After opening the outdoor track and field season at Van Buren on March 4th and hosting the annual Bulldog Relays on the 17th, Head Coach Brian Sims and his GHS thinclads ended the month by competing in the Tiger Relays at Mansfield on the 29th and opened April at the Cyclone Relays in Russellville last Friday. They compete this week on Thursday at Alma.
The next two weeks will see the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs complete their regular season schedule of meets by attending the Pointer Relays in Van Buren on April 14th and the prestigious McDonald Relays at Fort Smith Southside on April 21st. The 5A West conference track and field meet will then be held at Siloam Springs on the 26th followed by the state meet on May 5th at Van Buren. For those athletes who qualify, the annual Meet of Champs is May 11th at Russellville.
Mansfield Tiger Relays
Greenwood High School was the largest of the 28 schools that competed in the Tiger Relays last Tuesday, March 29th. DeQueen High School won the girls’ portion of the event with 141 points with Mansfield and Waldron tied for second with 106 points and Ozark High School a close fourth with 103 points. On the boys’ side of things, DeQueen ran away from the pack with 163 points, well ahead of second place Waldron with 122½ points. No other team had more than 57 points. The Lady Bulldogs scored 17 points in the meet while the GHS boys earned 21 points.
For the Lady Bulldogs, junior long distance runner Ashely Koeth finished sixth in the 1600-meter run with a time of 6:29:07 and the 4x800 meter relay team placed fifth with a time of 12:39.01. Junior pole vaulter Taylor Hankins also took first-place points in her field event, clearing the bar at a height of 9’6”. Several other Lady Bulldogs did not attend the event.
Among the GHS boys, sophomores Noah Chaser and Josh Allen turned in top four finishes to lead the team in scoring. Chaser turned in a pair of third place performances in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes. His time in the shorter event was 11.82 seconds and 23.66 seconds in the longer sprint.
Senior Shane Debar ran 30th (13.17) in the 100-meter dash while Greenwood senior Michael Hurt placed 21st in the 200-meter event. Hurt also ran 16th in the 400-meter dash (1:01.40), while sophomore Braxton Patterson placed eighth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 19.45 seconds.
In the field events, Greenwood’s Josh Allen earned fourth place points in the boys pole vault with a height of 11’0”. Sophomore Landon Nelms was 11th in the high jump at 5’2” and Hayden Webb and Ryan Franks placed 8th and 10th, respectively, in the discus throw. A junior, Webb achieved a distance of 91’2” while the sophomore Franks reached 90’6”. They also competed in the shot put with Webb placing 7th (37’1¼”) and Franks 23rd (31’8”).
Russellville Cyclone Relays
Designated at the Arkansas Army National Guard Cyclone Relays, the April Fool’s Day event last Friday attracted 15 schools, including several Class 6A teams such as Bryant, Cabot, Conway, and Little Rock Catholic, along with notable 5A schools like Greenbrier, Greenwood, Jonesboro, Russellville, Beebe, and Vilonia, as well as a few smaller schools from the area.
First place Cabot (158 points) and second place Conway (133) more than lapped the field in the girls competition, well ahead of third place Russellville (93 points). The Lady Bulldogs scored 30 points for seventh place, while the GHS boys earned 36 points for an eighth-place finish. Cabot (173 points) also won the boys competition with Vilonia placing second (142).
Eight Lady Bulldogs competed in the meet for Greenwood, with four top five finishes from Taylor Hankins, Paige Andrews (2), and Kaitlynne Elmore. As is often her custom, Hankins won the pole vault at 10’6” for first place points. Andrews ran second (12:13.50) in the grueling 3200-meter run and placed fifth (5:46.55) in the 1600-meter event. Elmore finished third (2:34.24) in the 800-meter run.
Four other GHS girls also competed in the meet. Sophomore Maddie Cash was 17th in the 800-meter run (2:55.74), sophomore Amiela Morgan ran 22nd in the same event (3:12.50), senior Abi Coston placed 20th in the 1600-meter run (7:08.71), and Ashley Koeth placed 7th in the 3200-meter run with a time of 13:29.56.
For the Bulldogs, 14 athletes competed at Russellville, generating five top four finishes by juniors Joshua Johnson and Noah Embrey (2), and sophomores Kent Decoster and Landon Nelms. Johnson placed fourth (2:07.83) in the 800-meter run while Embrey finished first (9:49.91) in the 3200-meter run and third (4:33.33) in the 1600-meter event. Decoster was second (5’11”) in the high jump and Nelms placed fourth (5’10”) in the same field event.
Three Bulldogs competed in the 100-meter dash, including Shane Debar (13.18), sophomore Caden Nelms (13.27), and senior Hunter Kinser (13.78), finishing 23rd, 25th, and 27th, respectively. Michael Hurt performed in two events, finishing 29th in the 200-meter dash (27.82) and 23rd in the 400-meter event (1:02.71). Junior Hudson Trice placed 17th in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.83.
Greenwood’s David Ambriz was 34th in the 1600-meter run (5:48.87) and fellow junior Lucas Wittig was 38th with a time of 6:10.16. Wittig also finished 22nd in the 3200-meter run, completing the course in 13:51.92. Braxton Patterson placed 15th in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 19.28 seconds.
In the pole vault, Greenwood’s Josh Allen had a nice performance, finishing 7th while clearing the bar at a height of 10’6”. Hayden Webb also competed in both the discus throw and the shot put, placing 9th and 15th, respectively. His throw in the discus went 85’3” while heaving the shot 36’2½”.