Hot Springs, Jessieville tops at Georgia Pacific Senior Relays at Gurdon

GURDON — Hot Springs edged out Jessieville by 6.5 points to win the Georgia Pacific Senior Relays at Gurdon Thursday.

The Trojans tallied 88 points with Jessieville finishing with 81.5, and host Gurdon took third with 68 points. Bismarck finished sixth, Centerpoint 10th, Arkadelphia 14th and Magnet Cove 17th.

The Trojans finished with three wins — Tyrell Lambert in the triple jump with a distance of 45 feet, 2 inches, in the 4x100-meter relay (46.30 seconds) and the 4x200-meter relay (1:37.08). Lambert also took second in the 200-meter dash

(24.43) while Deshawn Roberts took second in the high jump

(6-2) and Blake McLelland was second in the long jump (20-7).

Jessieville finished with just two wins — Lawson Wideman in the 3200-meter run (10:48.68) and Dalton Gamerdinger in the pole vault with a clearance of 11 feet. Dillen Morgan was second in the pole vault (9-6) while Noah Zetts took second in both the 800-meter run (2:19.95) and the 1600-meter run (5:02.95).

Jessieville won the girls side of the meet with 116 points while host Gurdon was second

(109.5) and Bismarck third with

75 points. Centerpoint finished fourth, Arkadelphia eighth, Malvern ninth, Mount Ida 10th, Mountain Pine 12th and Hot Springs 15th.

Juliah Rodgers dominated for the Lady Lions with three individual wins in the 400-meter dash (1:06.31), 800-meter run (2:35.75) and 3200-meter run (12:34.25). Abigale Pickering won the pole vault with a clearance of 8 feet, and the 4x800-meter relay team won with a time of 13:27.14, and Justice Cole was the team’s only second-place finish with a distance of 30-8 in the triple jump.

Ember Hughes was the only win for Bismarck in the

high jump (5-feet), but she also finished second in the long jump (14-8) and the

200-meter dash (28.89). Kelssi Davis was second in the 1600-meter run (6:533.04).

Marlee Bright picked up the highpoint award at the meet with three wins in the 200-meter dash (28.07), long jump

(15-6) and discus (82-1), a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash (13.61), third in the triple jump (30-2) and sixth in the shot put (25-0).

GAC NAMES WEEKLY TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES

RUSSELLVILLE — The Great American Conference named Oklahoma Baptist’s Shirvante Knauls and Jax Holland as the league’s men’s track and field athletes, respectively, and teammate Tesa Potter and Southern Arkansas’ Marian Duncan as the women’s honorees.

Knauls finished third in the 400-meter dash at the North Texas Classic with a time of 48.73 seconds and competed on the Bison’s 400- and 1600-meter relay teams that earned NCAA Division II Provisional times. Holland was second in the long jump (7.01 meters) becoming the first in the GAC to clear 7 meters and was also on the 400- and 1600-meter relay teams.

Potter won the 1500-meter run (4:41.87) while competing against multiple Division I schools and beating Southern Methodist’s Leoni Mierswa by 2 seconds. Duncan lept 5.11 meters in the long jump (ninth in league) and 11.09 meters in the triple jump (fifth in league) at the Little Rock Invitational.

East Central’s Carson Sandvik was also nominated for a men’s award while Arkansas Tech’s Calli Beshore, Norhtwestern’s Krissie May and Emily Smith and East Central’s Aaliya Redd-Wajid were nominated for the women’s awards.

GAC NAMES WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYER OF WEEK

RUSSELLVILLE — Harding’s Rylie Cox Evans won the GAC’s Women’s Tennis Player of the Week honor after the Lady Bisons picked up their sixth-straight win.

Evans won her 50th singles match, going 3-0 in the No. 1 position. She helped the Lady Bison secure at least a share of the GAC regular-season title as she partnered with Emily Carpenter for a doubles win and defeated Zulay Casteneda in straight sets.

Others nominated for the award were Henderson State’s Mulan Kamoe and SAU’s Lena Milosevic.

GAC NAMES FINAL GOLFERS OF WEEK

RUSSELLVILLE — SAU’s Kade Johnson won the men’s award while Arkansas Tech’s Jacquline Klemm earned the women’s Golfer of the Week award.

Johnson finished second at the Northeastern State Golf Classic with rounds of 2-under 69, 4-under 67 and even par 71 to tie Rogers State’s Luke Palmowski, losing in the playoff. The Muleriders finished fourth and defeated three top-40 teams.

Klemm earned her sixth career weekly honor with a six-stroke win at the Central Region Preview with rounds of 5-under 67 and 5-over 77 for even par. The Golden Suns won the event by 13 shots, beating out seven top-50 teams.

Others nominated for the men’s award included HSU’s Mitchell Ford, SEOSU’s Jordan Holifield and Oklahoma Baptist’s Payton Posada. HSU’s Allie Bianchi and Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Mikaela Rindermann were nominated for the women’s award.