It wasn’t the results they had grown accustomed to over the last several seasons. Considering the circumstances, Mansfield’s senior girls track team reached a significant plateau at Saturday’s ATCA Indoor State Track Meet anyway. Despite team numbers being diluted by understandable absences, a small band of Lady Tiger track athletes put enough pieces together to step atop the third place podium at the Class 3A indoor track finals on February 22.
Mansfield’s available roster had only nine athletes listed for competition to cover the 14 event schedule inside the Randal Tyson Track Complex on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. Eleven other potential roster spots were either involved in the 3A-4 District Basketball Tournament semi-final round in Booneville or home with flu-like symptoms.
“When you look closely at what these girls accomplished, it’s really quite remarkable,” said retired Mansfield coach, John Mackey, who has temporarily returned to the track program covering for the school’s current head coach Kaylie Andrews while she is out on maternity leave.
“Obviously, you want to win,” the former mentor and acting head coach submitted. “That’s what we’re in it for. When you share kids in a small school, overlapping seasons and situations out of your control happen. We’re excited for what was accomplished on the track this past Saturday, and we’re equally excited for the extended season our basketball teammates enjoyed at the same time. When you’re a true Tiger, you want all teams to be successful.”
Early on, Mansfield was clearly in the hunt for their fourth consecutive indoor state title and the program’s 16th state track championship overall. It was Mansfield along with Providence Academy, an independent Christian preparatory school in Rogers, and DeWitt High School out of Arkansas County that separated themselves as early 3A contenders. Throughout the mid-morning and late afternoon the three schools stayed closely connected in the overall points race.
Mansfield rode a quick wave of 22 points from three of the first four contested events. Lady Tiger junior Daisey Nelson was busy bouncing between the three separate venues having to endure numerous heats, FAT clock issues, and reruns. The All-State award winner for her third straight indoor season, posted two second place finishes and a third respectively in the 60 meter dash, long jump, and 60 meter hurdles.
It was off the long jump board that the class 2A 100 meter dash state champion from last year’s outdoor season shined the brightest. The MHS superstar posted three consecutive long jump personal records into the white, soft sands of the horizontal pit. In order, Mansfield’s leading scorer for the day sailed 16 feet 2 inches, 16 feet 6 inches, and 16 feet 6 inches.
“I feel like moving back to a 14 step approach has helped,” announced the silver medalist after her big bounds of the long jump board bettered her previous best by 12 inches. “It feels as if I have time to gain more speed and explode off the board.”
Asked what else may have impacted her new found capacity to fly, Nelson admitted her participation in a weights class coupled with the support of family, teammates, and coaches was undeniable.
“Yes, lifting weights has definitely helped me a lot,” confessed the junior jumper, sprinter, and hurdler. “I can’t wait for what the rest of this season will bring.
“It’s amazing being All-State for three consecutive years! I’d like to thank my family and teammates for cheering me on…also my coaches for preparing and pushing me to my limits.”
Danielle Lowery added to Nelson’s early production with an eight point runner-up, All-State finish in the women’s shot put. The versatile Lady Tiger sophomore added another nine points with combined scoring places in the high jump, 400m dash, and 4x400 meter relay. It was the night's concluding relay that Lowery earned her second All-State certificate.
Freshman Payton Meyers, sophomore Ashlynn Whittaker, and senior Laney Wood joined Lowery with the second place relay score. All four girls, because of this top two finish in a state event, earned All-State honors. That put five of the nine Mansfield players on the indoor All-State team.
Despite Mansfield's best efforts, it was their depth issues that kept them short of the top two spots in the final team rankings. Unable to offer more than one entry into five different events with a two person limit, the thinly stretched Tiger nine eventually dropped pace with the proven winners from Providence Academy and the larger DeWitt school district.
Providence Academy, one of five private school entities that would land among the final top-ten scoring schools, would go on to win the meet with 142 total points. Their strength was built on the backs of a well rehearsed distance core that won the state’s class 3A cross country championship back in November. In fact, the independent institution swept every race 800 meters or above on Saturday night. Along with that, they also took all second place points in those same events in all races but one. They also ran the fastest times in the only two relay events.
By contrast, DeWitt did most of their damage via the sprint events. Other than Nelson edging in with her second place 60 meter dash, it was DeWitt that monopolized the short speed events. By virtue of that success, combined with a full slate of entries to capture those highly valuable second tier points, DeWitt took the state runner-up trophy home with 93 total points.
Mansfield, with 76 total points, was only 17 points away from bringing home at least one of the two coveted trophies presented by the Arkansas Track Coaches Association. It was a mathematical difference to which Mackey, a retired Algebra teacher, was well aware.
“You could drive yourself crazy thinking about the what ifs,” offered the Mansfield interim head coach. “Yeah, it's safe to say a box full of points didn’t make the bus. What gives you satisfaction though, and clarity is knowing that we had kids that prepared and competed at a high standard despite any perceived setbacks.”
The only Mansfield senior athlete to make the trip was Laney Wood. The one time high point winner scored in four different events at the ATCA competition. Her best outcome besides being the anchor leg to the second place 4x400 meter relay team came at the pole vault. Her 8 feet clearance garnered the team another eight points off a second All-State performance. Although the senior’s leap equaled the winning height, a scratch on her her first attempt came back to break the tie with an equally adept Providence Academy vaulter.
First time indoor participants Eva Trinh and Summer Lyon scored the first state points for the Lady Tiger program. Trinh, a sophomore, was the second leg on the fourth place 4x800 meter relay team with Whittaker, Wood, and Bailey London. Lyon, also a sophomore, made her two lap trip around the smaller indoor track worthwhile. She clocked in with the seventh best time in her classification at the 400 meter distance.
Bailey London, Mansfield’s Freshman Rising Star in 2024, was the team’s best distance runner scoring in three long distance races. Besides anchoring the 4x800 meter cooperative, the tenth grader picked up five points through the 1600 meter and 3200 meter runs.
Payton Meyers, the only Lady Tiger freshman to move up for the indoor competition, proved a valuable track commodity. The tiny-mite with explosive power won her heat of the women’s 200 meter dash. Her 30.56 second sprint around the entirety of the inside track placed her eighth overall just slightly behind DeWitt’s top two sprinters, a Lincoln Wolf, and Mansfield’s Nelson among others.
Mylee Strozier, one of only two Mansfield juniors to compete, ran in the first indoor meet of her young career after joining track last year with a partial outdoor season. Strozier missed a scoring place by tenths of a second in the 60 meter dash.
Mansfield was elevated back into the 3A track classification for the 2024-2026 AAA cycle after spending the last four years in class 2A.
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