Tracksters continue domination of 4A competition
The Lady Blackhawk track and field program led by veteran coach Heather Wade won their seventh state track championship in a row, taking their fourth straight indoor state title relying heavily on balanced scoring and depth. Meanwhile, the boys under Jason Upton have won two state titles in a row, running away with their title in the recent Indoor Championships.
Like the girls, the boys won the meet with a great blend of talent, scoring well in the field events, the individual running events and the relay events. The boys are led by multi-state gold medalist Patrick Elliott who has become arguably the best male track athlete the Ridge has ever produced.
The girls lost a ton of points this year with the graduation of four-year All-State Blakelee Winn who is now helping Pittsburg State win championships in Kansas. The team is now led by senior Kamree Dye who won an individual state title indoors and was high scorer for the 2022 state title team. The LadyHawks picked up where they left off in 2020 last week, winning another state championship.
The last time I checked the AAA website, a site for the 4A State Championships has not been chosen yet. I hope it is closer than last season. Meanwhile, I will monitor the meets that will be coming up this season, as there will be many.
note about Winn
Blakelee Winn’s second place in the NCAA Division II MIAA conference pentathlon, would have placed her ninth in the SEC, the greatest track and field conference in the United States. Her total was 3,850 was just a few points off Arkansas’ best finisher in the SEC, junior Sara Van Akin who was eighth.
After the nationals conclude this weekend up at Pittsburg, Winn will begin competing in the heptathlon for the outdoor season. The indoor heptathlon was the 60-meter hurdles, shot put, the long jump, the high jump, and the 800-meters. Outdoors, the hurdle event will be the 100-meter hurdles, and the two added events will be the 200-meters and the javelin.
Javelin throwing favors the taller, quicker athlete. Throwing the shot is mostly about strength, with technique also important. In javelin throwing, it is mostly about speed and technique though the stronger you are, the higher the potential.
Winn does her final pentathlon in 2022 this Saturday morning in Pittsburg, Kan.
4a-1 Teams mixing it up at state
The 4A-1 West girls’ last place divisional team is still shocking as they played into the state semi-final round last Monday. Prairie Grove upset Star City 4836, then upset Highland 4744 to reach the semifinals where they will face archnemesis Farmington.The Cards whipped the tournament host Magnolia 59-44 to earn their spot.
Harrison was eliminated by Wynne 44-36 in the first round, though Gentry got by Bauxite 49-37. Pulaski, the team that eliminated Pea Ridge last year, ended Gentry’s season with a 4737 victory.
The Farmington boys, ranked No. 1 all season, were knocked out in their first game by Blytheville 49-42. Meanwhile, Berryville played in the semifinals Monday against Blytheville as the last team from the 4A-1. Harrison and Shiloh were eliminated earlier, Shiloh by an 70-38 count by Little Rock Mills.
LadyBacks bow out of sEC tourney, men in quarterfinals
The LadyBacks basketball team were knocked out of the SEC tournament in the third round by conference champ South Carolina. Meanwhile, the men were seeded into the quarterfinals by virtue of their Top 4 finish in the conference standings.
No. 12 Missouri plays No. 13 Mississippi Wednesday at 6 p.m. with the winner playing No. 5 LSU Thursday at 2 p.m. The winner of the LSU game will then play Arkansas Friday at 2 p.m. The game of that game will face the survivor of No. 1 Auburn, No. 8 Texas A&M, and No. 9 Florida on Saturday at 1 p.m. Saturday in semifinal action. The winner of Saturday’s game will be in the finals Sunday at 1 p.m. against the survivor of No. 14 Georgia, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 7 South Carolina, No. 10 Mississippi State, No. 6 Alabama, No. 2 Tennessee and No. 3 Kentucky.
The Hogs had a real roller coaster of a ride in Knoxville Saturday. Giving up 50 points in the first half, they came roaring back and had a shot with over a minute to tie the game, but they missed. After getting the ball back, they then turned it over, the Vols scored, and the game was over. They outscored Tennessee by 17 points in the second half, but falling behind by 21 in the first half was a bridge too far.
Still, they will get a good seed in the NCAA tournament while the women will likely be in the NIT. Incidentally, Arkansas guard J.D. Notae was voted onto the 20 players list among NCAA Division I schools, quite an honor.
Baseball hogs having a rough time
The Razorbacks were highly highly rated this year, after having reached the No. 1 position nationally among the polling services. Last year’s team, stumbled in the regionals and never made the final eight.
They have won two of three of their three, threegame sets, but losses to Northern Illinois and Southeastern Louisiana dropped the Diamond Hogs in the polls. They are 7-3 with the other loss to Stanford, one of the nation’s top teams.
Hitting hasn’t been too effective though pitching seems to be a strong point. They started the season ranked No. 2 and they may have dropped out of the Top 10 this week. No matter, the SEC is the best league in the nation and if they get it together during those games, they will be in good shape. They are starting their league schedule by hosting Kentucky in a couple of weeks.
Editor’s note: John McGee can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@nwadg.com.