A year ago, the Arkansas Activities Association put the 4x200m relay back into the state event schedule for track and field. Since that time, the Mansfield High School men’s team have unofficially adopted the co-op race as their premiere event.
At the Ozark Hillbilly Relays on March 8, the Mansfield men punctuated the sentiment with an 8 second win in their new favorite event.
Tyler Escalante, John Branche, Axle Ravnsborg, and Tommy Phang rounded the 2 lap relay in 1:42.59. The next closest team was Pottsville with a 1:50.36 second place crossing.
“These guys work hard at the 4x200 and will have a chance to win each time they run," said Mansfield men’s coach Josh Brown via text message. “Their goal is to break the school record. They are fun to watch.”
Mansfield actually ran two seconds faster the week before at Van Buren. On that day, the temperature was a mild and pleasant 67 degrees. The heats were fast and loaded with big school competition that pushed the pace.
In Ozark, the temperatures were considerably colder hovering in the upper 30’s with intermittent winds. The competition contained only class 4A schools or lower and no real speed burners like enrolled at the Van Buren outing.
“It may be a little natural to let up some when you win by eight seconds,” added Brown. “Still proud of our kids and the way they approached this event.”
Overall Mansfield finished in sixth place in the team standings. Host Ozark won the night with 134.5 points. Pottsville, Clarksville, Lamar, and Dardanelle all finished ahead of the Tigers in the team rankings.
Sammy Sellers scored high in the discus competition. The thrower sent the implement 105 feet for second place. He was solid in the shot put as well, taking fifth at 36’ 1”.
Senior Ryan Hayslip added value with production in the pole vault and high jump. Escalante offered up a third place 400m dash in 56.71.
Mansfield took limited participants to Ozark. They look to get some kids healthy later in the season, and look forward to elevating some freshmen depth before the district championships.
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