The 2023 regular season for Mansfield’s senior high track and field team ended with a pair of qualifying meets last week. The Tigers took squad members to Mena on Monday followed by a handful of participants traveling to Southside on Friday.
The two meet set-up was kind to the Tigers as two more state qualifiers came out of the proceedings.
Austin Ruiz off the boys squad cleared 11’ 2” in the pole vault to make the 2A benchmark. Daisy Nelson, a newly elevated freshman for the Lady Tigers, ran 17.21 in the 100m hurdles to exceed the small school standard.
The week was also kind as two other Mansfield products claimed high point honors. In addition, the senior girls also brought home another plaque in the form of the runner-up trophy for the Bearcat Relays in Mena.
Ruiz excelled in the pole vault at Mena. The sophomore who has been a consistent scorer for the Tigers in the vertical event won the blue ribbon as well as state qualified.
Ruiz has cleared 11 feet on a couple of occasions this year. From there, the bar typically has been raised to 11’ 6” which has been just slightly out of Ruiz’s range. At Mena, meet officials placed the bar at the 2A standard when the Tiger flier was the only contestant left. Success followed placing the vaulter into the state finals in Quitman.
Nelson inserted herself into the class 2A state finals via a 17.26 clocking in the women’s 100m hurdles at Southside’s prestigious McDonalds Relays. The freshmen cleared the higher hurdles for the first time in competition since the indoor state championships back in February.
After the indoor season, the junior girl’s leading scorer moved back down to compete in the lower division until the junior high conference championships were over.
On April 18, Nelson concluded her spectacular junior high campaign with the 2A-4 district high point award and team title. Three days later she returned to the senior high squad for a final regular season meet before advancing to the 2A-4 senior high district meet on April 25 in Mansfield.
Mena saw Mansfield senior Jadelynn Wood and sophomore Trey Powell show out. The pair each claimed high point honors via full and fulfilling event schedules.
“That’s my first high point award,” said Wood of her trip to the Bearcat Relays in Mena. “This was special. I was worried about my times in other events and didn’t recognize I was having a pretty good night overall.”
Wood contributed 38.5 points as her senior high squad captured the runner-up plaque from the team standpoint. Victories in the 300m hurdles and 4x100m relay set the tone as the senior captain also produced three second place marks and a third.
“Jadelynn is our leader,” said Mansfield senior girls coach John Mackey. “It’s amazing she’s never taken home a high point plaque before this. She was our leading scorer last season and again this year. I’m so happy for her. She just loves track. This will mean a lot to her.”
Powell had a spectacular night as well. The sophomore totaled 44 points off four victories and a fifth place finish. The indoor All-State athlete won the 100m dash, 200m dash, long jump, and triple jump. His fifth place finish came in the high jump.
“Trey can be as good as he wants to be,” said Mansfield men’s coach Ethan Bowman. “He had a good night. This will set the tone for the conference track meet at home next week.”
Carter Whiley and Laney Wood had solid outings at Mena. The pair of sophomores finished second and fifth in individual point production at 36.5 and 26.5 respectively.
“Those two were huge in our 2022 campaign,” noted Mackey. “We’ll need them to cover several bases as we make a push towards another conference championship this season.”
Whiley missed a chance to compete at the McDonalds Relays. The plan was to combine Kayla Bieker, Whiley, Wood, and Nelson in the last chance meet to reach a state standard in the sprint relay.
Whiley had to bow out when rain forced the Southside hosted contest to be moved from Thursday, April 20 to Friday, April 21. The multi-talented Mansfield student had a musical concert that she had committed to perform at that same night.
Mansfield came close to the 51.54 standard despite the absence of one of their fastest players. Bieker, Addison Stover, Wood, and Nelson ran a 52.86 in the reconfigured relay for fourth place at the big school showcase.
“We are excited to get all the pieces together for the conference finals,” emphasized the girls coach. “I think our 4x100m combination will be worth the price of admission.”
Cisco Fildes had his best finish in the men’s discus at Mena. The sophomore finished second with a toss of 91’ 6”.
Seven Sanderson and Kayile Lowery added 27 points to the women’s score through the throws. The team gathered 175 points.
Host Mena won the women’s team competition with 191 points. The Bearcats tied with Heavener, OK in the men’s division with 128 points each.
Mansfield’s boys finished fifth in the team standings with only three players active.
Azlynn Stover and Raine Hecox joined three different second place relay teams for the Lady Tigers.
Stover made a personal record for the second consecutive meet in the high jump. Her clearance was 4’ 6”. Hecox ran a season best 3:01 for her leg of the women’s 4x800m relay.
Ashley Martin, Summer Frazier, Carissa Vaughan and Saylor Steward all scored for Mansfield.
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