Hawks enter final stretch in league race

The Blackhawks are down to their last four games of the regular season.

They were scheduled to play Gravette over in west county Tuesday night and this Friday they host Gentry. The Lady Hawks lost both games in their earlier matchups and they are looking to take the No. 2 seed if possible for district play.

The boys whipped the Lions in their first encounter and they lost at Gentry by 2 earlier. Victories this week will go a long way to improve seedings in district play.

The Hawks’ final week includes playing Washington County neighbors Prairie Grove and Farmington. The Hawks lost by a single point to Prairie Grove on the road last time, and they held the state’s No. 1-ranked Farmington Cardinals to a season’s low 38 points in their 38-29 win over Pea Ridge.

Both the boys and girls Hawk squads play excellent defense which give them a chance to defeat any team on any given day.

When the season winds down at Farmington after which seedings will be figured out for the District meet that follows the next week. Four of the nine 4A-1 schools will move on to regional play. The top two seeds will have automatic regional berths with the other seven teams scrambling for the remaining two tickets.

Go Blackhawks!

Winn doing well at Pittsburg

Former Blackhawk track star Blakelee Winn is fitting in well with Pittsburg States women’s track and field team.

The freshman athlete has NCAA qualifying marks in several events and picked up first places competing in home meets the past two week ends. She is well over 19 feet in the long jump and ran the 60-meter dash in 7.56 recently.

Interestingly, she threw the shot put 37’8” recently in a meet, well past her previous best. I would suspect she is prepping for multi-event competition in the near future. The indoor track multi-event for women is the pentathlon, which includes the 60-meter hurdle, 1,000-meter, high jump, long jump and shot put.

Pittsburg State senior Trace Mosby was the silver medalist in last year’s NCAA indoor pentathlon nationals. Winn’s marks to date in the 60-meter hurdle, shot and long jump makes her a candidate to do well nationally in that event.

This weekend, Winn and the Lady Gorillas are to travel north to Marysville, Mo., for the Northwest University Indoor Invitational. After that, they will be home for the Pitt State Classic Indoor Championships with teams from seven states likely in attendance on Feb. 12.

Pittsburg State is in the MIAA Conference, which has their conference championship two weeks after the Pitt Classic. The MIAA was formed in 1912, and the letters stand for the Mid America Intercollegiate

Athletics conference. (Shouldn’t that be MAIA?)

The MIAA has universities and colleges from four states including: Central Missouri (Washburn), Northwest Missouri (Maryville) the two original members of the association, and Central Oklahoma (Oklahoma City), Emporia State (Kansas), Lincoln (Jefferson City, Mo.), Fort Hays (Kansas), Missouri Southern (Joplin), Missouri Western (St.Joseph), Nebraska-Kearney, Northeast Oklahoma (Tahlequah), Washburn (Topeka, Kan.), Newman (Wichita), Rogers State (Claremore, Okla.), and of course Pittsburg State.

Former five-time state track champ Mooneyhan flying in south dakota

Former Blackhawk track star Cassidy Mooneyhan is doing well way up in South Dakota as a pole vaulter. In last week’s Addidas Classic Indoor Championships held at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Mooneyhan reached a personal best of 12’8” to take fifth in the meet.

Mooneyhan owned 4A pole vaulting after winning the 4A outdoor title as a freshman. She won five gold medals, with her senior year meet canceled due to covid protocols. She owns the 4A state indoor and outdoor records at 12’4” and 12’6” respectively. She is a sophomore Coyote who finished seventh in the Summitt League Championship last spring with a 12’4” best mark in 2021. South Dakota University is located in Vermillion. 4a-1 league standings

The current conference standings are:

girls 4a-West division

1. Farmington 8-0

2. Gentry 6-2

3. Pea Ridge 5-3

4. Gravette 5-3

5. Prairie Grove 3-6

4a-1 East division

1. Harrison 5-3

2. Huntsville 2-7

3. Shiloh 1-6

3. Berryville 0-7

Boys

4a-1 West division

1. Farmington 8-0

2. Gravette 3-4

3. Prairie Grove 3-5

3. Pea Ridge 3-5

5. Gentry 2-4

4a-1 East division

1. Berryville 7-1

2. Huntsville 3-3

3. Harrison 2-5

4. Shiloh 2-5

4a-1 Overall record girls

1. Farmington 22-1

2. Gentry 20-2

3. Pea Ridge 14-9

4. Gravette 14-9

5. Prairie Grove 11-8

6. Shiloh 10-11

7. Harrison 8-10

8. Huntsville 7-12

9. Berryville 5-11

Boys

1. Farmington 21-1

2. Berryville 19-4

3. Gravette 13-9

4. Gentry 12-9

5. Huntsville 8-5

6. Harrison 9-11

7. Pea Ridge 9-14

8. Prairie Grove 7-13

9. Shiloh 5-14

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. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@nwadg.com.