By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Lady Bear track team won its second meet of the week on Friday, taking first place in the Lake Hamilton Invitational just three days after winning the Metro Invitational at North Little Rock High School.
At Lake Hamilton, the Lady Bears won three events, but had a slew of second-place finishes to earn 138 points. That beat the host school by 15 while Texarkana was third with 111. Maumelle finished fourth with 78. Vilonia scored 71 and Cabot finished sixth out of 12 teams with 63 points.
On Friday, Mia Heard got Sylvan Hills off to a great start by winning the long jump and triple jump, posting Silver status elite-level results. She jumped 17-feet, 7-inches to win the long jump, and bounded 36-01 in the triple, against a -2.7 wind.
The Lady Bears’ other event win came in the 4x400-meter relay. Sylvan Hills, which holds the best time in the state this year at 4:08.42, was just shy of that mark by .24 seconds. Ashley Jefferson, O’Shayla Muldrow, Daviunia Jones and Jordan Sanders combined for that time, beating Cabot’s Hadley Dickinson, Casey Gore, Tristyn Edgar and Lauren Turner by about 10 seconds.
Makaila Murphy and Jones were second and third in the high jump, each clearing 4-10. Alexis Lee finished third in the long jump and Makayla Smith was fifth in the triple jump for SHHS.
Jayla Bell and Sierra Towles were second and third in the discus, while Brae’zah East earned a point by finishing eighth.
The Lady Bears no longer hold the state’s best time this year in the 4x100-meter relay.
Their 49.18 was beaten by Texarkana’s 49.08, but it is still the fastest time in 5A this year. Ayana Harris, Heard, Lee and Muldrow ran a 49.22 on Friday for second place. Chanel Miller, who came from nowhere two weeks ago to turn in a state-qualifying distance in the throwing events, blew her way to second place in the 300-meter hurdles at Lake Hamilton.
She finished second to Ally Swaim of Vilonia, and beat defending conference champion and teammate Erykah Sanders by .01 with a time of 49.53.
800-meter specialist Dallyn Stubbs posted a 2:31.58 to take second in that event behind three-event winner Josie Carson of LHHS.
Muldrow, who specializes in the 400 but didn’t run that event Friday, took third in the 200m, while teammate Ayana Harris was fifth. Lee and Harris were fourth and fifth in the 100-meter dash.
Cabot also got a few wins at Lake Hamilton. Lauren Turner and Savannah Hatton finished first and second in the 400. Turner, Dickinson, Casey Gore and Brayden Giesler won the 4x800 relay with a time of 10:06.49. That beat Sylvan Hills’ second-place team of Allysia Marbley, Stubbs, Jefferson and Jones by eight seconds.
Gore also finished second to Carson in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races, while Turner was third in the 1,600.
In Tuesday’s Metro meet, the Lady Bears scored 167 points to easily out-distance second-place Parkview’s 98. The host school was third with 73 while Robinson finished fourth of 11 teams with 60 points.
In that meet, the Lady Bears picked up wins in the 4x400- and 4x800-meter relays, despite not running their strongest unit in the latter race. They didn’t even enter a team in the 4x100. The 4x800 team included Jolissa Jones, Neiahgha Thomas, Dadreuna Clingmon and Dasia Harris, which ran a time of 10:38.50 and won by more than seven seconds.
Hatton replaced Jefferson in the 4x400 relay, and that group ran a 4:08.51 to win by more than eight seconds.
Bell won the discus with a throw of 108-1. Heard won the 100-meter dash by running a PR of 12.62. Jones and Jordan Sanders were first and second in the 400-meter dash and Muldrow won the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.02. Ayana Harris took third in the 200 while Erykah Sanders and Miller were second and third respectively in the 300-hurdles.
Makayla Smith finished second in the 100-meter hurdles and Lee was third in the 100-meter dash.
Neither Cabot nor Sylvan Hills ran in the Metro meet, but both had good showings at Lake Hamilton. Cabot took fourth with 91 points while Sylvan Hills was fifth with 58.
Cabot’s Matt Stanley won the high jump by clearing 6-4. The Panthers’ 4x100-meter relay team clocked a 43.14 to edge out Bryant for first place. They did that despite missing Arkansas State signee Britton Alley, who has been hampered by injury since the indoor season.
Friday’s winning team included Alex Roberts, Brandon Whitley, Tommy Oaks and Conley Hillegas.
Hillegas also won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.78, while Whitley was fifth and Oaks seventh in that event.
The Bears also picked up a couple of wins. Darius Waddell took firs place in the triple jump with a 42-4.50. Anthony Duncan won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.08.
