaut it has become, Wade has set records for girls turnout for the sport. She has also assembled a tremendous staff of assistants and competent volunteers. The biggest asset she brings to the table though, in my opinion, is her infectious enthusiasm.
Having served as a high school track coach for a number of years, I have seen the commonality of a trait that the best coaches always have. They enthusiastically impart to their athletes the knowledge that their coach wants more than anything to help them be successful, both as persons as well as athletes.
Though things can change from year to year, with graduation, move outs and move ins, Pea Ridge will be heavy favorites to dominate the 4A track again this school year. It will be a challenge for the Blackhawk girls to improve on last year's achievements.
I, for one, am certain the challenge will be accepted.
Record number of
All-State athletes named
I was on vacation out of state when the Arkansas 4A track and field All-State Athletes were named by the Arkansas Activities Association. A whopping 13 athletes made the list, an all-time record for any Pea Ridge High School sport.
The boys, state runners-up in the 4A championships came away with eight honorees with the state champion girls team taking five spots on the all-star list.
The boys (coached by Asa Poteete) named to the list include Adam Trammel, Connor Escajeda, Cooper Elliott, Josiah Small, Kevin Vasquez, Patrick Elliott, Shaed Cates and Sander VanderVeen. The girls honorees were Blakelee Winn, Cassidy Mooneyhan, Clarie Hale, Jamison Toms and Shelby Dunlap.
There was one other spring sport athlete named an All-Stater, that being Tyler O'Dell in the sport of baseball. Counting the diamond sport, 14 Hawks achieved the gold standard in athletics this spring.
PRHS growth outstrips the 4A-1
A few years ago, the 4A-1 was a rapidly growing collection of high schools in northwest Arkansas.
Not too long ago, Huntsville, Berryville, Gravette, Prairie Grove and Pea Ridge were among the top eight schools in their classification. I was among many who assumed that about half of the 1-4A be moving up in the 5A classification eventually.
With the latest stats released by the Arkansas Activities Association, my assumptions appear to be off base.
In the past couple of cycles, of the nine schools that have inhabited the local conference, only three have posted increased enrollment.
Lincoln has lost 32 students, with Berryville dropping 23, Huntsville 16 and Prairie Grove 13. Shiloh and Gravette had single digit losses of six and seven respectively.
Meanwhile, Green Forest upped their enrollment by 11 with Gentry adding 13. The big news is that Pea Ridge has added 130 students over the same time period.
With the rearrangement of the classification system, Pea Ridge will likely stay 4A in all sports for the foreseeable future except in football. The 'Hawks are slated to join the 5A West league next fall in a sport that is counted differently than the others.
The finalized 5A West was confirmed this summer as Alma, Clarksville, Farmington, Greenbrier, Harrison, Morrilton and Vilonia along with Pea Ridge will be together for the 2020-2022 cycle.
The average distance for the seven other schools away from Pea Ridge in the 1-4A is 37 miles. The average distance for the seven other high schools in the 5A West is 130 miles, a nearly 100-mile average increase. Greenbrier and Vilonia of the 5A West are more than 200 miles away.
I sure hope Prairie Grove, Gravette, Huntsville and Berryville start picking up more students. That could greatly help my Friday night gasoline bill.
New sports
A couple of new wrinkles are ahead for Arkansas Activities Association sanctioned athletics.
Esports was adopted as an official sport. This will be a computer sport with students setting behind screens and keyboards to do battle with other schools in the computer gaming programs known as "Smite,", "League of Legends," and "Rocket League."
Personally, I am all for students having activities to do with school guidance for a lot of reasons. Having said that, I can't see referring to computer games participants as athletes.
Lots of sports writers have termed athletic as the "perspiring arts." I hope that description doesn't change or need to.
Another sport voted in this summer is girls wrestling. There have been several girls participating with the boys in wrestling in the past few years, and it seems that a lot more girls would participate if they did not have to mix with boys.
This is not to say that some girls could not compete with boys because some could. Most could not because of the difference in muscle mass between the sexes.
Having participated in high school wrestling in the 1960s, I know there is a lot to be gained from a good program. With more and more women opting for military careers, this would be a definite plus.
New football clock rule
The National High School Federation has voted to increase the play clock from 25 to 40 seconds. I am assuming that Arkansas will adopt this new rule as well.
When a play is over in a football game heretofore, teams on offense had 25 seconds to get the ball in play to avoid a five-yard delay of game penalty. Teams will now have 15 more seconds of time to kill before snapping the ball.
I have not read what the motivation was behind the change, but it well may result in the shortening of games. Lets say teams snaps the ball 15 times in a quarter, the extra 15 seconds per play could extinguish around three minutes of playing time in a 12-minute period.
At least, the delay of game penalty will likely become a thing of the past. Any team snapping the ball 41 seconds after the referees signal really isn't trying.
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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 writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 08/14/2019