Lady Panthers win another meet
PEARCY – The Benton Lady Panthers track and field team has gotten used to winning this season. The Lady Panthers would take their third straight track and field meet, and fifth total this year, this past Thursday at the Lake Hamilton Invitational in Pearcy, winning by over 30 points, while the Benton boys would take third.
Host Lake Hamilton won the boys side, putting up 146 points, while Vilonia (135), Benton (100), El Dorado
(78) and Lakeside (64.50) rounded out the top five.
The Lady Panthers again won with ease with their 164.50 points 35.5 points better than runner-up El Dorado’s 129. Lake Hamilton (123), Vilonia (112.50) and Lakeside (61) rounded out the top five.
Benton senior Hannah Brewer picked up the Lady Panthers initial first-place finish in the long jump, with her distance of 16-11.5 over 8 feet better than the runnerup. Fellow senior Annette Morales would take sixth in a personal-record jump of 15-6.5.
Lady Panther senior Emma Selph also got a win in the triple jump, nabbing the top spot and 10 points with a distance of 34-8. Morales was third with a 32-9.
It was Selph and Brewer taking 1-2 in the 400m dash, with Selph winning in 1:02.33 and Brewer right behind
with a 1:02.94. Jones was fifth in 1:05.24.
Benton senior Sakari Faulkner did what she has done all year long for the most part – sweep the throwing events. Faulkner took the top spot in the shot put with a toss of 35-6 while also setting a PR in the discus with a throw of 107-8.5, 5.5 feet better than her previous PR. Junior Mckenzie Bowman wasn’t far behind in the discus, taking second with a 104-5.
Benton senior Dellesha Jones also took the top spot in the 100-meter dash, winning in a time of 12.93. Brewer would take fourth in 13.30.
Jones was just 0.15 seconds from first place in the 200, settling for runner-up in 26.71, with Brewer fourth in 27.66.
Selph set a PR in the 3,200m run, bettering her previous PR by 20 seconds, to take second in 12:27.69. Melina West was fourth in 13:23.64.
The Benton quartet of West, Morgan Calaway,
Anna Dixon and Abigail Mcelhaney would set a PR of 11:08.35 and took second in the 4x800-meter relay
Benton senior Payton Fleeman took third in the pole vault with a judged vault of 10-6, just two inches away from the her school record of 10-8.
The 4x200m relay team of Stephanie Love, Lola Smith, Katelynn Dockery and Morales took third in 1:57.92.
Selph took fifth in the 800 in a time of 2:35.93, with Mcelhaney sixth in a PR of 2:36.99.
BOYS
The Benton 4x200m relay team took the top spot in a time of 1:32.91, less than a second from a PR, and also less than a second from runner-up Lakeside.
Benton senior Jaylen Bell took second in the high jump, jumping a height of
6-2. Bell would also take third in the triple jump with a PR distance of 40-5.
Kyree Watkins and
Walker Davis finished 2-3 in the shot put, with Watkins tossing it 46-1.5 and Davis 43-9.5, which was good for a PR.
In the discus, Garrett Davis set a PR of 133-1.5, 5 feet better than his previous, for the third spot, while Beau Wright also set a PR of 126-6 for fourth place.
Omari Coats would take third in the 100 in a time of 11.67, with Chris Bronson was just a second off the first-place pace, taking third in the 200 in a time of 23.27.
Trevor Standridge would take fourth in the long jump with a distance of 19-1, while Bell was seventh in 18-1.
Benton senior Russ Hooks was fifth in the 400 in a time of 52.96, good for a PR.
Gage Epperson was sixth in the 800 in a time of 2:10.62, which was also good for a PR.
Benton is idle until the 5A Central Conference Tournament on Thursday, April 29, in Beebe.