Contributed article
Mansfield’s track and field prep team made progress with their second meet of the season at the Booneville Bearcat Seventh Grade Relays on March 14. Despite limited numbers, both the girls and boys had significant finishes.
Rising star Abby Smith of the Lady Tiger seventh grade team made a run for the overall high point award. The multi-dimensional talent scored 32.75 points in her team’s 101.5 total using a pair of first place jumping events as her catalyst.
Smith won the pole vault for the second straight meet. This time the first time vaulter reached a personal record with a leap of 7 feet 3 inches. She took another blue ribbon award at the long jump. That horizontal hop went 13 feet 7.5 inches for first.
Hunter Whittaker off the men’s seventh grade squad was the leading scorer off his unit. With four individual events and two relays, the rookie track athlete accumulated 20 points.
Whittaker’s best mark was from the triple jump. Twice he hit 29’ 8”. That turned out to be his longest measurements earning a second place red ribbon. His next best event was an individual 800m run in 2:50.28 for fourth place.
“It just takes a couple of meets, and then you usually start seeing some progress,” explained Tiger mentor John Mackey. “The players get familiar with their events and begin to understand their own thresholds. It’s pretty exciting to see their expressions when reaching a better time, a better distance.”
In the team standings, Mansfield’s girls were third. Russellville ran away with the spoon with 176 points. Waldron took the runner-up prize with 135.5. Mansfield accumulated 101.5 with only 10 active players.
The boys fell to sixth overall with Russellville, Ozark, Booneville, Waldron, and Pottsville leading the way.
Miley Clopton had the best Lady Tiger race result. She clocked in at 14.26 for second place in the 100m dash. She also joined two sprint relays later in the night to give the squad added value.
Payton Meyers, Adeline Bray, and Smith joined Clopton in the 4x100m relay. A nearly identical lineup combined in the 4x400m relay with Rylan Jones substituting for Meyers. The two relays went fourth and third respectively.
Meyers added pole vault, high jump, and sprinter points to the pile. Bray gave solid numbers in the triple jump along with a gutsy 800m time.
Jones took the longest races with a third and fourth place finish in the 800m and 1600m runs respectively.
Bailey Quick, Aubree Helms, and Addison Howard all scored in the throwing events. Quick and Howard doubled up in the 4x200m relay. Kerrington Quick and Alivia Wilson joined the pair to make fourth place their reality in the 4x200m relay.
Trevan Hattabaugh, Drake Brunson, Matthew Knight, and Whittaker had their best time in the 4x100m relay for the boys. They finished the one lap connection in 58.15 for fifth place.
Clayton Garrison showed off in the discus. The seventh grader won by nearly seven feet with a huge toss of 95’ 1”. He came back later with a moderate shot put mark of 27’ 8” to get one more point.
Brunson and Whittaker each scored in the long jump.
