Pictured: Danielle Lille, Brooke Wright, and Makayla Strutton are Mansfield’s three seniors supporting the Lady Tiger track team. They are pictured here with Mansfield coach John Mackey
Mansfield put on another show for a dozen more schools as part of their second round of home track and field meets. This latest event, originally established for four local schools, was billed as the Senior High Quad City Meet. Entries were extended to 12 attending schools leaving the original moniker open to confusion.
“Years ago we started doing a smaller last chance qualifying meet for just a few schools,” explained Mansfield coach John Mackey. “To be legal four schools had to attend. We always added a few more in case somebody had to pull out. This year we extended invitations to some of the smaller schools that were blocked from other area meets due to covid restrictions.”
Although schools were allowed up to four entries per individual event, the meet remained small in nature. Several schools opted to load-manage their athletes in search of pre-qualify marks.
Mansfield focused on developing their depth and finding reps for their dual-sport kids. The strategy for the April 13 home meet, according to their coach, fulfilled the needs of the Tigers.
“We only had a few opportunities with our dual sports players,” said Mackey. “This gave us another chance to get them prepared for the conference. If it takes putting on another meet, it’s worth it for those kids that play everything in the spring.”
Mansfield scored in several places in the medals only meet. Collectively the senior girls amassed 162 points. It was good for second place in the standings although official team trophies were not awarded.
Waldron was the unofficial winner of the meet with 180.50 points in the women’s rankings.
The Tiger men took third place in the unofficial results. They had 77 total points. Waldron collected 207 while Acorn had 84.
The Lady Tigers did well once again in the hurdles and throwing events.
Makayla Strutton won the 300m low hurdles in her second race of the season over the eight barrier race. Madelen Jones, Danielle Lillie, and Jadelynn Wood all pointed through high marks in either the 100m highs or 300m lows.
Brooke Wright and Skylynn Harris led a solid fit from the throwing sectors. Wright went 88’ 8” for second place in the discus. Harris went 30’ 9” for third in the shot put.
Six Mansfield female throwers all placed giving the team a 38 point boost from the two events. Those scoring along with Wright and Harris included Brooklyn Adams, Sarah Fisher, Seven Sanderson, and Alayna Turner.
As always the men throwers off the Tiger team also did their part. Senior Bri Sanderson won both the shot (38’ 9.5”) and discus (127’ 11”). Junior Shawn Brown was third in the shot (36’ 3”) and fourth in the discus (92’ 7”).
Mansfield’s men won the 4x200m relay with a mark of 1:43.21. John Branche, Tyler Escalante, Victor Steffen, and Tommy Phang populated that winning sprint team.
The Lady Tigers took two seconds and two-thirds in their relay events. Katlynn Moore, Darby Jones, Faith Rainwater, and Wood handled the longer cooperatives. Haylee Helms, Shelby Cole, Cassidy Carlton, and Wood handled the 4x200m grouping.
Rainwater, Jones, Strutton, and Lillie clocked in at 55.94 to take second in the 4x100m sprint. They finished behind Booneville.
Jones reached her personal record in the long jump. The sophomore jumped 15’ 6” for the silver medal. Along with that career-best horizontal hop, Jones completed a full six-event slate for the first time this season. The result was a high point nod of 34 points in the women’s division.
Jones was second in both hurdle events, the 100m hurdles (17.70) and 300m hurdles (55.69). She was fourth in the high jump (4’ 4”) and sixth in the 200m dash (29.59). Her final two points came from a split in points off the second-place 4x100m relay.
Rainwater pitched in 24 points while Strutton added 22 for the Tiger women. Senior Victor Steffen tossed in 14.5 points for the Tiger men.
Steffen was third in the high jump (5’ 6”), third in the 300m hurdles (50.28), and eighth in the long jump (18’ 0”).
