FAYETTEVILLE -- The time Bentonville's girls ran in the 4x800-meter relay Saturday afternoon was good enough to break the state indoor meet record for Class 5A through 7A schools.
The only problem was Victoria Mitchell -- the Lady Tigers' third runner -- had run five laps instead of four, while Katy Kotoucek ran only three. The same thing happened to second-place Rogers High as Aubrey Gilreath ran five laps and Emily Efurd ran only three.
"This is the first time I've ever seen this happen," Bentonville Coach Randy Ramaker said after the race.
The mistake was caught, and a rules committee met near the finish line to discuss the situation. It was determined Bentonville's team of Sophia Quandt, Trinity Walker, Mitchell and Kotoucek would keep their winning time of 9:47.78 seconds because the error wasn't the Lady Tigers' fault. Rogers finished second at 9:53.31.
But Bentonville's time will not be recognized as a meet record because the error was made.
"It's fine," Ramaker said. "It shouldn't be a state record because it wasn't run properly. I very much agree with that. The fact that it kept the race in the order that it was, I also agree with because that's how it would have finished anyway. In both cases, it's OK."
Two state records eventually fell without a hitch. Fayetteville's Jasmin Franklin had a throw of 42-2¾ in the shot put and passed the previous record of 41-3 set by Russellville's Rebecca Gosnell in 2002.
On the boys side, Little Rock Catholic's Kieran Taylor passed up running the 1,600 to focus on the 800. The strategy worked as Taylor's time of 1:54.20 eclipsed the previous record of 1:55.91 set by former Rocket Alex Chaffin in 2011.
"I knew I could do really good," Taylor said. "We had time trials about two weeks ago, and I ran a 1:53. I knew I was going to go for it. The question was how fast I was going to go.
"I had in my head an idea who would be in the race, and Toler (Freyaldenhoven) and Jessie (Ramirez) are both good runners. They would push me the whole way. The plan was to go out at 55 or 56, and that was exactly where I was."
Fayetteville's girls not only enjoyed a record performance by Franklin but they also broke Bentonville's string of four consecutive indoor titles. The Lady Bulldogs had 113 to the Lady Tigers' 103, while Rogers High was a distant third with 73.5.
Fayetteville did it by beating Bentonville with numbers, something the Lady Tigers had successfully done in previous years. McKenzie Penne was a double winner with performances in the long jump (16-10¼) and in the triple jump (35-10), where she teamed with Adriana Kitchen and Osaretin Ogbeide to give Fayetteville a 1-2-3 finish.
Bentonville's boys forced a tie with Fayetteville for the team title with 90 points apiece, thanks to the Tigers' strong finish in the 4x400 relay. The Tigers entered the event trailing the Bulldogs by an 88-80 margin, but the team of Billy Horton III, Taylor Michael, Devin Dougherty and Andrew Shewmaker made up the deficit with a victory.
The Bentonville team turned in a 3:28.77 time and grabbed 10 points, while Fayetteville's team took seventh and scored two.
"We were trailing and having to play catch up the whole meet," Bentonville Coach Mike Power said. "We knew we had a really strong 4x4. It's one of the strengths on our team, and we pride ourselves in trying to win that race in every meet.
"It was just another time to win it at this meet. That was our goal, and we couldn't control what Fayetteville did. I think it was a great ending to a high-quality meet."
The 4x400 relay turned out to be the only event Bentonville won. Fayetteville had one-two finishes by Collin Pilkington and Camren Fischer in the 1,600 and 3,200, Terrance Rock in the long jump (21-6), Blake Young in the shot put (55-4) and Caleb Cooper in the triple jump (45-2).
Sports on 02/07/2016