State champion girls track team set to defend title
Coach Heather Wade’s 2018 4A State Indoor Champion Blackhawk track team will attempt to defend their title in the newly upgraded 4A classification Friday in the Tyson Indoor Center at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Events will begin at 10:45 a.m. with the boys and girls pole vault with the 4x800 relay set to go off at 11 a.m. The 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash preliminaries will follow the relay with the boys and girls triple jumps, long jumps and shot put to go into action at the same time. After the 60-meter dash and hurdles are complete, the high jump competition will begin.
Twenty minutes after the conclusion of all field events, the remaining running events will take place. The order will be the 1,600-, 400-, 800-, 200- and 3,200-meter runs.
Pea Ridge won the girls team title 86-67 over the pre-meet favorite Crossett Eagles in the 2018 contest. Third-place Pocahontas was a distant third place with 39 points.
The boys team led by coach Asa Poteete came within a half-hair of taking a second place team trophy in the boys division in 2018. Heber Springs won the very competitive meet with 56 points with Ashdown taking second with 45.5, a half-point ahead of third place Pea Ridge with 45. In a photo finish in the 60-meter hurdles, an Ashdown runner edged a Pea Ridge athlete by one thousandth of a second. That difference gave Ashdown the extra point in winning the runner-up award.
This year has seen 16 formerly 5A schools descend down into the 4A class which will make for a much tougher meet. Since the 3A, 2A and 1A classes compete with the 4A in indoor track, the 4A class just got bigger, with the larger division 6A-5A indoor meet on Saturday much smaller. The big school division shrank from 64 to 48 teams, with the 4A and under class expanding to 75 teams competing.
With the larger crowd expected to be on hand Friday morning, seating will be at a premium, so fans should get there early.
Hardwood ’Hawks coming to end of regular season
We are down to the last two weeks of the regular season and while the Blackhawk boys and girls basketball teams slipped to second place, they are still in the hunt for a divisional title.
The girls’ team is a game back of 4A-1 West Division leading Farmington, whom they were to play Tuesday. If the Lady ’Hawks won Tuesday, they should jump back on top with the Cardinals with three games left on the schedule to sort things out. The boys are two games back of the Cards, one back if they won Tuesday.
Pea Ridge has a tough game at Huntsville coming up on Feb. 5 while the Cardinals will host Harrison in their season finale on Feb. 8. Farmington has games with Gravette and Gentry in between, with the ’Hawks hosting Gravette for the season ender. Pea Ridge plays Prairie Grove Friday before going to Huntsville.
The 4A-1 District toughened considerably with the inclusion of former 5A teams Harrison, Huntsville and Farmington into the league. Even with the much tougher schedule compared with last year, the ’Hawks have a shot to win more league titles.
The boys and girls varsity players have amassed a combined record of 37-9, pretty good stats for as tough of a schedule they have played this season.
4A-1 District Standings West Division Girls
1. Farmington
1. Pea Ridge
3. Gravette
4. Gentry
5. Prairie Grove
East Division Girls
1. Berryville
2. Harrison
3. Huntsville
4. Shiloh 7-1 6-2 4-4 1-8 0-8
West Division Boys
1.Farmington
2. Pea Ridge
3. Prairie Grove
4. Gravette
5. Gentry
East Division Boys
1. Huntsville
2. Harrison
3. Berryville
4. Shiloh
MaxPreps 4A Basketball polls Jan. 24, 2019 North Region Girls Top Eight Teams
1. Berryville
2. Farmington
3. Pea Ridge
4. Harrison
5. Clarksville
6. Morrilton
7. Pottsville
8. Gravette
North Region Boys Top Eight Boys teams
1. Pottsville
2. Harrison
3. Pea Ridge
4. Farmington
5. Dardanelle
6. Morillton
7. Huntsville
8. Ozark 8-0 6-2 3-5 3-6 1-9 21-1 17-4 19-4 17-4 19-5 15-5 13-7 11-8 17-4 16-5 18-5 15-6 18-4 12-9 14-7 12-8
MaxPreps State 4A Overall Girls Poll Jan. 24, 2019
1. Berryville
2. Batesville
3. Farmington
4. Pea Ridge
5. Harrison
6. Brookland
7. Clarksville
8. Star City
9. DeQueen
10. Highland
11. Morrilton
12. Pottsville
13. Camden
14. Pulaski
15. Warren
16. Stuttgart
17. eStem
18. Gravette
19. Pocahontas
20. Bauxite
21. Nashville
22. Heber Springs
23. Ozark
24. Valley View
25. Mena
26. Dardanelle
27. Huntsville
28. Magnolia
29. Prairie Grove
30. Monticello
31. Gentry
32. Forrest City
33. McClellan 21-1 19-2 17-4 19-4 17-4 13-5 19-5 17-4 18-2 15-7 15-5 13-7 17-3 11-6 9-4 14-7 15-7 11-8 13-10 16-6 11-5 10-9 10-12 8-12 11-8 8-13 7-14 9-8 5-11 8-9 8-11 7-11 7-8