Track teams rack up high scores at Airedale Relays

The Siloam Springs track teams made the most out of last week, despite their annual home Panther Relays being canceled last Thursday because of weather.

A handful of Panthers and Lady Panthers, in a last minute decision, participated in the Leonard Daniel Memorial Airedale Relays at Airedale Stadium in Alma, and both teams had some highlight performances.

The Siloam Springs boys placed third overall, including a meet high-point performance from junior Primo Agbehi and runner-up finish for junior Murphy Perkins.

The Lady Panthers finished second overall and sophomore Brooke Henderson placed second in the high point marks, while senior Hadlee Hollenback tied for third. Also for the Lady Panthers, senior Allika Pearson set a school record in the 1,600-meter (mile) run.

Panthers

Class 7A Van Buren won the boys meet with 94 points, while Russellville was second with 87 followed by Siloam Springs in third with 81. Alma was fourth at 79.5 with Greenwood 74, Waldron 60, Clarksville 54, Mansfield 44, Ozark 31, Magazine 28.5 and Haas Hall 9.

“I was very happy with our overall performance (Friday),” said Siloam Springs head boys coach Chuck Jones. “To only take seven boys and come close to winning the meet, I couldn’t be more pleased with their effort.”

Agbehi scored 36.5 points for the Panthers, while Perkins was at 23.5, combining for 60 points.

“Primo Agbehi and Murphy Perkins had a tremendous day,” Jones said.

The Panthers’ sprint relay team of Jacob Wakefield, Kaiden Thrailkill, Perkins and Agbehi placed first in the 4x100-meter relay and scored 10 points at 44.57 seconds.

“The boys sprint relay dropped about threefourths of a second of our best time to take first,” Jones said. “The ‘Jump Squad’ dominated the podium in the long jump, triple jump and high jump.”

Agbehi scored 10 points in the long jump at 20 feet, 6 inches, while Perkins was second at 19-8.

Wakefield and Perkins tied for second place in the high jump at 5-10, with each scoring seven points.

Agbehi placed second in the triple jump at 40-8.5 and scored eight points.

Agbehi scored eight points in the 100-meter dash with a second-place finish of 11.52, while Perkins was eighth at 11.80 and scored one point. Kaiden Thrailkill placed 12th at 11.92.

Agbehi scored eight more points in the 200 meters at 23.70, while Perkins scooted up to fourth place at 24.18 and scored five points. Jacob Wakefield was 13th at 24.72.

Thrailkill placed fifth and scored four points in the 300-meter hurdles at 47.49.

Thrailkill finished fifth in the shot put at 39-6.5 and scored five points, while Corbin Collins was 10th at 36-7.

Collins placed 19th in the discus at 85-6.

Adam Kennedy placed eighth and scored a point in the 1,600-meter run at 5:35.37 while Ransom Van Asche was 12th at 5:45.74.

Kennedy placed 10th in the 800-meter run at 2:23.80, while Van Asche was 16th at 2:32.28.

Lady Panthers

Russellville won the girls meet with 109 points, just three points ahead of Siloam Springs, which finished in second place with 106 points.

“Almost everyone saw improvements,” said head girls coach Sharon Jones. “They worked over spring break and probably got a little rest this week with home meets and bad weather. Then you give them a pretty day and a pressure meet, they did really well.”

Alma was third at 91 points, followed by Van Buren 87, Ozark 70, Mansfield 40, Poteau (Okla.) 39, Greenwood 37, Magazine 31, Clarksville 19 and Union Christian Academy 6.

Henderson scored 27 points to finish second in the high point standings behind Van Buren’s Taylar Christensen, who had 28.

Hollenback tied with Kayleigh Shankle of Poteau for third place with 24 points.

Henderson placed first in the long jump at 15-5.5 and scored 10 points.

Henderson also placed first in the triple jump at 31-5.5 and scored 10 points, while Rebekah Rodgers was fourth and scored five points at 28-5.5.

Hollenback placed second and scored eight points in the 100-meter dash at 13.31, while Henderson was sixth at 14.07.

Hollenback also placed second in the 200 meters with a time of 29.13 and scored eight more points, while Henderson was fifth and scored four points at 30.37. Kaya Mason was 16th at 35.62.

Candy Dubon placed third and scored six points in the 400-meter dash at 1:09.44, while Elyse Perdue was fourth at 1:10.42 and scored five points.

Chloe McGooden took third in the 800-meter run and scored six points at 2:37.83, while Emma Hulbert was fourth and scored five points at 2:41.75.

Pearson finished first and scored 10 points in the 1,600-meter run with a school record time of 5:32.34. McGooden placed 10th at 6:36.40.

“That’s been her big goal for this year,” Sharon Jones said. “We switched up the 4x800 and let her (Pearson) focus on that race. It paid off for her.”

Rebekah Rodgers took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles at 19.07 and scored four points.

Hollenback placed second in the 300-meter hurdles at 50.35 and scored eight points, while Rodgers was third at 51.96 and scored six points.

“Rebekah Rodgers and Hadlee both showed great improvement in the hurdles,” Sharon Jones said.

The girls 4x800-meter relay team of Perdue, Dubon, Hulbert and McGooden scored eight points and finished second with a time of 10:50.27.