It is difficult to find a place where track and field shines as bright as Arkansas, and 2016 illuminated the point.
Whether native Arkansans, or current or former members of the Arkansas Razorbacks track and field program, the year was dominated by their accomplishments.
That’s why four of the top 10 stories in the state, as voted on by members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
sports department, involve these athletes’ accomplishments.
And it should come as no surprise, with 2016 as an Olympic year, that the successful participation of 23 athletes with Arkansas ties in Rio de Janeiro is the No. 1 sports story of the year.
To illustrate the elite status of those with Arkansas ties, they won three gold and two silver medals in Brazil, one less gold than Canada and one more than South Africa, among others.
Jeff Henderson, a 2007 graduate of Sylvan Hills, won the gold medal in the men’s long jump with a leap of 27 feet, 6 inches. Henderson was recently voted as the Arkansas-Democrat-Gazette Sportsman of the Year.
Former Arkansas Razorback Omar McLeod won gold for Jamaica in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, finishing in 13.05 seconds, .12 ahead of Spain’s Orlando Ortega.
“I got out, and I was reserved because I didn’t want my speed to get the best of me,” McLeod told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette after the Olympics. “Then I just let go.
“When I was at the fifth hurdle, I was just like, ‘Just be you.’ Then I started to gap them. I did what I’ve been doing all season.”
Taylor Ellis-Watson, a former Arkansas women’s athlete, earned a gold medal by being part of the U.S. champion 1,600-meter relay team. She ran the second leg in the preliminaries.
Two other former Arkansas Razorbacks female athletes earned silver in Rio.
Veronica Campbell-Brown, 32, ran a leg of the 400 relay for Jamaica. The silver was her eighth medal of her career.
Sandi Morris competed for the United States, clearing 15 feet, 11 inches in the women’s pole vault.
“I’ve dreamed about this day since I was a little girl,” Morris said. “To make it to the Olympics in the first place is just a huge feat. You have to jump through so many hoops to get here. Prelims, finals at the Olympic Trials. Prelims, finals here.
“It’s a very, very long journey just to make it to this spot. My goal tonight was to get any medal.”
Former Razorbacks Tyson Gay and Jarrion Lawson lost out on earning a bronze medal in the men’s 400 relay.
The U.S. team — with Gay running the third leg — crossed the finish line in third behind Jamaica and Japan for an apparent bronze medal, but then was qualified for what judges ruled was an illegal pass between leadoff man Mike Rogers and Justin Gatlin outside of the exchange zone.
Lawson didn’t run the final, but he would have earned a medal because he ran in the preliminaries.
Lawson also missed out on a medal in the long jump, where he took fourth place.
Another near-miss Arkansan was Stacy Lewis, a former Razorbacks golfer who tied for fourth in women’s golf at 9-under-par 275.
2. UALR BASKETBALL
1-and-done thrills
The head coach and most of the roster were unknowns when the UALR’s men’s basketball season began last year.
Coach Chris Beard, hired from Division II Angelo State to replace the fired Steve Shields, cobbled together a team of 10 newcomers that ended up with the program’s winningest season.
“We feel like if we approach every day with the idea of getting better,” Beard said before the season, “then a good day will turn into a good week, then a good week will turn into a good month, and hopefully some months will turn into a good season.”
It took time for some to be convinced.
An announced crowd of 1,936 watched UALR beat Central Baptist College 76-57 in Beard’s first game. Less than four months later, a Jack Stephens Center record crowd of 5,619 watched it beat Arkansas State.
The Trojans ended up 30-5, including Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament title and a double-overtime victory over Purdue in the NCAA Tournament.
“An unreal season,” former guard Mareik Isom said in February.
UALR was coming off consecutive losing seasons that led to Shields’ firing when Beard took over, hadn’t won 20 games in seven seasons and other than a surprise Sun Belt tournament title in 2011, hadn’t advanced to the postseason since 1996.
The Trojans won their first 10 games to start receiving votes in national polls. They were 27-3 before a regular-season ending loss at Appalachian State, which likely ended their chances of earning at-large berth into the tournament.
They didn’t need one.
UALR beat Louisiana-Lafayette 72-65, then pulled away from Louisiana-Monroe 70-50 in the final to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans, seeded 12th, drew Big Ten-tested Purdue in Denver, and UALR looked as it it had met its match.
The Boilermakers led 63-49 with 5:00 left, before the Trojans closed on a 21-7 run, the last points coming on a Josh Hagins stepback three-pointer from about 26 feet to force overtime.
Hagins, on his 22nd birthday, scored 10 points in the two overtimes on his way to a career-high 31 points.
The season ended two days later in a 78-61 loss to Iowa State. Then, two weeks later, Beard turned down a contract extension and a raise to leave for UNLV. Beard eventually ended up at Texas Tech, while associate head coach Wes Flanigan was promoted to head coach.
— Troy Schulte
3. JARRION LAWSON
First Jesse, now Jarrion
Arkansas senior track athlete Jarrion Lawson capped his collegiate career by equaling a feat previously accomplished only by the legendary Jesse Owens.
Lawson won the long jump and 100 and 200 meters at the 2016 NCAA outdoor championships in Eugene, Ore.
The only other person to do it was Jesse Owens for Ohio State in 1935 and 1936 before he went on to worldwide fame by winning four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics.
Lawson ran the 200 at an NCAA meet for the first time and the 100 for the second time, but had confidence he could pull off the triple.
“I came here expecting to win three events,’’ Lawson said. “Obviously, that’s hard.
“I do all these events because I love them. I take one event at a time. I treat them all with the respect they deserve and I treat all my competitors with the respect they deserve.’’
Lawson went 26 feet, 9 inches to win the long jump, then two days later won the 100 in 10.35 seconds and the 200 in 20.26 along with helping Arkansas take third in the 400 relay.
Lawson’s accounted from 31½ of second-place Arkansas’ 56 team points in the outdoor meet. Florida was first with 62.
“He’s definitely a freak athlete,’’ Arkansas teammate Kenzo Cotton said of Lawson. “He definitely went out with a bang.”
Equaling Owens’ achievements from 80 years earlier helped Lawson win the Bowerman Award Dec. 16 as the nation’s top collegiate track and field athlete of the year.
“At the meet, you’re caught up in the moment,” Arkanas Coach Chris Bucknam said. “You’re watching individuals compete in their respective events. All you’re thinking about is trying to win a team title.
“Then you look back at it and you realize how really phenomenal that performance was by Jarrion.”
Lawson said he first became aware of the Bowerman Award when he saw the trophy on display at the NCAA outdoor meet in 2013 when he was a freshman.
“In my mind, I thought, ‘Well, that’s not obtainable right now. I need to get my talent up,’ ” Lawson said. “So it’s surreal to me to be a winner of this award.”
4. RAWLEIGH WILLIAMS
Arkansas’ comeback kid
Rawleigh Williams had no feeling in his extremities.
He was scared and Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema, who could see the concern in his eyes, said it was one of the scariest moments of his career.
Williams was down on the turf at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in October, 2015, felled by a freakish facemask grab and head-on collision after a simple toss play against Auburn. The incident displaced a disc in his neck, which pushed up against his spine, nearly severing it.
Sensations started returning to Williams’ extremities in the ambulance ride to the hospital, but he still required surgery, the fusion of a metal plate to the disc, that would leave a scar on the right side of his neck.
Williams was all in for a return to the sport he loves when he was assured by his surgeon, Dr. James Blankenship, that more football would not increase his chances of further injury.
“I feel like this year can propel me to do some really good things,” Williams said after the first practice of spring.
Entering Thursday’s Belk Bowl, Williams led the SEC with 1,326 rushing yards. A first-team All-SEC pick by the Associated Press, Williams racked up two SEC player of the week awards, seven 100-yard games, including a career-high 205 yards, with four touchdowns, in a 58-42 victory at Mississippi State.
Williams said the psychological hurdle of returning to football was difficult, and it almost prevented him from making a comeback.
“Once I got over that hump, probably a month after the injury, there was nothing that could stop me,” Williams said.
Nothing stopped Williams from turning in one of college football’s top comeback stories in 2016.
5. ASU FOOTBALL
Red Wolves regroup
The best a football team in the Sun Belt Conference can hope for in most seasons is to earn a spot in one of the non-playoff New Year’s Six bowls.
That possibility was openly discussed by ASU Coach Blake Anderson before the season began. But three hours after the season kicked off in early September, the Red Wolves were dealing with a 31-10 loss to Toledo in Jonesboro.
That wouldn’t be the end of ASU’s frustrations in 2016. Three more losses followed before it won its first game. But the Red Wolves still managed to pull off what has become something of a custom in Jonesboro, winning at least a share of Sun Belt title and advancing to a bowl game.
ASU did that when it won eight of its final nine games, including a 31-13 victory over Central Florida in the Cure Bowl.
“To pull together and fight through a lot of adversity, and to win backto-back championships, I just don’t know if that’s been done before,” Coach Blake Anderson said before the victory. “It was not easy. It’s been an exhausting year to go through that.”
Expectations and hope for ASU football reached its peak during the summer, when a defense loaded with returners and an offense stacked with transfers prompted Anderson to target the Cotton Bowl as a potential destination.
“Why not us?” he said at the Sun Belt media days in New Orleans. “Why not this year?”
The Red Wolves didn’t come close, but what lands them on the list of the state’s top sports stories was their response.
ASU beat Georgia Southern on a Justice Hansen touchdown pass to Omar Bayless with 9 seconds left.
Then ASU beat South Alabama, Louisiana-Monroe, Georgia State and New Mexico State. A loss to Louisiana-Lafayette cost it a chance at an outright title, but it beat Texas State the next week to win a share of the title, its fifth in the past six seasons and sixth title in all.
“You can’t say enough about how they responded,” Anderson said. “It’s a culture. It’s a family.”
6. LEXI WEEKS
Freshman vaulter Rio good
Arkansas pole vaulter Lexi Weeks’ goal for her freshman season seemed lofty enough: qualify to compete at the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships.
“I just wanted to make it to the national meets,” Weeks said. “I had no idea I’d win both of them.”
Weeks — who set the national high school record by clearing 14 feet, 7½ inches as a senior at Cabot — became the first female to sweep NCAA pole vault titles as a freshman.
Weeks won the NCAA indoor title and set a meet record by clearing 15-2¼. She went 14-9 at the NCAA outdoors to win again.
Arkansas field events coach Bryan Compton said he couldn’t have predicted Weeks’ double NCAA titles, but he expected her to do well after going 14-9 in her first college meet.
“We do different workouts than they do in high school and she adapted very well,” Compton said. “We’ve still got to clean up her run and her pole drops, but she has a really good connection with the pole.
“That’s something she just naturally does and we don’t want to change that.”
Weeks said not getting overly nervous at the big meets was a key to her success.
“When I just calm down and don’t rush things, I’m able to do what I’m supposed to do,” she said. “I’ve been able to push the nerves aside.”
Weeks built on her NCAA success to take third at the U.S. Trials, where she cleared 15-5 to earn a trip to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The wear and tear of a long season finally caught up to Weeks when she went 14-7¼ in the Olympic preliminaries and failed to make the final.
“I didn’t think I’d be jumping 15-5 this year,” Weeks said. “But Coach Compton knows how to develop athletes.”
Flying to Rio de Janeiro was the first time Weeks traveled abroad.
“Lexi one day can tell her kids and grandkids her first time out of the country was to the Olympics,” Compton said. “That’s pretty special.”
— Bob Holt
7. TRAVIS WOOD
No knocking Cubs’ pitcher
Technically, Travis Wood has been unemployed since the Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series in early November.
But no matter where Wood ends up playing in 2017, the left-handed reliever from Bryant earned his keep for the world champions as a do-itall guy with a flair for the dramatic.
Wood’s impact on the Cubs was so profound that his hometown in Saline County threw him a parade when he returned to visit in mid-November.
Yes, he did raise eyebrows a few day earlier when he chose to go bare-chested with a camouflage vest at the Cubs’ victory celebration attended by 5 million or so in Chicago.
But it was Wood’s work out of the bullpen, at the plate, and even in the outfield, that made him stand out as the longest-tenured member of the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
As a pitcher, he appeared in 77 games for the Cubs, played left field late in two midsummer extra-inning games and became the first relief pitcher in 92 years to hit a home run in a postseason game when he hit a home run in the National League Division series against San Francisco.
Add in nine bullpen calls during the Cubs’ 17-game playoff run, and Wood pitched in 86 games, tied for the most in major-league baseball. Cleveland’s Brian Shaw also appeared in 86 games.
Wood finished the 2016 season with a 4-0 record and a 2.95 ERA last season, much more than a bit player in the Cubs’ championship season.
Cubs Manager Joe Maddon was never afraid to call on Wood when the situation was dire.
The most memorable instance came on May 18 at Miller Park in Milwaukee when Wood entered a bases-loaded, nobody out situation in the bottom of the 12th inning of a 1-1 game.
Wood retired the next three batters, stayed in the game to bat with the Cubs out of position players, and drew a bases-loaded walk to knock in the eventual winning run.
Twelve days later Wood was called out of the clubhouse to replace an ailing Jason Hammel in the top of the third inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Wood retired the 12 batters he faced, earned the victory and notso-subtle praise from Maddon.
“He can pitch for the next 10 years as a left-handed relief pitcher,” Maddon said after that game, listing the sharpness of Wood’s pitches, his increased velocity and his athleticism as assets.
For all of the dramatic effect, Wood is still job-hunting with seven weeks left before pitchers and catchers are required to report to spring training,
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported in early December that Wood’s agent, Darek Braunecker, said his client has attracted interest from seven NL teams, though nothing has materialized yet.
The question, now, is where will Wood be when the Cubs hand out World Series rings at Wrigley Field in early April. Will he be in Chicago, back with the Cubs, or will they have to ship his ring to another city.
Stay tuned. The Travis Wood show continues.
8. UA WOMEN’S TRACK
Outdoor title ‘special’
Arkansas senior distance runner Dominique Scott was out of indoor eligibility when Oregon edged the Razorbacks 53-50 for the 2016 NCAA title in Birmingham, Ala.
But Scott had outdoor eligibility left and extra motivation going into the NCAA meet in Eugene, Ore.
“We actually brought home the second-place banner from indoors and put it on our locker room floor and we now walk over it every day when we come in to practice and leave practice just to remind ourselves that second place isn’t what we want to get outdoors,” Scott said a few days before going to Eugene. “We want to be on top this year.”
Thanks in large part to Scott’s victories in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, the Razorbacks got their revenge against Oregon, beating the Ducks 72-62 for the NCAA outdoor title.
It was the first outdoor national championship for Arkansas’ women’s team after winning the indoor title in 2015.
“To contribute 20 points for the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks’ first outdoor team title is a dream come true,’’ Scott said. “I was not out there running for myself. I was running for Coach Lance Harter and the girls.”
Oregon led 58-54 going into the 5,000 — the meet’s next-to-last event — when Scott clinched the team championship by winning the race in 15 minutes, 57.7 seconds. She won the 10,000 two nights earlier.
“It was obviously bittersweet, this being my last meet for Arkansas,” Scott said. “I wanted to enjoy all 37½ laps I did this week.’’
Other seniors coming through for the Razorbacks included Taylor Ellis-Watson, who finished second in the 400 and anchored Arkansas’ victory in the 1,600 relay, and Jessica Kamilos, who took second in the steeplechase. Freshman Lexi Weeks won the pole vault.
“It’s super special,’’ Harter said of winning the team championship. “I know who we’re losing. We better appreciate the moment.’’
— Bob Holt
9. RONNIE HUCKEBA
Coach saves best for last
Ronnie Huckeba announced before the season began that this would be his last as Harding’s football coach.
His final year at his alma mater turned out to be quite a ride.
The Bisons went 13-1, completed their first undefeated regular season, their first Great American Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals, the deepest any Arkansas team had advanced in the Division II playoffs. Their only loss was disappointing, 35-0, but it was to Northwest Missouri State, the eventual national champion that has won 30 consecutive games.
“I didn’t want to quit when I was a broken-down old man with no passion,” Huckeba said in August. “I wanted to retire when I still felt great and still felt a passion for the game.”
The Bisons, spurred by a Flexbone option offense and an attacking defense, beat every GAC opponent but one by 17 or more points while leading the league in scoring offense
(38.1), scoring defense (15.2), total defense (257.9), rushing (362.8), rushing defense (72.1), turnovers forced (35) and sacks (29).
Harding opened the playoffs with a 48-31 victory over Central Missouri State in Searcy, and then Sioux Falls, 27-24, in South Dakota, in overtime. It then had to go to Northwest Missouri State, where its offense bogged down in a 35-0 loss.
Huckeba finished his 10-year run at 69-40, including 47-11 over his last five seasons. It also ended his 31-year tenure on the staff in any capacity and his 40-year run as a football coach.
— Troy Schulte
10. TEXARKANA
Legion legends of ball
The Texarkana Razorbacks became the first Arkansas team to win an American Legion World Series title, earning the crown with an 8-6 victory in 12 innings over Salisbury, N.C. in Shelby, N.C., on Aug. 16.
Second baseman Nick Myers and first baseman Parker Ribble each provided two-run hits in the top of the 12th inning and the Razorbacks survived a scare in the bottom of the inning to hold on for the victory.
The Razorbacks (42-5) got into the World Series thanks to a rainstorm and an obscure tiebreaker.
Texarkana lost in the first round of the regional tournament to Mississippi, but won the next five games to force a winner-take-all game against state-rival Bryant. But that game — which was scheduled to be played on a Sunday afternoon — was rained out. The possibility of more severe weather the next morning caused Legion officials to cancel the championship game.
Texarkana was awarded the regional title because it had defeated Bryant 6-5 on Saturday in what was a meaningless game for Bryant, which went through the winners’ bracket undefeated.
Once in the World Series, Texarkana dropped its first game to California, but responded with victories over Rhode Island and Virginia to qualify for the semifinals. The Razorbacks defeated Rockport, Ind., to set up a championship match with North Carolina.
Arkansas fell behind 4-0 after four innings, but rallied to tie the game with four runs in the fifth inning.
Ribble had three hits, including two doubles, in the Razorbacks’ 14-hit attack. Austin Cross, the third of four pitchers, earned the victory.
Catcher Will Smith was selected as the American Legion Player of the Year. Cross and center fielder Blake Hall were also named to the World Series All-Tournament team. Third baseman Logan Vidrine was awarded the sportsmanship award.
Honorable mentions
11.Hampton loses by one point in Class 2A football state championship game one year after not fielding a team.
12.Legendary high school football coach Red Parker dies at age 84.
13.Daryl Patton resigns from Fayetteville, but Bulldogs win second consecutive Class 7A football state championship.
14.Cabot boys basketball team shocks Bentonville, Malik Monk in Class 7A final for first state championship.
15.Arkansas Travelers end longtime affiliation with Angels, strike deal with Mariners.