Blackhawks rate well in state track rankings
A month into the 2019 outdoor track season, the Blackhawk track and field program is making great progress.
The girls team has 18 listings in the Top Eight per event, five of which lead the pack. Blakelee Winn leads the way in the 200-meter dash (26.57) and 100-meter hurdles (16.30), Cassidy Mooneyhan has a big lead in the pole vault (12’0”) and the ’Hawks’ 4x100-meter and 4x400meter relays rank No. 1.
The boys team has 13 listings, leading in three of them. Connor Escajeda is far ahead of the field at this point in the 400-meter (50.48) and the 4x400-meter (4:33.69) and the 4x800-meter (8:42.18) are tops in those categories.
If these rankings hold at the state meet, the girls would have 112 points with the boys having 66. The Pea Ridge girls are early favorites to win the 4A crown but the boys points are splintered with no team really standing out from the top four or five.
At present, the girls have prequalified in five individual events as well as all three relays. The boys squad has pre-qualified in four individual events along with two relay teams.
4A Girls state rankings 100-meter Dash State Qualifying Mark 12.75
1. Tyla Berry, Magnolia
4. Blakelee Winn, Pea Ridge
200-meter Dash State Qualifying Mark 26.45
1. Blakelee Winn, Pea Ridge
400-meter Dash State Qualifying Mark 62.42
1. Radasia Turner, Magnolia
4. Blakelee Winn, Pea Ridge
1,600-meter run State Qualifying Mark 5:44.27
1. Bekah Bostian, Prairie Grove 5:37.0
3. Harmony Reynolds, Pea Ridge 5:49.71
3,200-meter run State Qualifying Mark 12:48.64
1. Bekah Bostian, Prairie Grove 12:17.27
8. Harmony Reynolds, Pea Ridge 13:07.94
100-meter hurdles State Qualifying Mark 16.45
1. Blakelee Winn, Pea Ridge
3. Shelby Dunlap, Pea Ridge
300-meter hurdles State Qualifying Mark 49.22
1. Tai’Sheka Porchia, Camden
2. Blakelee Winn, Pea Ridge
4. Shelby Dunlap, Pea Ridge 12.88 12.99 26.57 63.64 65.31 16.30 16.77 48.00 48.24 48.83 1. Pea Ridge High School
4x400-meter relay State Qualifying Mark 4:21.90
1. Pea Ridge High School
4x800-meter relay State Qualifying Mark 10:49.87
1. DeQueen High School
2. Pea Ridge High School
Discus State Qualifying Mark 101-7
1. Tai”Sheka Porshia, Camden
5. Meredith Mitchell, Pea Ridge
High Jump State Qualifying Mark 5-1
1. Jaylynn Hampton, Crossett
2. Kynley Burton Pea Ridge
Long Jump State Qualifying Mark 17-0
1. Shuntia Hunter, Magnolia
2. Blakelee Winn, Pea Ridge
7. Jamison Toms, Pea Ridge
Triple Jump State Qualifying Mark 34-5
1. Taylor Griffin, Batesville
4. Shelby Dunlap, Pea Ridge 10:28.93 10:48.96
Pole Vault State Qualifying Mark - 8-9
1. Cassidy Mooneyhan, Pea Ridge 50.82 4:20.82 105-5 95-5 5-3 5-0 17-1 16-11 15-11 36-2 34-5 12-0
4A Boys state rankings 100-meter Dash State Qualifying Mark 11.26
1. Muldrow Nikorean, Hope
6. Connor Escajeda, Pea Ridge
400 Dash
1. Connor Escajeda, Pea Ridge
3. Shaed Cates, Pea Ridge
5. Josiah Small, Pea Ridge
6. Cooper Elliott, Pea Ridge 0.86. 11.20
State Qualifying Mark 51.26
50.48 53.00 53.62 54.16
800-meter run State Qualifying Mark 2:06.93
1. Hector Hernandez, DeQueen
2. Shaed Cates, Pea Ridge
8. Josiah Small, Pea Ridge
110-meter hurdles State Qualifying Mark 16.02
1. Kavion Summerville, Forrest City 14.90
6. Justin Koon, Pea Ridge 16.24
300-meter Hurdles State Qualifying Mark 41.86
1. Stephen Lane, Forrest City
8. Justin Koon, Pea Ridge
4x100-meter relay State Qualifying Mark 44.05
1. Hope High School
7. Pea Ridge High School
4x400 Relay State Qualifying Mark 3:34.98
1. Pea Ridge High School
4x800-meter Relay State Qualifying Mark 8:46.25
1. Pea Ridge High School
Pole Vault 12’10”
State Qualifying Mark
1. Kalob Carpenter, Nashville Britton Gage, Ozark
4. Zach Woods, Pea Ridge
It is all in the family
1:59.85 2:05.30 2:11.38 41.40 43.38 43.49 44.75 3:33.69 8:42.18 13’6” 13’6” 13’0”
Having been heavily involved in track an field since 1966, I have seen a lot of things happen over the intervening 53 seasons.
One of those things is observing what it takes to make a track champion. Talent is a big thing, of course, but talent won’t get all that far without proper support and direction provided the individual athlete.
Events such as the 100-meter can be a natural thing, with coaching being able to hone an athlete’s skills to a finer point, but if a male athlete comes into high school track with a 14.0 personal best, the odds are that he won’t be challenging for a state title in that event regardless of the coaching.
Other events take more time to learn with good coaching a prerequisite for maximum success. Pole vaulting, for example, is probably the most time consuming, technically demanding event there is.
I tried it out when I was a seventh-grader. I learned early on, that it wasn’t for me. Flying through the air upside down did not appeal to me in the least. Fortunately for me, I had talents in other areas.
Junior Cassidy Mooneyhan hit the big time in pole vaulting almost immediately, winning a 4A state title as a freshman. She now owns the indoor state mark of 12feet 6-inches and is well over the