Fayetteville teams reign supreme in Class 6A
Fayetteville wasn’t in the mood to give much away during Friday’s Class 6A state outdoor track and field championships. The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs preferred the alternative.
Both teams combined to take first-place honors in 11 of their respective events to capture state titles on a brisk day at Scott Field in Little Rock.
The Bulldogs, spearheaded by a breathtaking outing from Isaiah Sategna, finished with 148 points to win their third consecutive crown. Fayetteville also won in 2019 before covid-19 stopped its pursuit of a championship in 2020.
Bentonville, which outpointed the Bulldogs to grab the 6A-West Conference title last week, was second with 141 points. Cabot was third with 59 points while Rogers had 58 points and Bentonville West tallied 56 1/2 points to grab fourth and fifth, respectively.
On the girls’ side, Hannah Estes and Kessiah Bemis led a balanced attack as Fayetteville easily outdistanced fellow 6A-West foe Bentonville for the team championship.
Fayetteville had 191 1/2 points to the Lady Tigers’ 157 1/2 points. Bentonville West earned third place with 68 points.
“You know you’re a great team when you can get points from everywhere,” said Fayetteville Coach Drew Yoakum, whose Lady Bulldogs put an end to Bentonville’s three-year streak of outdoor titles. “From day one, we’ve said for us to win, we’ve got to be a team. And by getting points where we did [Friday], just proves what a great team we were.
“And for both boys and girls to win it, this is huge because you don’t usually get to share it with both groups like we are right now. To win it with both, it means a lot.”
It also means that Friday was the first time both Fayetteville teams won state outdoor titles at the same time since 2016.
But it was Sategna who set the tone for the Bulldogs early by snapping an Arkansas Sports Hall of Famer’s 31-year-old record in the long jump.
Sategna broke the state’s top mark in the event by leaping 24 feet, 8 inches on his very first attempt. The previous record of 24-3 1/2 was set in 1991 by Pine Bluff’s Basil Shabazz.
“Man I’ve heard so much about Basil,” Sategna said. “Everybody talks about him, and for me to break one of his records, it’s just crazy. You’re talking about a guy that’s an all-time great, and for me to do that. … it’s just amazing.”
But the Bulldogs’ all-everything senior was just getting started.
The University of Arkansas football signee blazed to victory in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.20, then turned around in the very next race — the 100-meter dash — and ran an 11.06, which tied for first with Bentonville’s Carson Tucker.
He then polished things off with a winning run of 38.36 in the 300-meter hurdles, which gave the Bulldogs a 24-point lead over Bentonville with four events remaining. Fayetteville did just well enough over those final showcases to capture another state title.
“There was a pretty strong headwind out there,” Sategna said. “I was chasing some records, and I really wanted to break them in the hurdles, too. I didn’t quite get to do that, but the team as a whole got it done. We won that indoor title, and the goal immediate after that was to get that outdoor title.
“It’s just a blessing from God that we were able to do it.”
Fayetteville also had firstplace finishes from Brooks Young in the shot put, Cooper Williams in the high jump and Hunter Kemp in the 800.
Estes had the top slots in both the pole vault and 100-meter hurdles, where she won with a time of 14.77. Bemis won the 300-meter hurdles and was second in the long jump, triple jump, 100 meters and 400 meters. Aubrey Skinner also won the discus with a throw of 112-7 for the Lady Bulldogs.
“Really in the end, it’s a team effort,” Yoakum explained. “That’s what we talked about at the first of the year. We’ve all got to come together and do our part. Hudson [Kemp] was out leader in the distance, and Isaiah was our leader with the sprinters.
“And our girls, Kessiah had a big day with everything she did. Hannah was huge, and Carson Wasemiller, too, came through in the 1,600 and 3,200 to help us break up all the points Bentonville had in those distance events.
“Without her help, we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did.”