|
Recap by ArkansasTrackStats.com
The 45th Annual Arkansas High School Meet of Champions was held
on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at Lake Hamilton High School in Pearcy
near Hot Springs in front of a large crowd of loud track fans. Unlike
the cool and windy weather the week before at the State Track Meets,
the conditions were near perfect with sunny skies and near 80-degree
temperatures. The Meet of Champions brings together the champions
of each event from the five classifications and the next three best
performances from the State Track Meets.
The highlight of the meet was a new overall girl’s pole vault
record set by sophomore Stephanie Irwin of Mt. Ida as she cleared
11' 10.25" to eclipse the old record of 11' 10" held by
Brandie Plyer of Centerpoint. Irwin narrowly missed on her three
attempts at 12'1". Four other vaulters cleared 10’ or
higher. Irwin also placed 2nd in the 800m with a time of 2:21.757.
In all, 29 performances qualified for the Arkansas All-time Best
Performances List with the Girls accounting for 20 of the 29, including
six pole-vaulters. In addition 13 performances met the standards
for the DyeStat Elite listings, as follows:
Girls 4x100 Pine Bluff 47.814
Girls 4x200 Pine Bluff 1:40.94
Girls PV Stephanie Irwin, Mt. Ida 11’10.25”
Girls LJ Lakeisha Martin, Pine Bluff 19’ 1.25”
Boys 4x200 Little Rock McClellan 1:29.14
Boys 4x400 Pine Bluff 3:17.424
Boys 4x800 Russellville 7:53.54
Boys 200m Wallace Spearman, Fayetteville 21.503
Chris Baker, Osceola 21.570
Boys 300m hurdles Michael Tinsley, Pulaski Robinson 37.54
Boys 800m Robert McQuay, Pine Bluff 1:54.14
Boys HJ Stephen Green, Pulaski Academy 6’ 9”
Marraell McKinney, LR McClellan 6’ 9”
Other Highlights:
Girls…..
Senior Katie Howard of Fayetteville won the 800m in 2:17.186 (9th
Arkansas All-Time) and anchored the Fayetteville 4x800 and 4x400
rely teams. The 4x800 team won in 9:52.14 (4th on All-Time List)
and the 4x400 team was 2nd in 4:07.082.
Rebecca Gosnell of Russellville was a double winner with a toss
of 41’ 1” in the SP and a throw of 126’ 8” in
the discus. Both efforts are Top 20 on the Arkansas All-Time Best
List.
Amber Wooten of the Pine Bluff Fillies won the 100m hurdles in
15.64 and ran legs on each of Pine Bluff’s three victorious
relay teams. Wooten and teammates Lakeisha Martin, Tiffany Taggart,
Crystal Sampson and Raven Harris won the 4x100 in 47.814 (6th on
All-Time List), the 4x200 in 1:40.94 (3rd on the All-Time List)
and the 4x400 in 4:00.275 (18th on All-Time List). Along with Martin’s
win in the LJ, Taggart claimed 3rd with a leap of 17’ 11.75”.
Amber Bledsoe of Turrell took honors in the 100m in 12.322, 2nd
in the 400m at 57.64 and 3rd in the 200m at 26.236.
Other winners in the Girls Division were:
HJ Talesha Dokes, North Little Rock 5’ 4”
1600m Jamie Owensby, Bentonville 5:19.90
400m Paige Farrell, Springdale 57.34
300m hurdles Brittany Leftwich, Greenwood 46.54
200m Brittany Williams, Rison 25.589
3200m Beth Madson, Lake Hamilton 11:53.37
Boys ….
The Russellville Cyclones set a new meet record, second on the
Arkansas All-Time Best List only to their best run earlier in 2002,
in the 4x800 at 7:53.30. The team of senior Jimmy Bowie ( about
2:00), senior Eric Brock (about 2:00), junior Chase Feltner (about
1:57) and junior Travis Feltner (about 1:57) took the lead from
Rogers (2nd, 8:06.90) in the second leg and never looked back. Chase
Feltner also won the 1600m in 4:22.50 running splits of 65-65-64-68
as he won easily. Brock captured an uncharacteristic 3rd in the
3200m and Travis Feltner managed to hang onto 3rd in the 800 in
1:56.
The Pine Bluff Zebras took two of the sprint relays in winning
the 4x100 in 42.371 and the 4x400 in 3:17.424 (17th on the All-Time
List). Relay team member Robert McQuay won the 800m easily in 1:54.14
with splits of 26.50-27.50-28.0-32.14) holding off a fast closing
James Melnick of Cabot (1:55.34) and Travis Feltner of Russellville.
Miles Tackett won the LJ (22’8”) and claimed 2nd in the
300m hurdles (38.54) for the Zebras.
Michael Tinsley was the only double winner in the Boys Division
as he took the 110m hurdles in 14.74 and the 300m hurdles in 37.54.
Tinsley emerged from the pack in the curve during the 300m race
to glide home to a comfortable win. In the 110m race, Tinsley, Donte
Smith of Little Rock McClellan and Chris Littleton of Osceola were
running a dead heat when Littleton clipped a hurdle and fell also
wiping out Smith.
Chris Baker of Osceola won a three way dead heat in the 100m in
10.94 as Robert Ibeh of Subiaco Academy took 2nd and Kenna Johnson
of Monticello of claimed 3rd. Baker also took 2nd in the 200m in
21.570 while being nipped by Wallace Spearman of Fayetteville who
close fast to win in a brisk 21.503. Spearman was 4th in the 100m
at 11.04.
The HJ saw Stephen Green of Pulaski Academy win with fewer misses
over Marraell McKinney of Little Rock McClellan as both topped 6’
9”. McClellan’s 4x200 relay team won the last 4x200 to
be run in Arkansas with a quick 1:29.04 qualifying for the All-Time
Best List. Hope, West Memphis, Crossett and Hamburg finished 2-5
less than 7/10 seconds behind the leader. The relay is being eliminated
starting in 2003 as the national order of events is being adopted.
Other winners were:
PV Bret Kirkconnell, Russellville 14’ 2”
SP Matt Caldwell, Ft. Smith Southside 57’0”
Discus Josh Merritt, Ft. Smith Southside 154’10”
400m Ben Faires, Springdale 49.14
3200m Burt Hicks, Lake Hamilton 9:34.454
DyeStat Arkansas
|
