By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Five individuals and two long-distance relay teams from Cabot qualified for today’s Meet of Champs at Lake Hamilton High School.
Senior Ariel Voskamp will kick off a big weekend in three different events. Voskamp won the 7A state pole vault event, and also qualified for the 300-meter hurdles and 100-meter high hurdles.
Voskamp will sign a track scholarship with the University of Arkansas on Tuesday morning, a day before she takes part in her third heptathlon event at Cabot High School. Voskamp finished seventh in last year’s meet.
“Ariel’s leading the state in the pole vault,” coach Leon White said. “She went 12-5, and that’s the highest vault, but she will have some competition. There’s another girl who’s gone 12 who will be there.
“She’s one of the top hurdlers in the state, too. She should be in the top three or so in each hurdle race.”
The Meet of Champs is the state-level, all-star meet for track and field. Winners of events in each classification, and the next five best performances in all classes, make up the field of 12 invited to compete in each event.
The boys 3,200-meter relay team enters the day fresh off a victory in the 7A state meet last week in Conway. Zach White, Jacob Luckett, Phillip Treat and Chris Dunbar will go up against the state’s best long-distance relay teams, and Treat will also join Max Carroll, Nick Boris and Clint Cates in the 1,600-meter relay event.
Luckett is also planning a college track career and will sign with Central Arkansas on Tuesday.
“The boys two-mile relay team has kind of changed throughout the season because of injuries,” White said. “At the state meet, Colton Johnson was subbing for Zach White. Zach is well now and back in his spot. This is the original team that would have run at the state meet.
“We’re hoping it will be as good or maybe a little faster.”
Treat will also compete in the 800-meter run while Dunbar will run in the 3,200-meter individual.
The 1,600-meter relay event gives Treat a berth in three separate events at the Meet of Champs.
“The mile relay, that’s the team we’ve been running most of the year right there,” White said.
“They were fifth in the state meet for 7A. We feel like those four have a chance to finish maybe in the top four or five at the Meet of Champs.”
Voskamp will not be the only Lady Panthers athlete competing in the pole vault. Teammate Julia Gairhan finished third in the state meet, qualifying her for the Meet of Champs.
“She went 10-2 at the state meet, and that was her best for the year,” White said. “So she’s hoping to do better than that and improve a little bit.”
Junior Emily Meyers will get plenty of running time at the Meet of Champs, as she will be competing in both the 3,200-meter and 1,600-meter events.
Meyers qualified for the Meet of Champs last year as a sophomore, finishing second in the 3,200-meter with a time of 11:14.
“Emkay is one of the top distance runners in the state,” White said.
“She’s always right up there in the top two or three in the mile and two mile. Her goal is to try and break 11 minutes in the two-mile.
“We don’t know if she’s ready to do that, but I know that’s what she’ll be trying to do.”
