Before the coronavirus reared its ugly head in America and forced the shutdown of virtually all sporting events, both amateur and professional, the Greenwood High School track and field team managed to participate in the James Lemley Quad City Relays in Fort Smith.
The annual event was held on the campus of Southside High School on Tuesday, March 10th, just days before the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) suspended all prep spring sporting activities statewide. Classes were also cancelled with students doing their work from home via the internet.
The Governor’s office and the AAA will reassess the situation after April 17th to see if schools can reopen, though the return of high school spring sports would seem to be in doubt. By mid-April there would only be a few weeks left before graduation and the normal post-season tournaments.
Lady Bulldogs
The GHS girls scored 30 points in the meet, finishing fourth behind Van Buren (119), Fort Smith Northside (67), and Southside (37).
Greenwood’s strength in track is in long distance running, and that’s where most of their points came from, thanks to Macie Cash and Taylor Koeth.
Between them the two seniors won three events and placed second in another. Cash won both the 800-meter and 1600-meter runs with times of 2:29.70 and 5:33.18, respectively.
Koeth placed first in the 3200-meter run with a winning time of 12:12.77. She was followed by third place Abi Coston of Greenwood (14:52.44). Taylor also finished second in the 1600-meter run (5:44.99).
One other notable finish for the Lady Bulldogs was Chailyn Thorne in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing second with a time of 19.14 seconds.
Bulldogs
The GHS boys earned 20 points in the meet behind Southside (161), Northside (94), and Van Buren (77). Both Greenwood teams are led by head coach Brian Sims.
The highlight for the Bulldogs was Christian Schaefer, who won first place in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 12’6”. No other GHS thinclad finished higher than fourth place.
Long distance runner Vincent Gonzales placed fourth in both the 1600 and 3200-meter runs with times of 5:02.01 and 11:08.22, respectively.
The 4x800-meter relay team also earned fourth place points with a time of 9:00.97. There were a couple of fifth place finishes for the Bulldogs as well.
Austin Dagle ran fifth (2:17.41) in the 800-meter run, while Halen Carter placed fifth in the shot put with a toss of 40’-½”. Senior Nathan Neathers also placed sixth in the discus at 98’9”.