On March 10, Mansfield stuffed the bus with a large group of junior high track athletes. Both the Tiger boys and girls then filled the two event minimum across all 17 events at the Ozark Junior Hillbilly Relays to give each an avenue for a bountiful harvest of ribbons and plaques..
Mansfield was close in both gender categories to take the team titles. Both units, however, earned runner-up team plaques for their efforts fueled by a pair of high point recipients.
Laney Wood scored in five events to post high point honors for the Lady Tigers. The freshman All-State cross country and indoor track athlete totaled 33 points to give her team a strong foundation.
Trey Powell, an All-State freshman via an individual 60m dash victory at the ATCA indoor state finals, also won the high point award for Tiger men’s team. Powell tallied 48 points from six events to take home the individual award and propel his team’s fight for the team trophy.
The outside temperature was at a premium during the field events but quickly cooled down when the sun disappeared. It was during this moderate warm trend that the Tigers stock piled points.
Wood led a swath of high valued field events points. She took first in the pole vault with a jump off win against teammate Daisy Nelson who finished second. That added to two other first place marks by Kaylee Ward who took both the shot put and discus throws.
In all, the MHS girls peppered their accumulative score with 68 points from the field events. Kaylie Lowery, Carter Whiley, Madison Hearron, Wood, and Nelson were responsible for all 68.
Mansfield brought home the remainder of their runner-up 120 total points through the running events.
Whiley paced the racing stats with a pair of second place sprints. The freshman runner took the red ribbon runs with top two placements in the 100m and 200m dashes. Teammate Addie Bowman Stover increased the Lady Tiger production with a pair of fourths in the two hurdle events.
The MHS men’s squad also did well in the climate friendly field event session. Powell won the long jump, triple jump, and placed third in the high jump during that period. He also took the top time in the 100m dash and 200m dashes.
Powell possibly set a new jMansfield junior boy’s record in the 100m dash. School officials are verifying the 11.70 seconds it showed he ran winning the Ozark race compared to the record books.
Austin Ruiz won the pole vault going away easily. The freshman jumper had the bar raised to 10’ 10” when he remained as the sole competitor. The move was in an effort to break that Mansfield school record as well.
It wasn’t in the cards for this meet as Ruiz kicked the highly placed bar all three times. However, according to his coach it’s an achievable target.
Ethan Martin was second in the shot put. Dawson Robinson bolstered a sprints unit along with Braxton Bartlett, Toby Towe, and Austin Oldham. Dominic Shores was outstanding in the 300m hurdles, Josiah Williams pushed the 1600m pace, and Cooper Edwards scored in his first triple jump competition.
This was Mansfield's first junior high outdoor meet of the year after Booneville canceled a week one track meet.
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