El Dorado eager to compete in Meet of Champions
The Meet of Champions annually hosts only the elite track and field athletes in the state. So, it’s rare that a school has to use a bus to transport athletes to the event.
El Dorado, which swept boys and girls titles in the 5A State Meet, qualified athletes for an amazing 32 events in the Meet of Champs, which will be held Wednesday in Russellville.
“We’re very excited about the number of entries we got in,” said El Dorado girls’ coach
John Koonce. “Obviously, it speaks to the level of success we had at the state meet. The Meet of Champs is all about the athlete. At the state meet, you’re trying to maximize your athletes out to get as many points as you can to win. You’ll do some moving around to maximize points in some areas. In the Meet of Champs, it’s all about the athlete. We told our kids who qualified in multiple events there’s no sense in trying to do every event you qualified in. Do your favorite events and get the maximum out of that event.”
El Dorado’s boys qualified in 15 individual events and one relay. The Lady Wildcats had 13 individual entries and three relays.
El Dorado boys’ coach DeAnthony Curtis said the Meet of Champs is icing on the cake for the athletes.
“I’m going to let the kids choose what they want to do,” Curtis said. “This is my first time going to Meet of Champs. I want to see what it’s all about. A lot of people don’t go. Last year our 4x200 got invited but none of them wanted to go. This year, they’re seniors now. They want to go. To be honest, we want to try to run the fastest time. We’re going to try to beat the state record.”
Some of the favorites for El Dorado include the boys’ 4x200 and the girls’ 4x100 and 4x200.
“We plan on competing with our relays,” said Koonce. “Both the 4x100 and 4x200 are among the best in the state. There are a couple in the classification above us that are right about the same times as us. It should be a fun race.”