By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
Two local girls track teams turned in top five performances at the state indoor meets at the University of Arkansas. Lonoke finished fourth in Friday’s 1A-4A meet, and did it with only one athlete.
Sylvan Hills finished fifth in the 5A-7A meet on Saturday, and was the only 5A team in the Top-10 of the 21-team competition.
Gracie Hyde actually finished fourth in Friday’s meet. She scored 36 points, and won the high-point award for taking first place in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter races, and adding a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash.
Hyde won a relatively close 800-meter race by one second over Wrylee Dickard of nearby Greenland. Hyde finished in 2:31.40 to beat Dickard’s 2:32.43.
She won the 1,600 by almost 11 seconds with a time of 5:38.57, and the 3,200 by just more than 11 seconds with a time of 11:47.93.
Hyde assured herself of the high-point award with the third-place finish in the 400-meter dash.
Amalie Gunn of CAC won the 60-, 200- and 400-meter dashes for 30 points, but Hyde’s placement in the 400 earned her the extra six points for the individual honor.
Gunn won the 400 with a time of 59.26. Conway Christian’s Rhaegen Linn was second at 1:01.63 and Hydetook third with a time of 1:02.59.
In Saturday’s meet, Sylvan Hills sophomore Mia Heard finished second in the individual point standings to Hannah Leuders of Rogers. The Lady Mounties also won the meet with 100 points.
Bentonville, Fayetteville and Har-Ber High made it a 7A-West sweep of the top four. Sylvan Hills took fifth with 33 points. Conway was sixth. Cabot finished seventh with 28 points. Sheridan, Bryant and Lake Hamilton rounded out the top 10.
Sylvan Hills coach Grover Garrison didn’t think his team maximized its potential, or even came close, and is optimistic about the upcoming outdoor season.
“We still have a few in basketball, and we didn’t bring our throwers up here,” said Garrison. When we get everyone together, we could have a chance (at the 5A outdoor championship).”
Heard won the long jump despite some scoring confusion and not officially approaching her personal record. Her best officially marked jump was 17-feet, 2 ¾ inches. Her teammate, Alexis Lee, finished fifth with a leap of 16 feet, ½ an inch.
More confusion plagued the triple jump, and Heard finished sixth in that event with a leap of 33-07.25. Lady Bear Makayla Smith was just a half-inch behind Heard for seventh place.
Heard also finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.01 seconds. Carly Strong of Sheridan beat Leuders by 1/100th of a second with a time of 7.84.
Heard also finished fifth in the 200-meter dash while classmate O’Shayla Muldrow placed eighth.
Muldrow also took seventh in the 400-meter dash.
Sylvan Hills also added a point in the 4x800 relay. Erykah Sanders, Dallyn Stubbs, Dasia Harris and Allysia Marbley finished in eighth place.
The Cabot girls got most of their points in the distance races, but their highest finisher was sophomore Lauren Turner, who took second in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:21.39.
Junior Casey Gore earned two fourth-place finishes in the 1,600- and 3,200 meter races. She ran a 5:24.89 in the 1,600, and an 11:51.77 in an exhilarating finish in the 3,200. Bentonville’s Tori Willis won the race with a time of 11:48.37, but less than a second separated second place through fifth place.
Cabot also placed in the relays. The team of Gore, Turner, Hadley Dickinson and Brayden Giesler finished third in the 4x800 relay. Turner, Dickinson, Tristyn Edgar and Savannah Hatton finished fifth in the 4x400.
BOYS COMPETITION
Cabot was the only local team to earn any points in the boys’ competition. The Panther 4x400-meter relay team of Brandon Whitley, Austin Swackhammer, Britton Alley and Lyndon Nichols finished second with a great time of 3:29.0,6, but still five seconds behind the state record set by Har-Ber.
Britton Alley pulled up lame at about 40-meters into the 60-meter dash. He still finished eighth to earn one point, but his day was done.
North Little Rock sophomore Kennedy Lightner broke the state record in that event with a time of 6.95.
Conley Hillegas earned three points for Cabot with a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter dash.
