Hawks to bring track season to a close at the UofA
The Blackhawk track and field 2019 season will draw to a close with the competition at Fayetteville High School in the annual Decathlon and Heptathlon.
The multi-event competition will have all six Arkansas classifications (6A, 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A) combined into one large competition with the boys competing in a 10-event decathlon with the girls battling it out in a seven-event heptathlon.
The meet will get underway Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. with the competition to conclude beginning 9 a.m. Thursday. Medals for the Top 10 finishers in both venues will be awarded.
In Friday’s events, the boys will compete in the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, then 400-meter dash. The girls will see competition in the 100-meter hurdles, long jump, discus and 200-meter dash. On the final day, the boys will compete in the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, triple jump and 1,500-meter run with the girls doing the high jump, shot put and then the 800-meter run.
While the athletes will be competing against the other entrants, the order of finish has nothing to do with their final placement. Each event will be scored on a chart which awards points based on the mark or time. Each athlete will receive a point evaluation in each event competed in. It is possible to win the gold medal in the overall event without winning any single event in the competition. Scoring charts are available on the Arkansas Activities Association website.
Shelby Dunlap was the top Pea Ridge finisher last year, winding up in 19th place among the 81 competitors in 2018. Her score of 3,438 was only 221 points behind the 10th place medalist from a year ago. No Pea Ridge athlete has ever medaled in this particular track and field competition.
Blakelee Winn and Cassidy Mooneyhan are tentatively set to compete for the girls this week in Fayetteville with one of boys being considered for the boys competition.
Spring football is here; 5A closing in
Anyone driving by the stadium lately has observed a number of football players working out on the field. No, it was not a mirage, only the 2019 football team getting in their state allotted time to complete spring drills for the fall football campaign.
Long a yearly event with universities and a few southern states, more and more activities associations have been adding a spring football opportunity for coaches to try and come up with what they will need player wise heading into the fall football season.
Recently, the Blackhawk faithful learned that the local gridders will be taking their talents to the 5A classification beginning in the 2020-2021 school term. It is an eventuality long predicted with the steady growth of the local community.
The move will only effect football, with all other sports set to compete in 4A classifications in all other sports.
With Pea Ridge high school enrollment count of last fall reaching 528, the school is now ranked the 56th biggest one in the state, making it the seventh smallest school in the 32team classification. That’s up from our enrollment of 456 and a 69th ranking of two years ago.
Pea Ridge ranks as the ninth biggest school in the 4A classification for all other sports. They are 160 students away from the smallest public school in 5A which is White Hall High School with 684 students. Pea Ridge may well be 5A in all sports eventually but that day is probably a few years off.
Benton County schools have grown exponentially in the past few years. Few people realize that Pea Ridge High School today is much bigger than Bentonvile High School was in the 1970s. Our proximity to Bentonville/ Rogers, the adoption of the school choice, the the school’s excellent reputation in academia as well as sports has worked as a magnet drawing many nice people to the area.
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Editor’s note: John McGee, an award-winning columnist, sports writer and art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@nwadg.com.