Battling springtime weather is nothing new for high school track and field teams across the nation, especially in the South, and the spring of 2025 is no different. The eager Greenwood High School thinclads finally returned to action last week in the annual Bulldog Relays held at Smith-Robinson Stadium.
After opening their season at Bentonville before two events at Van Buren, the two GHS squads competed at Alma on March 20th just before the start of spring break. Since then, their scheduled meets at Mansfield and Siloam Springs were both cancelled, giving them three weeks between performances. With their regular season now winding down, the two GHS squads will compete in Van Buren’s Pointer Relays on Thursday this week before next Thursday’s McDonald’s Relays at Fort Smith Southside High School. The 5A West conference meet will be held at Farmington on Thursday, May 1st.
A dozen area schools joined Greenwood last Thursday on the synthetic turf and track of Smith-Robinson Stadium to ply their athletic skills in competition under a clear sky in pleasant temperatures. Invited teams included Acorn High School, Alma, Booneville, the Don Tyson School of Innovation, Greenland, Lavaca, Mansfield, Rogers-Heritage, Rogers, Union Christian Academy, Van Buren, and Waldron. At the end of the meet, Greenwood had 10 top five finishes from the Lady Bulldogs while the Greenwood boys had 17 top five results. Jason Gill is the head coach for both GHS squads.
Lady Bulldogs
Greenwood’s Daisy Farris finished in sixth place in the girls 100-meter dash with a time of 13.88 seconds. In the same event, Laura Bankuti ran 11th and Kristina Andrews was 21st for the Lady Bulldogs. Bankuti had a better result in the 200-meter dash, finishing seventh with a time of 29.81 seconds. In the 400-meter dash, Greenwood’s Hadley Webb placed second with an outstanding time of 1:03.98, the only Greenwood girl to compete in the finals.
As usual, the distance running events were very good to the Lady Bulldogs on the strength of performances by the outstanding ladies of the GHS cross country team, especially in the two longest races. In the 800-meter run, Greenwood’s Camryn Coston finished in seventh place with a time of 2:43.61. Gracie Goines placed 16th for the Lady Bulldogs.
The 1600-meter event was dominated by the girls of Rogers High School, taking the top four places, with Greenwood’s Julia Witherington finishing in sixth place (5:52.12) and Piper Ames placing seventh (6:08.96). But in the grueling 3200-meter run, the Lady Bulldogs took the top two places with Carole Werner and Piper Ames finishing first and second, respectively. Werner’s time was 13:16.03 with Ames half-a-minute behind with a time of 13:50.80.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Greenwood’s Mazzy Van Lare and Meredith Finely placed fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 18.07 seconds and 18.96 seconds. The same two Lady Bulldogs finished sixth and seventh in the 300-meter hurdles with Finely (56.25) and Van Lare (57.44) switching places. In the 4x100 meter relay the GHS ladies finished first with a time of 55.73 seconds. The 4x200 meter relay also went to Greenwood with a winning time of 1:54.35, just over a second ahead of second-place Alma.
In the field events, Greenwood’s Mazzy Van Lare finished second in the long jump with a leap of 15’8”. McKinley Rodebush also competed for the Lady Bulldogs, finishing 16th. GHS senior Pate Jones won the girls triple jump with a distance of 33’8”. Jones is a multi-sport athlete, also starring for the girls basketball team and the soccer team. Finally, in the pole vault, Kiera Johnson placed third for the Lady Bulldogs, clearing the bar at seven feet even.
Bulldogs
The GHS boys got off to a good start with a first-place finish in the 100-meter dash. Blaze McDaniel led all runners with a winning time of 11.02 seconds. Teammate Champ Davis placed third with a time of 11.13 seconds and Drew Lowe ran fifth with a time of 11.28. In the 200-meter dash, McDaniel shined again with a second-place finish in 23.02 seconds. Tremon Hunt ran fourth for Greenwood with a time of 23.74 seconds. In the 400-meter dash, Terry Mcginister ran fifth for the Bulldogs with a time of 56.45 seconds. Two spots behind in seventh place was Greenwood’s Burroughs Wolfgang (56.71 seconds).
In the longer running events, the Bulldogs had four top 10 finishes, starting with Rhett Williams in the 800-meter run. He finished ninth overall with a time of 2:16.75. In 15th place was Greenwood’s Ridik Lawless (2:25.27). In the 1600-meter run Andrew Rye ran sixth for the Bulldogs with a time of 4:53.17. Ridik Lawless placed 12th and Miles Wead ran 15th for the GHS boys. In the 3200-meter run, Andrew Rye earned fifth place points with a time of 11:22.26.
Silas Spicer placed fifth for the Bulldogs in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 17.95 seconds. He also finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.67 seconds. Teammate Yadiel Garcia ran ninth (53.79) in the same event. The Bulldogs shined in the 4x100 meter relay, winning the event by two full seconds over Rogers-Heritage with a time of 43.89 seconds. They did almost as well in the 4x200 meter relay, finishing second with a time of 1:34.52. The GHS boys came in fourth (4:01.37) in the 4x400 meter relay race. Lastly, in the 4x800 meter finals the Bulldogs placed third (10:13.29).
In the high jump, Greenwood’s Easton Carter cleared the bar at six feet even to finish fourth. Kobe Lewis also competed in the high jump, finishing 12th (5’4”). A trio of Bulldogs finished in the top eight in the boys long jump, led by Tremon Hunt, who won the event with a leap of 21 feet four inches. Noah Myers came in fifth place at 18 feet seven inches and teammate D.J. Dobbins finished in 8th place at 17’9”. Myers and Dobbins also competed and placed in the triple jump, Myers fifth at 37’1” and Dobbins sixth at 35’3½”.
In the pole vault, Greenwood’s Rhett Holloway came in seventh, soaring to a height of 8 feet six inches. Teammate Jace Brown came in ninth, clearing the bar at seven feet six inches. Finally, in the shot put event, Brock Shepard earned sixth place points with a heave of 37’3 ¾”, while Greenwood’s Charlie Hudnall came in ninth (35’ ½”).