Saturday, May 01, 2010

SPORTS >> Panthers track hits finish line

By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter

Cabot teams earned top-five finishes at the 7A state track meet at Byron Bryant Field in Conway on Thursday.

The Cabot Lady Panthers took third-place overall, with individual championships for Brittany Briswalter and Ariel Voskamp. The boys finished fifth.

Briswalter won the discus with a throw measuring 129 feet, 11 inches. Briswalter’s throw was just over 14 feet longer than second-place Tiffany Wiseley of Springdale.

The all-purpose Voskamp won the pole vault by clearing 12-5, nearly 2 1/2 feet better than second-place Brittany McClain of Rogers Heritage. Voskamp also won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.23 seconds. Voskamp once again had to fend off McClain, who clocked in at 15.64 for second.

Sabrina Antimo’s status for the meet was unclear during the week because of a hamstring injury, but the Lady Panthers’ fleet standout was able to compete.

She placed sixth in the long jump, fourth in the triple jump and took third in the 100-meter run with a time of 12.15.

Antimo was just over two-tenths of a second away from an individual title in the 200-meter run when she finished at 25.04 seconds.

Other top performances by Cabot athletes included a fourth-place finish for Julia Gairhan in the pole vault and a seventh-place finish for Emkay Myers in the 600-meter run. The Lady Panthers also took third in the 1,600-meter relay.

Fayetteville won the overall title with 147 points, followed by Bentonville with 93 points and Cabot with 73. Springdale Har-Ber and North Little Rock rounded out the state meet’s top five team finishers.

Strong relay finishes propelled the Panthers boys team to fifth. Fort Smith Southside took the state championship with 124 points, followed by Fayetteville with 90 and Conway with 76. Bentonville was fourth with 75 points and Cabot rounded out the top five with 54.

The Panthers finished second in the 3,200-meter relay and took fourth in the 400-meter relay. They earned another second in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:29.12.

Top individual performers for the Panthers included Joe Bryant, who finished second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.79, and his brother Powell who took third in the 200-meter run with a time of 22.25.

Senior T.J. Bertrand took second in the shot put with a measurement of 49-1.25, and Brendon Tucker was third in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:53.4.