L-E, Tigers host track meets

TEXARKANA, Texas — Liberty-eylau will host the annual Paul Parr Relays and the Tigers will hold the Texas High Invitational track and field meets today in Texarkana.

Six teams, including three locals, will compete in the Parr Relays at L-E’S Harris Field.

Arkansas High, Pleasant Grove and Liberty-eylau will participate with Atlanta, Mount Vernon and Paris in the Parr Relays.

Field events will begin at 12:30 p.m., followed by the 3,200 meters at 1.

The running finals at set to begin at 4.

Linden-kildare, Longview and Jefferson will compete against the host Tigers in Texas High Invitational.

The field events and 3,200 meets will start at 2:30 p.m., with the running finals set for 4:15.

“This I a small-scale district prep meet. We’ll probably win it, but we’re just trying to have a final tuneup for the district meet next week in Pine Tree,” said Texas High track coach Astin Greer.

The top two finishers from the boys division of the Parr Relays are back. Atlanta, a Class 3A power, edged Pleasant Grove, 144-141, in last year’s event.

Paris is the girls defending champion having scored 153 points. Atlanta nipped Liberty-eylau, 123-122, for second.

Pleasant Grove boys are coming off an impressive second-place finish in last week’s meet at Hallsville.

“Finishing near the top shows the investment we have made in track and field and that we have really talented athletes and coaches,” said Pleasant Grove track coach Jonathan Darby. “Our track program has seen tremendous growth and improved success over the last couple

of years.”

Coach Darby says the Hawks’ athletic director Josh Gibson has invested more time

and resources into the track program.

“This year we completely changed our off-season and track running program,” Darby said. “We invested money into a new timing system that allows us to calculate how fast our kids can run in miles per hour (mph).

“We designed and purchased wristbands to give to kids when they reached certain mph goals. The wristbands have our Core Values and Standards printed on them.“

Pleasant Grove’s boys won their first district track championship last year. They are considered one of the favorites heading into the District 15-4A meet Tuesday and Wednesday at Paris High School.

Texas High will compete in the District 15-5A meet Wednesday and Thursday at Pine Tree In Longview.