Contributed article
Beginning on Monday, March 27, Mansfield High School will see the 19th edition of the annual Tiger Relays take shape. Spread across three of the first four days after spring break, Mansfield will see upwards to 20 different schools enter the track complex for what looks to be spirited competition.
The appetizer will be the Seventh Grade Ribbon Run on the Monday school resumes from spring vacation. The main event will be the Senior Tiger Relays on Tuesday, March 28. The encore will be the Junior Tiger Relays wrapping up the week on Thursday, March 30.
All three home track meets will begin with field events at 4 PM. Running events will start approximately an hour and a half later at 5:30 PM.
Teams from as close as Greenwood and Lavaca are on the docket. Teams as far away as DeQueen and Nashville are also scheduled.
Five of the six AAA classifications will be represented by one or more schools. County Line (1A), Mountainburg (2A), Booneville (3A), Ozark (4A), and Van Buren (5A) make the sampler platter at least one of the nights. Scott County rival Waldron and former conference foe Acorn also make the list among others.
“This should be a good show from top to bottom,” said Mansfield head coach John Mackey. “Mansfield people rally around big events and do their best to make the experience worthwhile.”
The hometown Tigers feature some talented players looking for their first true opportunity to pre-qualify to the state meet. Senior Jadelynn Wood will look to reach the mark in both hurdle races. Seniors Seven Sanderson, Skylynn Harris, and Brooklyn Adams hope to make the grade through the throws as does freshman Kaylee Ward and sophomore Kaylie Lowery.
Carter Whiley, just a sophomore, equaled the 4-10 high jump mark during indoor season. She will need to eclipse that same mark outside to gain early entry to the outdoor state finals.
Trey Powell, also a sophomore, will look to undercut the 100m and 200m dash standards. The school record holder in the 60m dash was close to both those longer sprint numbers in Van Buren just a few weeks ago.
Tigers Austin Ruiz and Ashton Hinkle hope to rise above the qualification standard in the men’s pole vault. Always a fan favorite event, the pole vault has been an area of excellence for the Mansfield men in recent years.
