FAYETTEVILLE - Strength in numbers allowed Bentonville to sweep the team titles Saturday during the Class 5A-7A Indoor State Track and Field Championship.
Bentonville used its depth to win its fifth girls indoor title in six years, finishing with 167.75 points. Runner-up Springdale Har-Ber finished with 136.25 points. The boys was a much closer as Bentonville scored 124 points to edge runner-up Springdale Har-Ber (114).
The Lady Tigers managed just two first-place finishes - McKenzie Dixon in the triple jump (36 feet, 11 3/4 inches) and the 4x800-meter relay team of Rebecca Solis, Katie Kotoucek, Sophie Quandt and Victoria Mitchell (9 minutes, 56 seconds) - compared to Har-Ber’s nine, five of which were won by Universitry of Oklahoma signee Payton Stumbaugh.But Bentonville piled up the numbers with two or three athletes scoring in every individual event.
“I knew it would be a real challenge to beat a team like Har-Ber because they’re very good,” Bentonville Coach Randy Ramaker said. “They have great athletes, and Fayetteville has some great athletes. For us, it becomes a situation where we have to get our team good enough to take some other points.
“That’s what we did.”
Stumbaugh set two meet records among her four victories, and helped Har-Ber win the 4x400 relay. Her time of 8.85 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles smashed the previous mark of 9.10 set in 2012 by Bryant’s Alexis Royal, then she ran the 200 in 24.53 seconds, surpassing the 25.68 set by Pine Bluff’s Lakeisha Martin in 2003.
Bentonville’s boys team saved its better performances for the final events, including Jacob Shiohira’s record time in the 3,200. His winning mark of 9:27.12 broke the mark of 9:30.43 set in 2007 by Josh Brewer of Lake Hamilton, while teammates Cameron Hill and Joshua Kraus gave the Tigers six more points.
Bentonville clinched the title when the team of Hunter Smithpeters, Jose Ramirez, Tyrone Mahone and Tom Watson won the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:31.98.
“We knew we would have a strong finish at the end,” Bentonville Coach Mike Power said. “We also won the triple jump on the last jump, and that was our strength - quality at the end of the meet.”
Mansfield won the Class 1A-4A girls title Friday night, scoring 126 points to defeat runner-up Heber Springs (76).
Heber Springs won the boys championship with 146 points. Crossett finished second with 84 points.
Sports, Pages 33 on 02/09/2014