BENTONVILLE -- There was a time when Morganne Johnston and LeeAnn Mitchell had to compete against each other in both the shot put and the discus just to see who would go to the upcoming track meet and who might stay home.
The number of throwers on Bentonville's girls track team aren't as plentiful this year, so both seniors don't have to be concerned about having to stay home while the other gets to display her talents at the latest meet. But that doesn't keep them from their competitions -- whether it's the serious ones during the meets or rekindling the friendly rivalry the two share during practice.
Profile
Morganne Johnston and LeeAnn Mitchell
School: Bentonville
Class: Seniors
Height: Both 5-11
Notable: Both have automatically qualified for the Class 7A state track and field championships in the discus this spring, while Mitchell has also qualified in the shot put. … Johnston throws the shot put and discus right-handed, while Mitchell is left-handed. … The two have been teammates since the eighth grade, when they competed in club and junior high volleyball as well as track.
"We're spending the most amount of time we can together, trying to improve each other," Johnston said. "And we're also cheering each other during the last season. It's good competition, and I would rather have LeeAnn as competition than some of the other schools.
"It's pretty mutual between the two of us, and we cheer for each other. If LeeAnn has a good throw, I'll definitely tell her about it. If she has a pretty bad throw, then I'm going to tell her about that, too."
The two have been track teammates since eighth grade, as well as club and junior high volleyball, but they were anything but friends in the beginning. Mitchell even called the connection between the two as "non-existent" in the early years, especially since they could be around other throwers and other friends at the time.
As time passed, however, those other throwers either graduated or left the program. That has caused the teammates to build a stronger bond.
"We're all each other has now," Mitchell said. "We've become better friends since then. If one of us messes up, we joke about it because the other one will probably mess up pretty soon. "
The two throwers have been known to enhance the competition during practices by placing a marker on a spot and daring the other to throw farther than that distance. Even Bentonville track coach Randy Ramaker has becomes involved in those challenges and has placed cones, then dared both of them to throw past the cones.
Both of them have benefited from it, although Mitchell has the upper hand in both events at the moment. They have automatically qualified in the discus for next month's Class 7A state meet in Fayetteville, but Mitchell has reached the qualifying standard in the shot put while Johnston is approximately a foot short of that mark.
"We expect big things out of them this year because those are events in which they are seniors," Ramaker said. "They've been there for a while, so they should be able to score for us. We also have a younger thrower, and they help her out a lot even though the girl is pretty talented.
"They're good kids. They come to practice, they work hard, and they get after it. It's not as competitive as it was in the past when they had to try out for a meet, but they still look and see how far the other is throwing. There's also a lot of ways to conduce competitiveness in a meet."
Henry Apple can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAHenry
Sports on 04/16/2015