Mansfield’s seventh grade track athletes continued to develop their skills with a road trip to Van Buren on March 12. As one of the smallest schools in attendance, the Tiger men and women held their own and had a series of shining moments against the big school competition.
A handful of Mansfield seventh graders have been participating up on the junior high squad as well as hitting the seventh grade circuit. Among those off the Lady Tiger squad include Trinity Triska, Laney Wood, Addison Bowman, Aaliyah Summers, and Maylei Rogers. For the men it has been Austin Ruiz, Trey Powell, Aaron Person, Toby Towe, and Winston Allison.
The experience the prep players have gained against the older athletes have served them well as they have competed in seventh grade meets this season. The latest was at Van Buren on Thursday afternoon.
With rain showers avoiding the Pointer venue, Mansfield’s prep players were able to get in a full meet. The school’s high school baseball team and senior high track units had their events interrupted by storms that same night.
Triska showed out in her opportunity to race against players her own age. The All-District cross country runner won the women’s 800m run at Van Buren. She cruised the 2 lap race in 2:47.90.
Triska also scored second place points in the pole vault. She placed fourth in the 1600m run with a 6:31.18 clocking. She jumped 12’ 9.5” for sixth in the long jump and was anchor to the fifth place 4x400m relay.
Wood anchored the 4x800m relay team for fourth place. She was teammates with Triska, Addison Bowman, and Azlynn Stover in the 4x400m grouping. She tied for fourth in the pole vault.
Bowman cut 2 seconds of her previous 300m hurdle time. At Van Buren, she recorded a mark of 57.40 to take third place overall. She was also the led leg of the 4x100m relay team that went fourth in 57.93.
Presley Curry, Rogers, and Summers joined Bowman for the sprint relay.
Rogers was eighth in the triple jump. She stayed near her personal record with an attempt of 26’ 1”.
Summers had the next best mark for the Mansfield women. She went 14.30 in the 100m dash for third.
Powell off the Tiger seventh grade boy’s team had another terrific outing. Until a hamstring strain in the 200m dash set him back, the quick footed sprinter had scored in long jump, high jump, and 100m dash.
Towe continued his progress in the hurdles. He has jumped both junior high and seventh grade heights throughout the early portion of the 2020 track season. At the Pointer Meet he went 21.30 over the 100m highs and 53.88 over the 300m intermediates for fifth and sixth places respectively.
Ruiz did well once again in the pole vault. He was second at 7’ 6”. He was also seventh in the 400m dash with his first attempt at that distance this season. He was clocked at 1:07.87
Boston Elmore and Allison completed a strong finish among the Tiger vaulters. Elmore cleared 6’ 0” for sixth place. Allison equaled that height but dropped to eighth place because of accumulative misses.
Mansfield girls finished in sixth place as a total team. Only Russellville, Chaffin, Easthills, Northridge, and Darby finished the team standings above the smaller Mansfield squad. The Tiger men were tenth.
