Mansfield’s junior girls’ track team and host Mena were separated by only 8.5 points when the final results of the Junior Bearcat Relays on March 15 were ultimately tabulated. It was the next day when Mansfield found out its runner-up fate when track authorities needed nearly another 24 hours to sort through the results to declare a winner.
“There were some issues with a new scoring program and some of the video files of the race finishes,” announced Mansfield coach John Mackey. “Mena literally got the software hours before their first meet of the season. It took them some time to work out the bugs while a dozen schools were breathing down their necks for results. When the dust settled, we were second.”
Mansfield started off hot, winning four of six field events. The lead didn’t last as the host team piled up points in the distance races.
The track meet games committee at Mena allowed three per distance event to score. All other events counted just two participants to earn points.
“It may have had something to do with the final results,” noted Mackey. “But ultimately, everyone knew the rules going into the meet. We just needed to be better in certain events. It starts with completing prescribed workouts and knowing your individual points matter for the team.”
Mansfield’s junior girls tallied 137.5 points all totaled. Mena rallied for 146. Booneville closed with 130 and Waldron came in with 103 to make the meet very competitive in a field of a dozen or more schools.
Kaylee Ward dominated once again in the shot and discus to give the Lady Tigers their initial boost. The eight grader won the shot by nearly three feet with a toss of 37’ 10”. Her discus spin netted victory by over six feet with a mark of 79’ 8”.
Trinity Triska surprised in the triple jump, pushing the field with a 29’ 5” mark for the win. The freshman was second in the 400m dash and placed in four other events to give Mansfield a head start.
Laney Wood won the pole vault for the second consecutive week while teammate Daisy Nelson was once again runner-up. Wood also grabbed 14 points through a pair of distance races and anchored two third place relays. Nelson took third in the 100m dash at 14.37.
Addie Bowman Stover was recorded to a tie in the 300m hurdles as video evidence the next day could not break the photo finish. The freshman came across in 57.23 which was the same time noted for Mena’s Anabelle Peters.
The Lady Tiger’s other top finishes included more throwing points and a second place 4x100m relay.
Kaylie Lowery took second in the discus and third in the shot with tosses of 73’ 6” and 31’ 10” respectively. The combination of Ward, Triska, Stover, and Nelson took second place in the 4x100m relay in 57.73.
On the boys side, Mansfield took third in the team standings with a smaller roster than it took to Ozark the previous week. The Tigers closed in contention with 108 points. Waldron took the top prize with 125 points while Booneville earned runner-up with 120.
Trey Powell led the core group with a maxed out schedule of six events. The freshman sprinter took four individual second place awards. He anchored a third place 4x100m relay and was fifth in the high jump.
Powell, who came close to a school record in the 100m dash the previous week, was a bit slower with the electronic timer at Mena. His 12.21 clocking in the premiere sprint event was 0.16 of a second behind first place winner Hunter Warren of Booneville.
Austin Ruiz was Mansfield’s second leading scorer with strong finishes in the pole vault, 400m dash, and 800m run. The freshman took third, third, and sixth in those respective disciplines. He was also anchor to the team’s 4x400m relay.
Braxton Bartlett, Josiah Williams, and Toby Towe joined Ruiz on that final relay event.
Ethan Martin continued to make his presence known at the shot put ring. The eighth grader won the event by a narrow five inches.
Teammate Dominic Shores added value in the hurdles. The eighth grader cobbled 11 points with a third place 300m intermediate hurdles and a fourth place 100m high style.
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