Heptathletes Emma Pitts and Mikhaela Cochran finished among the top 10 4A athletes in the 51st annual Decathalon/Heptathalon Track and Field competition in Cabot last week.
Track coach Heather Wade remarked that the girls "competed well and they improved their scores."
A grueling two-day, seven-event track and field battle has athletes competing in the 100 meter hurdles, discus, long jump, 200 meters, high jump, shot put and 800 meters. With 66 competitors, events like the high jump took more than seven hours to complete.
All 66 athletes compete in all seven events and they earn points based on the mark or time they record in each event. How they finish in each event has no point value.
Cochran was sixth best among 4A competitors and was 26th overall among all athletes from the seven classifications entered in the event with 3,398 points.
"I was glad to have the opportunity to compete with the best athletes in the state," Cochran remarked at the end of the two-day event.
Pitts was eighth best in 4A and 42nd overall with 2,949 points.
"It was a great experience. We enjoyed the opportunity we had to compete and we hope to be able to do it again next year," Pitts said.
The overall meet was won by Springdale Har-Ber's Payton Stumbaugh who smashed the state record with 5,210 points. Stumbaugh won the meet as a sophomore but was upset last year by the emergence of 4A Crossett's Kelsey Herman who set a state record last year with 4,844. Herman was back and even better (4,956) but Stumbaugh had trained hard in the intervening year to make sure that she would win back both her title and record. She recently signed a scholarship to run track for Oklahoma.
Cochran was 10 spots higher overall than last year in the competition. Her best events were the discus where she finished seventh overall (84'3") and the shot put where she was 14th overall (27'11"). Her other events and marks were: 100 meter hurdles (17.56); long jump (15'3"); 200 meters (28.73); high jump (4'9"); and 800 meters (2:54.3).
Pitts improved her overall finish by seven places, going from 55th to 42nd. Her best event was the long jump where she finished 27th overall (15'4"). Her other events and marks were: 100 hurdles (18.53); discus (64-'8"); 200 meters (28.55); high jump (4'4"); shot put (24'11"); and 800 meters (2:58.81).
The 4A top 10 finishers were:
Kelsey Herman, Crossett 4,956
Shacoya Poole, Ashdown 3,775
Kassidy Snowden, Nashville 3,770
Hannah Noble, Berryville 3,669
Kyelah Hodges, Crossett 3,519
Mikhaela Cochran, Pea Ridge 3,398
Allison Thomas, Heber Springs 3,282
Emma Pitts, Pea Ridge
Stephanie Music, Heber Springs 2,901
Aleksai Smith, Berryville 2826
Sports on 05/28/2014