The Greenwood High School track and field team is taking this week off for spring break, but will return to live competition next Tuesday, March 26th in the Tiger Relays at Mansfield. Next Friday the 29th they will travel to Rogers, Arkansas for the Whitey Smith Relays. Before spring break, the GHS girls and boys hosted the annual Bulldog Relays at Smith-Robinson Stadium last Wednesday, March 13th.
The Greenwood thinclads opened their outdoor season on March 11th in Van Buren at the annual James Lemley Quad City Meet. But even before that, a handful of GHS athletes competed in the Arkansas state indoor meet at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville on February 3rd. Five Lady Bulldogs and two GHS boys took part in the huge event that included athletes from over 100 Arkansas schools. Three GHS ladies scored points in the highly competitive meet.
The best finish among the Lady Bulldogs was by sophomore Julia Witherington in the 1600-meter run. She placed fifth overall with a time of 5:49.67, about five seconds ahead of fellow GHS sophomore Camryn Coston, who finished sixth with a time of 5:54.41. Both girls are part of the girls’ cross country team at Greenwood, the current state champions.
Another member of that championship cross country squad, senior Paige Andrews ran sixth at Fayetteville in the 3200-meter run with a time of 12:50.69. She is the daughter of GHS cross country and track coach Jim Andrews, selected in January as the state’s cross country Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Two other Lady Bulldogs also competed but did not score in the state indoor meet. They were promising newcomer Gracie Goines, a freshman, and another sophomore, Piper Ames, who was part of the winning cross country team last fall. Goines ran the 800-meter race, finishing 19th overall with a time of 3:04.08. Ames, who is the daughter of GHS cross country assistant coach Becky Ames, placed 10th in the 3200-meter run with a time of 13:10.05.
The two Greenwood boys to take part in the meet were junior Rhett Williams and freshman Ridik Lawless. Williams placed 19th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.41 seconds, while Lawless competed in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:29.88 for 26th place.
Quad Cities Meet
Originally slated for Friday, March 8th, the meet was rescheduled for Monday the 11th at Van Buren. Five areas teams took part in the event including Alma, Fort Smiith Northside and Southside, Greenwood, and Van Buren. GHS Head Coach Jason Gill had about ten young ladies compete while the GHS boys had four athletes to participate. Of those competitors, one finished in first place, four placed second overall in their events with another third-place finish, a fifth-place performance, and two sixth place finishes. The following is a list of all the Lady Bulldogs and their results.
100-meter dash: junior Kristina Andrews, 15th place (18.67 seconds); 400-meter dash: sophomore Piper Ames, 2nd place (1:09.23); 400-meter dash: junior Elizabeth Moy, 6th place (1:16.07); 800-meter run: senior Paige Andrews, 3rd place (2:37.25); 1600-meter run: sophomore Julia Witherington, 1st place (5:39.41); 1600-meter run: sophomore Camryn Coston, 2nd place (5:56.54); 4x800-meter relay: GHS team, 2nd place (10:36.78); Discus throw: senior Norah Sights, 5th place (69’10”); Discus throw: senior Taryn Presson, 7th place (53’4”); Shot put: Norah Sights, 7th place (23’2”); Shot put: Taryn Presson, 9th place (22’0”).
The following list of GHS boys competed in the Quad Cities Meet with their results. 100-meter dash: sophomore Tremon Hunt, 6th place (11.58 seconds); 400-meter dash: junior Rhett Williams, 8th place (56.45 seconds); 800-meter run: junior Carson Thornsberry, 11th place (2:34.27); 1600-meter run: sophomore Andrew Rye, 7th place (5:02.76); Long jump: Tremon Hunt, 2nd place (20’3½”).
Bulldog Relays
Just two days after the Quad Cities Meet, the Bulldog Relays were advanced 24 hours to last Wednesday the 13th to escape a bad weather forecast for the 14th. Nine area teams, including one from Oklahoma, took part in the meet. Russellville ran away with the meet with 225 points for its girls and 267 for its boys. Waldron was a distant second in both categories while Greenwood's limited number of girls scored 37 points. The GHS boys scored 70 points, finishing third behind Russellville and Waldron.
Assistant track coach Jim Andrews had five of his cross country girls compete for the Lady Bulldogs, with four of them placing either first or second in their events. Piper Ames ran second in the 800-meter run (2:36.74) while Julia Witherington placed first in the 1600-meter run (5:40.79). Paige Andrews (12:10.91) and junior Carole Werner (12:48.14) finished first and second, respectively, in the 3200-meter run. In the 200-meter dash Elizabeth Moy finished in 12th place with a time of 35.28 seconds. She also placed eighth in the 400-meter dash (1:13.94).
The Bulldogs had about 20 athletes compete in their only home meet of the season with 13 top six finishes. The following is a list of the GHS boys that participated in 13 events. The best performance for a Bulldog was sophomore Easton Carter in the high jump, which he won, sailing over the bar at six feet even for first place. Tremon Hunt placed third (21’1”) in the long jump, followed by sophomore D.J. Dobbins in 10th place (18’10½”) and Easton Carter 11th (18’8”).
In the triple jump, Carter finished in third place (37’4½”) with Dobbins placing fifth (36’8”). Finally, in the shot put Greenwood had three Bulldogs to compete. Senior Ryan Frank (29’9”), sophomore Justin Permenter (28’11”), and sophomore Landon Billy (28’10”) finished 13-14-15, respectively.
In the remaining nine track events, the Bulldogs got a second-place finish, two third place finishes, five fifth place and one sixth place finish. Starting with the 100-meter dash, speedy Greenwood junior Isaih Arrington placed fifth (11.65 seconds), Tremon Hunt 12th (12.18), and sophomore Wesley Raggio 15th (12.54). In the 200-meter dash, Benton Hossley ran 12th (25.37), Cooper Bland placed 14th (25.92), and Micheal Shaw was 15th (25.94). All three athletes are sophomores.
In the distance events, Rhett Williams, Reis Denson, and Caleb Cox all competed in the 400-meter run. Williams placed third (56.03), Denson fifth (59.33), and Cox 10th (1:02.32). Denson and Cox are both sophomores. Carson Thornsberry placed 13th (2:29.58) in the 800-meter run and Andrew Rye ran fifth (5:03.04) in the 1600-meter event.
GHS junior Silas Spicer finished in fifth place in the 110-meter hurdles while Easton Carter, Spicer, and Thornsberry all competed in the 300-meter hurdles. Carter was fifth (45.40), Spicer was sixth (45.81), and Thornsberry was eighth (48.23). Both Greenwood relay teams did well, with the 4x100 squad placing second (45.37), and the 4x400-meter team finishing third (3:53.93).
Head Coach Jason Gill, who is also the varsity Bulldogs highly regarded defensive coordinator in football, is assisted in the spring by Jim Andrews, Amy Hardy, Luke Hales, and Eric Daniel. Besides cross country head coach Andrews, Hardy is the girls junior high head basketball coach, while Hales is the head junior high football coach and Daniel is the team’s defensive coach.