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Commentary.......Message from the Publishers: ATCA Indoor Recap and Stats Notes from 2/17/01

The Arkansas Track Coaches Association Indoor Meet at Fayetteville on 2/17/01 shows why indoor season is a benefit. With perhaps the best facility in the US, our high school athletes can start the track and field season 6-8 weeks earlier than otherwise given our unpredictable Arkansas weather and go up against solid competition. This is a nice reward for the training that occurs during these winter months. It also is a way to help our athletes improve overall and compete at higher levels of performances.

Let's start with a review of the field events.

The Boys High Jump saw a new season's best by Antwon Hicks of Hot Springs with his leap of 7' 1" to erase his prior season's best mark of 6' 10". Davis of LR Hall jumped 6' 6" to take over the third best jump this year and Parham of Conway cleared 6' 2" to tie for 5th best with Jonathan Whiteman of Rogers who had cleared 6' 4" earlier. The Girls High Jump saw a new leader as Bass of Crossett jumped 5' 4" and s new second best jump as Cornett of Russellville cleared 5' 2".

In the Girls Long Jump, Bass of Crossett leaped 16' 11" to take over the top spot while Rivers of LR Parkview took the second spot at 16' 1". Johnson of Van Buren moved into the top Boys Long Jump spot with a jump of 21' 11" while Antwon Hicks of Hot Springs moved into the 2nd spot with 21' 9.25". Prather of Hot Springs could only manage 20' 11.25" this week but keeps the 3rd spot with 21' 3.25" earlier.

The Girls Triple Jump saw a new leader in Richter of Russellville who sailed 32' 5". Cornett of Russellville jumped 31' 10.5" to move into 2nd followed closely by Horn of Cabot who leapt 31' 9" to move into the 4th spot. Eason of Hot Springs and Adam Yancey of Rogers continued as 1 and 2 in the Boys event with best jumps to date of 42' 3.25' and 42' 1", respectively, even though neither improved this week. Winn of Van Buren moved into the 5th spot with a jump of 41' 4".

Brian Tyler of Crossett bested his earlier leading vault of 14' 0" by clearing a much improved 15' 6" in the Boys Pole Vault. Hombach of Lake Hamilton took over the 2nd spot at 14' 6" while Byrd of Heber Springs once again cleared 14' 0" to hang onto the 3rd spot. Brandi Phyler of Class 2A Centerpoint continued to battle Robin Rahat of Class 5A Fayetteville in the girls event with both clearing 11' 0" for the second consecutive meet.

Last but by no means least, the Boys Shot Put is heating up as Nathan Osbun of Ft. Smith Southside improved on his state leading throw of 51' 4.75" with a heave of 51' 9". Not far behind to take over the 2nd spot was Ramtum of Crossett with a throw of 51' 6". Reynolds of LR McClellan moved into the 4th spot with a throw of 50' 6.5 ". The Girls leader, Gosnell of Russellville, improved from 37' 1" to 39' 3.75" throw. Martin of Crossett took the 3rd spot overall with 36' 10".

Moving on to the sprint events we find some a mixed bag.

Neither the 55 meter dash nor the 55 meter hurdles saw new leaders. Hamilton of Hot Springs still leads in the boys 55m at 6.33 with Simpson of Crossett on top in the girls at 7.35. In fact, neither the Boys nor Girls saw any new Top 5 times in the 55m. Hicks of Hot Springs is still on top in the 55m hurdles for the boys with 7.27 as he could only manage 7.59 this week. Moody of Hot Springs hung on for the lead in the girls hurdles with her previous best of 8.82 but she got some new company this week as Bass of Crossett took the 2nd spot at 8.92.

The Boys 200 meter dash saw Hamilton of Hot Springs move into the top spot with a speedy 21.96 to easily lead the 2nd spot held by teammate Eason at 22.89. In the Girls event, Adams of Ft. Smith Southside held onto the top time set earlier at 26.96 while Martin of Hot Springs took over 2nd at 27.59 followed closely by Williams of Crossett at 27.74.

There were no new leaders in the 400 meter dash for either the Boys or Girls but some new faces showed up in the Top 5. While Ferrell of Springdale still leads in the Girls event at 61.47, Brass of Crossett grabbed the 2nd spot with 62.41 with Brosch of Cabot close behind at 62.75. On the Boys side, Hamilton of Hot Springs held onto the top time with his earlier 50.40 while teammate Eason edged closer into 2nd at 50.58 which was improved over his earlier 50.96.

In the 4x400 relay, the Hot Springs boys ran a terrific time of 3:20.7 ( that's 50.17 per 400!) to retain their top spot and improve 2.6 seconds from their prior 3:23.3 clocking. Russellville improved slightly to 3:33.6 to move into the 4th spot overall and the fastest in 5A. Cabot trails the Cyclones closely in 5th with 3:34.3. Bryant took the Girls top spot with 4:21.6 (65.4 per 400) which was better than their prior mark of 4:24. Russellville improved greatly over their earlier 4:31.6 to grab the 2nd spot at 4:22.0.

The day would not be complete without a rundown of the distance races.

If you followed ArkansasTrackStats last fall for the cross-country season you would know there are some fine runners and teams that should do some excellent running in track season. Except for the 1600 meter run which has been improving, the other three distance races have seen some excellent early times. The milers will no doubt come along at State Meets as they get there races settled as to who is running which event.

The 4x800 relay saw two super early times this weekend as the Bryant Girls nailed down the top spot they already held with a swift 10:01 clocking (2:30.25 per 800) improved greatly from their previous 10:18.4. The Russellville Boys continued to shine as they dropped their prior best of 8:15.3 down to 8:06.0 (2:01.5 per 800) to keep a strong hold on the top spot. Fayetteville girls moved into the 2nd spot with a fine 10:17 (down from 10:50) while Russellville took the 4th spot at 10:45.5 and Rogers grabbed the 5th at 10:37.5. Cabot edged out Rogers in the Boys race to take the 3rd spot at 8:25.5 with the Mounties close behind at 8:26.2.

In the 1600 meter run, the girls saw some new faces as Parker of Greenwood ran 5:36.3 to take over the top spot from Liz Santos of Rogers who ran the 800. Santos still holds third at 5:40.0 while Megan Kale, best known as a 400m and 800m races ran a nice 5:39.2 to take over the 2nd spot. While Brandon Hodges of Hot Springs and Scott Swearengen of Rogers still hold the top two spots in the boy event, Eric Brock of Russellville moved into the Top 5 with a 4:34.0 which was good enough for 5th best.

The 3200 meter run saw another fast time as Scott Swearengen of Rogers improved his state-leading best from 9:57 to 9:37.9, an excellent early time. Chris Behrens of Cabot took the 2nd spot at 9:43.0 while Logan Thomas of Mt. Home took over 3rd at 9:43.7. Jake Conley of Rogers ran a nice 9:48.8 for the 4th best time overall. In the Girls race Amanda Owensby of Bentonville took over the top spot with a 12:16.8 clocking as Candace James of Bryant raced into 2nd at 12:19. Dawn Crawford of Mt. Home showed her versatility with a 3rd best of 12:21. Dianne Miller of Pea Ridge and Cassie Grimes of Rogers claimed the 4th and 5th best times at 12:34.

The 800 meter run was a highlight of the day. In the Girls race Chelsie Mock of Jessieville continued to lead the state with a fast 2:21.6 with Liz Santos of Rogers taking over the 3rd spot at 2:32.6 followed closely by Irwin of Mt. Ida at 2:33.7. The boys race saw state-leading Brandon Hodges of Hot Springs lower his season's best from 1:54.9 to a blazing 1:53.4. Shaun Walker of Greenwood also dipped under the 2 minute mark to take the 3rd best time at 1:58.7.

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