7A needs host after NLR bows out

Friday, January 17, 2014

North Little Rock’s bid to host the 2014 Class 7A state basketball tournament has been derailed by its own campus construction.

North Little Rock had been the only school to submit a bid to host the 7A event by last week’s deadline, but the school withdrew its bid before Thursday’s meeting of the Arkansas Activities Association Board of Directors, citing a possible unsafe environment.

“Construction at our facility, and lack of adequate parking near our arena, create a hazard for the patrons from visiting schools,” wrote North Little Rock Athletic Director Gary Davis.

North Little Rock was hoping to host a state basketball tournament for the first time since 2004.

AAA Executive Director Lance Taylor said that with construction crews occupying all the parking lots, transporting teams to and from the arena would not feasible.

“They’re not going to have parking for their kids,” Taylor said of North Little Rock. “The kids are going to have to park at the West campus and then they would have to bus them. So they don’t think it’s going to be safe for everybody trying to get everyone in there with no parking. It would be a mess.

“I hate it for them. They got two good teams, but they don’t think it would be safe for everybody.”

Taylor said finding a host for the Class 7A tournament should not be that difficult and that a site could be determined as early as today. The 7A-Central and 7A-West normally rotate hosting the state tournament every year and this year’s tournament is scheduled for the 7A-Central. Fayetteville hosted the 2013 Class 7A state tournament.

The state basketball tournaments will be played from March 4-8. The state championship games will be played the March 12-14 in Hot Springs.

The six other state-tournament sites were determined without contention: Jonesboro (6A), Alma (5A), Lonoke (4A), Charleston (3A), Hampton (2A) and Harrison (1A) were all awarded basketball state tournaments. Lonoke, Charleston and Hampton are all hosting state basketball tournaments for the first time in facilities that have been built within the past five years.

“We felt like we put our best foot forward, and the community of Lonoke has wanted this for a long time,” Lonoke Athletic Director Nathan Morris said. “It’s a lot of hard work, but we’re excited. We beat out a lot of good schools with great facilities. We just hope we can do everybody justice and put on a great 4A state tournament.”

Lonoke’s Gina Cox Center, which was completed six months ago, can seat 2,040 fans and has seven dressing rooms. Lonoke beat out Heber Springs, Lincoln, Maumelle and Valley View for the right to host the event.

“I think in the 4A classification, it’s second to none,” Morris said. “In the state of Arkansas, I think it’s in the top five or six.”

Hampton superintendent Jimmy Cunningham said his school is excited about hosting a state tournament, even though the school’s teams will be dark horses to qualify for the event. Hampton had to rebuild its gym after it and several other buildings at the southeast Arkansas school were damaged when a storm ravaged the campus two years ago. Cunningham said the facility can seat 1,500 fans.

“We had to play all of our games away from home for more than a year because of the storm,” Cunningham said.“So, our community’s excited. We haven’t had a (Class 2A) state tournament in south Arkansas in a long time. … I don’t know if we’ll even be in it, but it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase our facility.”

Hampton beat out four northeast Arkansas schools: Buffalo Island Central, Cedar Ridge, Marmaduke and Rector.

Jonesboro beat out Siloam Springs for the 6A; Alma was the lone bidder for the 5A; Charleston was selected over Hoxie for the 3A and North Arkansas Community College in Harrison was awarded the Class 1A over Hillcrest and West Side Greers Ferry.

State, regional tournament sites BASKETBALL State tournaments March 4-8 CLASS SITE 7A TBA 6A Jonesboro 5A Alma 4A Lonoke 3A Charleston 2A Hampton 1A Harrison Regional tournaments Feb. 26-March 1 CLASS 4A REGION SITE North Lincoln South Nashville East Clinton CLASS 3A 1 Elkins 2 B. Harmony Grove 3 Mountain View 4 Drew Central CLASS 2A North Pangburn South GurdonEast Carlisle West Eureka Springs CLASS 1A 1 Lead Hill 2 Izard County 3 Mt. Vernon-Enola 4 Cossatot River BASEBALL State tournaments May 15-17 CLASS SITE 7A North Little Rock 6A TBA 5A Jacksonville 4A Nashville 3A Bergman (Harrison) 2A Woodlawn (P. Bluff) 1A Lead Hill (Mtn.

Home) SOFTBALL State tournaments May 15-17 CLASS SITE 7A Conway

6A Benton

5A Jacksonville

4A Monticello

3A Bergman (Harrison)

2A Marked Tree

1A Izard Co. (Mtn. Home) SOCCER

May 15-17

CLASS SITE

7A boys Fayetteville

7A girls Bentonville

6A Russellville

5A Harrison

4A Central Ark. Christian TRACK

MAY 5-10

CLASS SITE

7A Cabot

6A Russellville

5A Harrison

4A Nashville

3A Morrilton

2A TBA

1A Green Forest

Sports, Pages 29 on 01/17/2014