Sophomore Blakelee Winn capped a stellar year in track and field by taking the school's first ever medal in the Arkansas State High School Decathlon/Heptathlon Championships held in Fayetteville last week.
Winn was in third place after the first day of competition Thursday where she completed the 100-meter hurdles, long jump, discus and 200-meter dash. At the end of the first day, she was in third place with 2,585 points behind El Dorado's Breya Clark (2,696 points) and Camden's TaiSheka Porchia (2,696 points).
"I'm happy both Blakelee and Cassidy took the opportunity to try something new," head girls coach Heather Wade said. "I was very impressed by their efforts and the way they competed. It was a great experience."
Friday saw the high jump, shot put and 800-meter run events which left Winn with a final third place with 4,167, while Clark and Porchia traded places with Porchia winning the gold medal with 4,463 points. Clark settled for second with 4,310 points.
At the end of the first event on Thursday, Winn was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles (15.44) to score 784. Rogers' Georgia Brain won the event in 14.70 to take the initial lead with 882 points, with Clark taking second in 15.02 (839 points), and Bryant's Deborah Shaw in third (15.08, 831 points).
Clark won the long jump in 18 feet 9 inches to jump to the top of the standings with 1,607 after two events. Winn faced a tough field in the long jump, leaping 16'8" to secure 584 points, 19th best in the field. Her combined total was 1,368, good enough for sixth overall behind Clark, Brain (1,585), Shaw (1,468), Porchia (1,419) and Ashlyn Scott, Rogers (1,382).
The next event was the discus which scrambled the standings somewhat. Winn had the 10th best throw (89 feet 7 inches) to score 412 points which allowed her to pass Silcott (73'1") and Shaw (54'10") in the overall standings to get back into fourth. Clark still led with 2,037 points, followed by Porchia with 1,796, Brain with 1,786, and Winn with 1,780.
Winn then proceeded to smoke the 200-meter dash, having the second best time (25.91) to score 805 points to move up into third overall, passing Brain. With the day completed, Clark led with 2,696, Porchia was second with 2,693 and Winn was third with 2,585.
Friday's final day started off with the high jump. While Winn had the 18th best high jump by leaping 4 feet 7 inches, her 512 points kept her in third overall with 3,106. Clark still led with 3,385 with Portia close behind with 3,259. Brain was fourth overall with 2,996, with Carly Strong of Sheridan moving into fifth with 2,886, followed by Scott in sixth with 2,910.
The Pea Ridge all-stater did well in the shot put, finishing fifth with a throw of 32 feet 7 inches (525 points). Winn then held a nearly 300-point lead on the fourth-place athlete right behind her in the standings, 3,631 points to Brain's 3,337. Portia had a great throw of 35'1" to score 574 and nearly overtake the leader Clark who threw 30'1". Clark led Portia by only 29 points (3,862-3,833) with one event left, with Winn down 231 from first.
As always happens in the multi-events, the toughest event is the last event with the girls set for the 800-meter run and it decided the champion. Portia finished fifth in 2:35 with Clark not finishing in the top 25. Portia scored 630 to Clark's 448 (2:51.5) to give the Camden Cardinal the gold medal at the end. Winn ran 2:42 to finish 16th in the event, scoring 545 to keep fourth-place finisher Carly Strong at bay. Strong ran 2:39 for eighth and 580 points but it was not enough to catch Winn.
Another Pea Ridge athlete getting her first taste of heptathlon competition was multiple-time All-State athlete Cassidy Mooneyhan. She finished 31st from the nearly 100 girls in the competition. She finished sixth among all the 4A girls in the meet.
Four Benton County girls earned medals at the meet, with Top 10 finishers all receiving the official Arkansas Activities Association medal. It was the most of any county in Arkansas.
Two Pea Ridge boys entered the decathlon fray, with Josiah Small taking an overall 34th place while Zach Woods finished 74th. Both boys were among the top finishers in the state 4A meet in Batesville recently. Small was the seventh finisher among all 4A athletes with Woods taking a 12th place.
Final girls
heptathlon
standings
TaiSheka Portia, Camden^4,463
Breya Clark, El Dorado^4,310
Blakelee Winn, Pea Ridge^4,167
Carly Strong, Sheridan^3,940
Desi Meek, Decatur^3,887
Ashlyn Silcott, Rogers^3,878
Porsha Randle, Ashdown^3,860
Georgia Brain, Rogers^3,855
Jenny Peake, Lake Hamilton^3,745
Megan Lee, Bryant^3,718
Sports on 05/22/2019