Friday, April 08, 2016

SPORTS STORY >> Panthers dominate Cat relays

By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter

The Cabot High School boys’ track team dominated the competition at Thursday’s Wampus Cat Relays at Conway High School. The Panthers racked up 143 team points to win the boys’ meet, which was 25 points ahead of Conway’s second-place total of 118.

Only two other schools broke 100 points in the boys’ division. Parkview finished third with 105 points and Bryant finished fourth with 101. Little Rock Central was fifth with 44 points. Sylvan Hills’ boys finished eighth out of the 12 teams competing Thursday. The Bears totaled 23 points – three more than ninth-place J.A. Fair.

Ten of Cabot’s points were scored by junior Matt Stanley, who won the high jump with a height of 6-feet, 4inches. It was an inch higher than Greg Mitchell of Little Rock Central, who cleared 6-3.

Cabot teammate Jarrod Barnes won the long jump by nine inches Thursday. His winning jump was 20-feet, 10.5 inches. Kolby McNeal of Parkview was second with a jump of 20-feet, 1.5 inches.

Cabot’s Brandon Jones won the discus throw with a toss of 148-feet, 5.25 inches, which was more than five feet further than the second-place throw.

Teammate Rocky Burke won the boys’ pole vault with a height of 12-feet, 6 inches, and Cabot’s Braxton Burton was second in that event with a vault of 11-feet.

Mark Odom edged Parkview’s Amari James in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.75 seconds. For Sylvan Hills, Nathan Burd placed second in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:48.38. Conway’s Toler Freyaldenhoven won that race with a time of 4:16.51.

The Panthers had several second-place finishes as well. Cabot’s 4x800-meter relay team of Jack Moore, Stuart Nickell, Gardner Howze and Greyson Kaufman finished second behind Conway with a time of 8:37.39.

Cabot’s 4x100 relay team of Alex Roberts, Brandon Whitley, Rocky Burke and Connor Daigle took second behind Parkview with a time of 44.30. Britton Alley was second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.38, and Odom was second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.47.

In the girls’ meet, the host school edged Bryant for the top spot in the team standings.

Conway won it with 161 points. Bryant finished with 144.5 team points and Sylvan Hills was third out of the 11 teams competing, finishing with 81.5 points. Cabot was fifth with 62.5 points.

The Lady Bears claimed the top two spots in the girls’ shot put. Sa’maya Farmer won the event with a toss of 33-feet, and teammate Raigen Thomas finished second with a throw of 31-feet, 7 inches.

Two more Lady Bears earned first and second place in the discus throw. Sierra Towles won that event with a throw of 101-feet, 10.5 inches, and Jayla Bell finished just behind her with a second-place throw of 98-feet, 1.5 inches.

Cabot’s Casey Gore finished second in the 1,600-meter run. Her time of 5:31.10 was just behind Lauren Campbell of Conway. Campbell finished in 5:27.61. In the 300-meter hurdles, Sylvan Hills’ Makayla Smith took second with a time of 50.17 seconds.

Haley Hood of Bryant won that event with a time of 46.16.