Callahan poised for hurdles sweep

If things go Caden Callahan’s way, he will become a dual state hurdles champion when the Class 3A state meet takes place Tuesday at Lincoln.

The West Fork senior sports the best times among Class 3A hurdlers so far this season. Callahan ran the 110-meter hurdles in a wind-aided 15.11 seconds and ran the 300 hurdles in 39.97 seconds during the McDonald’s Relays in Fort Smith.

What makes the feat stand out more is Callahan, who didn’t start the hurdles until last season, is he’s able to do this well without practicing on a track most of the time.

“That’s our hope,” West Fork coach Tiffany Surber said. “The great thing with him is that he is really consistent between the prelims and the finals. He’s somebody that can run a very even time, where last year I saw a lot of those other boys get slower throughout the day.

“As long as he doesn’t mess up on his technique or fall. He’s been very consistent getting over them, and he’s been able to get faster and better with his technique. He’s really worked hard to get here.”

The hurdles will be just part of Callahan’s day, but his other events are still up in the air. He has qualified for the state meet in the 100, the 200 and the pole vault after his performances in the 3A-1 Conference meet.

“Our boys qualified for the 4x400 relay, and he might drop one of his sprint races to run in the 4x400,” Surber said. “He’s been begging me to run in the 4x800 relay — and he loves the 800 — but I don’t want him to hurt his chances in the 110 and 300 hurdles.”

Callahan already has made plans to compete in the Arkansas high school boys decathlon later this month. He competed in that event last year and finished 13th, and Surber said a top-10 finish in possible this spring.