After qualifying several athletes at the conference meet a week earlier at Lake Hamilton, the GHS track and field team had a respectable showing at the 6A state meet at Russellville last week.
Head Coach Brian Sims and his Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs scored in nine events, totaling 29 points for the Greenwood boys (8th place) and 16 points (10th) for the GHS girls.
Among the school’s top performers were distance runners Joseph Wittig, Nathaniel Gonzales, and Taylor Koeth, all of which scored at least third place or higher.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Koeth placed third in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12:18.38. She also placed fifth in the 1600-meter event with a time of 5:39.85. Koeth is only a sophomore.
The GHS girls also got a point from distance runner Macie Cash, who finished 8th in the 1600-meter with a time of 5:43.47. She also competed in the 800-meter run (2:39.79) finishing 10th.
Also for the Lady Bulldogs, pole vaulter Annalee Buso placed fourth overall, clearing the bar at 10 feet even to earn five points for her team.
For the Bulldogs, Wittig won the 3200-meter event, setting a new school record with a time of 9:58.04, scoring 10 points. The senior finished 17 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher from Lake Hamilton, and 18 seconds ahead of GHS teammate Nathaniel Gonzales, who placed third with a time of 10:16.39 to earn six points.
Wittig also placed second (4:29.72) in the 1600-meter run, five seconds off the winning pace. His performance earned Greenwood an additional eight points.
GHS sprinter Max Vickery placed sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.9 seconds, earning three points. Bulldogs’ pole vaulter Christian Schafer placed seventh (12’-4”) for two points.
The Lake Hamilton boys (140.5 points) and girls (100 points) won both divisions at state. Benton and Sheridan finished second and third, respectively, in girls’ competition, while Texarkana and Benton placed second and third, respectively, for the boys.
Conference
The 6A West conference meet was held at Lake Hamilton on April 27th, with numerous GHS thinclads qualifying for state. The Lady Bulldogs placed eighth with 29 points, while the GHS boys finished sixth overall with 43 points.
For the Greenwood girls, Taylor Koeth had the best performances of the day, finishing second (12:19.47) in the 3200-meter run and third (5:45.49) in the 1600-meter run. Macie Cash was fourth (5:47.04) in the 1600-meter run and sixth (2:38.40) in the 800-meter run.
Annalee Buso was fifth (10’) in the pole vault, and the 4x100-meter relay team placed seventh (55.75), which was a school record.
Destiny Stallings placed eighth (21.53) in the 100-meter hurdles, after setting a new school mark in the prelims (17.71).
Long jumpers Abby Cagle and Sierra Wilson also competed but did not score. Cagle also participated in the triple jump.
For the GHS boys, nine athletes scored points for the Bulldogs, including first place finishes by Joseph Wittig in both the 1600-meter (4:31.83) and the 3200-meter runs (10:12.16).
Nathan Gonzales placed fourth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:31.57, scoring six points and qualifying for the state meet.
Max Vickery scored third-place points in the 200-meter dash (22.75 finals) after setting a new school record with a time of 22.47 in the prelims. He also set a school best time of 11.27 seconds in the 100-meter dash in the finals for fourth place.
Christian Schaefer placed fifth (13’) in the boys’ pole vault, while the 4x800-meter relay team placed sixth with a school best time of (9:09.26).
Others who competed but did not score for the GHS boys included runners Ryan and Riley Farr, Nick Lewis, Vincent Gonzales, and Dalton Oxford, along with Josh Maze (discus), Austin Youngwolfe (discus), Noah Fox (shot put) and Joshua Taylor (shot).
Meet of Champs
Two GHS athletes will participate in the annual Meet of Champs to be held at Lake Hamilton on Saturday, May 12th. They are Annalee Buso in the girls’ pole vault and Joseph Wittig in both the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs.