Mansfield’s senior girls continued to produce at a high level as they took first place at the first full outdoor meet of the 2022 season. Stretching their resources to near full capacity, the Lady Tigers knocked off host Ozark at the Hillbilly Relays on March 8 for the team title.
Junior Jadelynn Wood had a busy night working through a full schedule of events. The team’s most diverse athlete won both hurdle races, placed high in three different jumps, and added a leg in the sprint relay.
Wood took the 100m hurdles in 18.47 for the blue ribbon. She was also in firm control of the 300m hurdles with a start to finish win in 54.54 seconds. The junior went 29’ 5.75” in the triple jump (3rd place), 4’ 8” in the high jump (6th place), 13’ 10” in the long jump (6th place) and was part of the second place 4x100m relay.
“Jadelynn is turning the corner as an athlete,” said Mansfield mentor John Mackey. “She was the last to leave practice on Monday. I’m excited to see her efforts are paying off with solid production at the meets.”
Mansfield only won three events at the Hillbilly Relays but still won the overall team title with 134 points. Ozark came close behind Anna Woolsey’s high point haul of 48 points but could only muster a 111.5 team points for second place in the team standings.
Lady Tiger Seven Sanderson was the only other Mansfield player to post an individual victory. Sanderson, the class 2A indoor state shot put champion, won the outdoor event in the same discipline.
Sanderson threw 28’ 0” this time around after winning the indoor state finals with a toss above 31 feet.
“As soon as indoor was over, Seven went back into basketball mode for a while,” commented her coach. “With my blessing, she wanted her to concentrate on basketball for the stretch run. She was a little rusty throwing today but still excited for another win.”
Mansfield collected several second place points and scored in every event in which it entered.
All three relays the senior girls entered collected second place points as did the pole vault, high jump, and 100m hurdles.
Senior Faith Rainwater, a distance specialist by nature, took a more sprinter-like schedule to the Ozark competition. Included in that schedule were all three red ribbon relays and the pole vault.
Mansfield was second in the 4x800m, 4x100m, and 4x400m relays. Rainwater anchored the first, started the second, and was the third leg of the third. She also cleared 8’ 6” in the pole vault giving her momentum to pre-qualify at a certified meet later in the season.
Senior Sadie Roberts cleared 4’ 10'' in the high jump for second place. After a solid basketball season that ended in the first round of the state tournament, the jump specialist did so after only one day of practice. She also joined the 4x100m squad and ran a 32.44 in the 200m dash for sixth place.
Shelby Cole, also a senior, ran the 100m hurdles in 19.84 for second place. Cole beat the bronze medalist by nearly one and a half seconds. She was fourth in the 300m hurdles, anchored the 4x100m relay, and picked up two points in the 200m dash.
Senior Darby Jones had the most mileage on the night with three individual distance races. The Ouachita Baptist signee turned in solid numbers while chasing a catalog of outstanding distance racers in the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m runs.
Jones was one of three college signees to run the distance events at Ozark. Clarksville’s Chloe Weathers (Arkansas Tech) and Pottsville’s Maggie Gregory (Ouachita Baptist) were the others. The out of town pair split the distance wins with Weathers taking the 3200m while Gregory won the 800m and 1600m runs.
Jones did well getting close to her best individual times in all three runs. She ran the 800m in 2:51.13 for third place, the 1600m in 6:17.08 for another third, and the 3200m in 13:38.91 for fourth.
Raine Hecox, Hope Rainwater, and Katlynn Moore all scored for the Mansfield team winners in a variety of events. Kellie Wisneski helped through the throws.
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