By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot Lady Panthers turned in another second-place performance last week at the Wampus Cat Invitational Relays at Conway High School. The host school won the event with 133 points while Cabot finished with 114. Vilonia was third with 82 points while Bryant’s 75 and Little Rock Central’s 66 rounded out the top five.
The boys scored 70 points in their meet, but it was only good for seventh place. Sylvan Hills also made a decent showing as one of the smallest schools participating in the meet.
The Lady Panthers got just one event win. Lexi Weeks did not approach her career best by clearing 12 feet, but it was still five feet higher than second place.
Lexi and Tori Weeks joined Ladaysha Evans and Danielle McWilliams to finish second in the 4x400m relay, and that same team finished fourth in the 4x400 relay. Cabot also took second in the 4x800m relay. The team of Ashley Odom, Emily Dey, Seaton Howard and Ashley Gore finished with a time of 11:01.72.
McWilliams was also second in the long jump with a lead of 16-8.5, which North Little Rock’s Malica Monk won at 18-5.5. Sylvan Hills sophomore Aljahnay Duncan was eighth in that event.
Katie Wright took second in the shot put with a toss of 29-10, but she was still more than six feet short of Greenbrier’s Shelby Shaw. Samantha Nickell took second in the 3,200m run, not far behind Conway’s Lauren Campbell. Gore took fifth in the 3,200m and the 1,600m.
Cabot’s Rachel Hall took second in the 300m hurdles, just .18 behind Conway’s Kelsey Kordsmeier’s time of 49.4. Sylvan Hills’ Cassidy Zgonc was seventh in that event and Cabot’s Briley Quardstrom finished eighth.
Evans took fourth in the 200m while teammate Miranda Walker was sixth. Marquetta Magwood took fourth in the 100m hurdles while Wright tied for fifth in the high jump. Dey and Howard finished fifth and sixth in the 800m run. Lexi Weeks took sixth in the 100m dash. Walker was seventh in the triple jump and Odom took seventh in the discus throw. Sylvan Hills’ Jasmine Washington was second in the discus with a toss of 79-7.
In the boys’ meet, the sprints were among the most exciting events. Cabot’s Jordan Burke took second in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Central’s Tre James won the 100m with a time of 11.28, but Burke and North Little Rock’s Anthony Louden tied for second at 11.30.
Cabot’s Layton Alley was fourth at 11.55 and Sylvan Hills’ Qunicy Flowers was fifth at 11.66. James also won the 200m. His time of 22.58 was .26 faster than Burke. Alley was fifth in that event.
Sylvan Hills’ Malik Strong took third in the high jump and triple jump. His teammate Trajan Doss took sixth in the triple jump. Doss was also sixth in the long jump, clearing 19-4, exactly two feet shorter than winner Darian Jarrett of Bryant. Strong took eighth in the long jump for the Bears.
Cabot and Sylvan Hills finished fourth and fifth in the 4x100-meter relay. Burke, Alley, Jalen Hemphill and Logan Melder made up Cabot’s fourth-place team, while Strong, Keyundra Hardimon, Doss and Flowers made up the Sylvan Hills’ sprint squad. Strong, Hardimon and Doss were joined by Tre West to finish eighth in the 4x400, one spot behind Cabot’s Hemphill, Burke, A.J. McClean and Caleb Duerkop.
Duerkop was also fifth in the 300m hurdles while McClean took seventh in the 800m run.
McClean also anchored Cabot’s fifth-place 4x800 team that included Nick Davis, Brayden Mercantel and Dylan Ball.
Rocky Burke took fourth for Cabot in the pole vault with an 11-6 vault. Jake Ferguson took fifth for Cabot in the 400, Keith Pledger and Brandon Jones were fifth and eighth in the discus throw and Davis took eighth in the 3,200 meter run.