Stumbaugh Sets Mark, In Second After Day 1

Payton Stumbaugh reaches up high during her long jump attempt Wednesday at the Ramay Junior High School track and field complex in Fayetteville during Day 1 of the decathlon and heptathlon state meets.

Payton Stumbaugh reaches up high during her long jump attempt Wednesday at the Ramay Junior High School track and field complex in Fayetteville during Day 1 of the decathlon and heptathlon state meets.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

FAYETTEVILLE — Springdale Har-Ber’s Payton Stumbaugh started defense of her Arkansas High School Heptathlon title on the right foot, but she finished the first day sitting in second place.

Stumbaugh edged Crossett’s Kelsey Herman in the 100-meter hurdles, set a heptathlon record and even held off Herman in the 200. However, Herman bested Stumbaugh in the long jump by a wide margin and leads the competition by 138 points after Wednesday at Ramay Junior High.

Herman, a junior, also walked away from the first day with more than just the lead. She also broke Stumbaugh’s first-day record for points with 2,897. The Har-Ber junior set that mark a year ago with 2,611.

Herman, who did not compete in last year’s heptathlon because of an injury, admitted to some nerves early in the day, but was pleased with her showing thus far.

“I think I ran better at the Meet of Champs, but overall I think I did all right today,” she said. “I’m excited about the second day. I don’t know about the 800. I’ve never ran it before, but I’ll just try to do my best.”

Herman won the 100 hurdles at the Meet of Champions on Saturday, but Stumbaugh edged her in 14.42 seconds in the first event Wednesday. Herman was a close second in 14.5. Both athletes eclipsed the heptathlon record in the event of 14.64 by Dee Brown of Little Rock Hall.

However, Herman long jumped 18-9 1/4, which was good for 765 points and was the best effort in the competition. Stumbaugh jumped only 16-11 1/4, which put her 162 points behind Herman.

Both athletes threw nearly the same in the discus with Stumbaugh outdistancing Herman by 4 3/4 inches. She gained only two points. Stumbaugh held off Herman in the 200, the final event of the first day, by .12 seconds and 11 points.

That left Herman in front and Stumbaugh a little anxious even though her first-day total of 2,759 was better than a year ago.

“It’s extremely close,” Stumbaugh said. “I’m sure I could have done better. My best throw in the discus was a foul. The long jump isn’t my strongest event, but it’s just a minor setback. I’m excited about tomorrow. I’ll just have to gut it out in the 800. I don’t really like it, but it will probably come down to that.”

Har-Ber track coach Brett Unger said he’s not surprised at all by Herman’s performance.

“We knew it was gonna be tough,” Unger said. “It’s not anything that’s taken us by surprise. We’ve just gotta come back tomorrow ready to go. We knew it was gonna be a dogfight.

Mikheala Cochran of Pea Ridge had the best performance in the discus, a throw of 98-4 3.4.