(Pictured above) Seventh grader Madelen Jones is caught at practice over the high jump bar as sophomore Jaicy Griffin looks on during the practice session. Jones has been a consistent scorer in the hurdles for the Mansfield Lady Tigers, and has been working to do the same in the high jump.
The Mansfield seventh grade track teams traveled to Greenwood last week as their inaugural season begins winding down.
The Tiger rookie runners, jumpers, and throwers made the short trip to Bulldog country despite the fact that most of their coaching staff remained to conduct the Senior Tiger Relays back at home.
Assistant Coach Dustin Payne in his first season as the Tiger throws coach, handled coaching duties with the young Tiger cubs. Meanwhile back at home Mansfield staff members John Mackey and Josh Bryan orchestrated the Senior Tiger Relays on the same night.
Payne and company battled a dozen larger schools in the Bulldog Seventh Grade Relays. Most of the Fort Smith schools, Alma, and Van Buren highlighted the bulk of the big school competition. Mansfield, Cedarville, and Waldron were among the smaller schools in attendance.
The Lady Tigers had three blue ribbon events on the night. Thanks to Natalie Allison and Skylynn Harris the MMS women tallied 30 points in the early going.
Allison went first clearing a meet leading 6’ 0” in the pole vault for first place. Harris doubled up on the blue ribbon victories with first place marks in the shot and discus.
Harris, already the junior high record holder in the shot put in just her first season, easily won both events. The novice thrower who competes for both the Tiger Prep and Tiger Junior teams tossed the shot 32’ 4.5” and the discus 67’ 8”.
Allison also placed well in the women’s triple jump. Her 25’ 5” hop, skip, and jump positioned into fourth place at the field event.
Hurdler Madelen Jones continued a streak of ribbon production with a second place clocking in the 100m hurdles. The seventh grader who also competes up on the junior team was marked at 19.18 seconds for the red ribbon reward.
On the seventh grade boy’s team, Branson Carver out jumped all entries in the high jump by three inches. The first time leaper went 5’ 3” for the for the win.
Carver, also the fastest Tiger runner, was clocked at 13.21 in the 100m dash for a sixth place reward. He also anchored two different relay teams for a second and fourth place position.
That second place finish in the boy’s 4x400m relay was the first time the Tigers have lost that particular race this season. Chaffin, a Fort Smith class 7A school, built their squad around two of the top three sprinters in attendance to take the win.
Chaffin took the win by nearly nine seconds. Mansfield, crossing next at 4:39.29, was ahead of notable schools like Ramsey, Ozark, Greenwood, Northridge, Butterfield, and Kimmons.
The combination of Tommy Phang, Gage Rogers, Logan Cravey, and Carver peopled the relay team. The same four players although in different order also made the 4x100m relay squad.
Trenton Leroy was another scoring threat for the Tigers. The vertical leaper finished fourth in the pole vault at 6’ 0”.
Cassidy Carlton, Jadelynn Wood, Trinity Woods, and Allison picked up a point for the girls 4×800 relay. Clinton Stovall, Tyler Woolbright, Gary Willis, and Leroy did likewise for the boys.
Carlton, Wood, Jones and Lita Hecox got sixth in the 4x400m relay. Alyana Turner got seventh in the discus to round out the Lady Tigers’ score.
Braxton Byers garnered three points for the boys. He took seventh and eight place respectively in the discus and shot. Phang placed in both the 300m hurdles and long jump for more Tiger proceeds. Cravey ranked among the top eight for the 300m hurdles to polish off the men’s scoring.
