Mansfield Junior High was one of eighteen schools to descend upon the Bearcat Relays in Booneville on March 11. With the points being spread among the many, Mansfield had to settle for a fourth place team finish for the second consecutive week. Waldron, Pottsville, and Russellville again took top honors albeit in a slightly different order than the Hillbilly Relay results from the previous week’s kickstart to the season.
It was Mansfield’s freshmen that once again put up the most points for the Lady Tigers. The combination of Abby Smith, Rylan Jones, Miley Clopton, and Payton Meyers proved formidable. Another freshman, Adeline Godwin, one of the top Tigers and perhaps one of the team’s most dynamic full time track athletes, was sidelined with injury.
“The tough part for this team is that our leading scorers are getting limited reps,” Mansfield’s interim coach and former head coach John Mackey recognized. “Many of those scoring are dual sport kids. They spend a significant amount of time away from the track. For that reason, meet reps become even more critical. They are tremendous athletes pushing hard through a pair of parallel seasons.”
Smith, for example, spent a Sunday afternoon preparing an expanded role at Tuesday’s junior high track meet. Since the conclusion of basketball season, the ninth grader has been immersed in softball practice. In order to broaden her role on and around the track, the versatile athlete took to the weekend to polish up her track skill events.
“Abby took advantage of volunteer practice time last weekend at the track,” the coach pointed out. “It says much about a kid that is willing to spend one of her only days off to work on her craft. It gave her significant rehearsal time in two of her premiere events, the pole vault and hurdles.”
As a result, Smith ran a personal record in the 100m hurdles at the Bearcat event. Her newly established mark was a handheld recording of 17.46 seconds. Against a strong field in which the top four hurdlers were within a half a second of each other, the inconsistency of a handheld clock left her in fourth place. For her first opportunity over a full flight of hurdles this season, the retired Mansfield coach considered that a solid start.
“We spent a good portion of time on Sunday working proper mechanics and developing muscle memory over the hurdles,” Mackey continued. “She really picked up where she left off from a year ago under Coach Andrews. I think the race set a good standard to which she can build. Her technique is improving with every minute. You just wait and see what increased time on the track will do for her accomplishments.”
Mansfield only won two events at the Booneville venue. First came Jones’s mastery at the shot put. The freshman pushed the six pound ball 35’ 6” for the win. It was the second consecutive competition shot put for the dual sport athlete to produce a landing over 35 feet.
“Again, it’s all about the reps,” Mackey noted. “With increased practice and a little more weight room time, I feel like Rylan will approach the 40 foot boundary.”
Mansfield’s next win came in the 4x100m relay. The lineup of Meyers, Clopton, Smith and eighth grader Bethany Mounts took the blue ribbon ahead of second place Waldron, their Scott County rival. With Mounts anchoring, the Lady Tigers broke the tape at 54.70 with the Bulldogs closing strong at 55.83.
“Bethany did a terrific job with the ninth graders, but Miley’s one of the fastest girls in school,” the Mansfield mentor pointed out. “She’s so explosive and passes so well that we want to keep her at the number two spot. That way our freshmen stay in order and connected. That creates a rehearsed formation that makes it easier to ultimately join the high school’s state champion anchor, Daisy Nelson.”
Bentley Hoover joined Mounts, Smith and Jones in a different relay, the concluding 4x400m punctuation mark. It was the Tigers second best scoring position among the relays. The 4 person, 4 lap cooperative saw the exchanges completed in 4:49.97 to take third in the event. That brought Mansfield’s total team score to 71 points which was slightly behind larger school front runners Russellville (73), Pottsville (74.5), and Waldron (112.5).
Smith and Meyers went second and fifth respectively in the pole vault to give Mansfield an early boost. Lillianna Porter supported in the distance events along with Jones, Abbigail Adams, and Hadley Shores. Mayce Phillips, Ellah Heydenreich, Natalee Moore, and Hoover helped the cause in the 4x200m relay.
Kaylynn Piyapho and Jalee Edwards each went over 30 feet in the shot put like their teammate Jones. Accounting for seventh grader Kamryn Bolin at the throws, Mansfield has four underclassmen all pushing the steel ball over the ‘three decade’ distance.
Mansfield’s seventh grade and junior high track teams are scheduled to host a four team practice meet on March 18. Field events begin at 3:30 with races to start immediately after the conclusion of the last field event.
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