Two Additional Tigers Meet State Standards

Posted Date: 03/29/2022

The count has now reached three. With the addition of two more Mansfield track athletes reaching qualifying standards, the Tigers now have a trio of entries pre-qualifying for the class 2A State Track Finals in May.

Ryan Hayslip of the men’s team, and Sadie Roberts for the women met standards in their respective disciplines at the Mena Bearcats Relays on March 17. They join Lady Tiger Darby Jones who previously dipped into the qualifying pool at the first chance meet in Van Buren on March 4.

Hayslip, the class 1A-2A indoor pole vault state champion, cleared 11 feet in the vertical jumps event. The measure not only won the Mena track meet but it also equaled the state standard for early entry to the Quitman hosted state outdoor championships.

Roberts, a senior with state finals experience, cleared 4’ 10” in the high jump to surpass the standard. The AAA handbook showed the qualifying mark for the class 2A girls high jump listed at 4’ 9”.

Roberts has already jumped 4’ 10” twice his season. Her first occasion occurred in Ozark the previous week. That track meet was not certified for pre-qualifications, making the Mena edition all that more important.

Jones, a long distance runner who’s already signed to run cross country at Ouachita Baptist University next school year, turned in a career best 3200m run a little over two weeks ago. The home-school senior ran 13:07.86 in the 8-lap race to better the qualifying mark by nearly 26 seconds.

“It’s always good to get these house cleaning chores done early,” said Mansfield men’s coach Josh Brown. “It takes the suspense and pressure away from the district meet.”

“We have achievable marks still on the table,” noted Mansfield women’s coach John Mackey. “Realistically, we have about five more places where pre-qualifying marks could be reached. It’s up to our individual athletes to prepare and focus when these opportunities come back around.”

As a group, Mansfield took second and fifth respectively in the women’s and men’s team standings at Mena. The smaller meet experience was dominated by Scott County rival Waldron in both categories.

Host Mena took third in the women’s rankings with Booneville and Mt Ida rounding out the top five schools for females. In the men’s order, Mena was a distant second to runaway Waldron. Dardanelle, Caddo Hills, and Mansfield wrapped up the top scoring schools for the males.

The Lady Tigers’ blue ribbon events included high jump, shot put, 4x800m relay, 300m hurdles, and the 3200m run.

With her state qualifying leap, Roberts won the high jump. Jones was far from challenged in the 3200m run for an easy victory.

Jones was also third leg on the 4x800m relay team that claimed victory. Katlynn Moore, McKenzie Griffin, and Faith Rainwater completed the distance relay group.

Teammate Seven Sanderson won the shot put for the third consecutive meet combining indoor and outdoor seasons. The junior thrower pushed the 4kg ball 29’ 8” for the win.

Jadelynn Wood took the 300m hurdles with a time of 53.15. According to her coach that’s 1.74 seconds away from meeting the AAA standard and qualifying her to the class 2A state meet.

The Tiger men only won the pole vault event while sending a smaller than usual team to Mena. Mansfield was missing several entries due to early spring break vacations.

MHS did round the men’s 4x100m relay in second place. Tyler Escalante, Guilherme Bueno, Axle Ravnsborg, and Tommy Phang populated that union. 

The Tigers did not field a 4x200m relay team at this particular meet due to the absenteeism. The long sprint cooperative has become the group’s premiere event in recent weeks.

The Lady Tigers also had a smaller team with some of its members attending an East Lab Conference or playing for the school's softball squad. Of those that attended, all contributed to the team total in some form.

Senior Shelby Cole pointed in four events including the 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles, 4x100m relay, and 4x400m relay.

Rainwater joined Cole in both relays. She also took second in the pole vault and a pair of fifth place ribbons in the 400m dash and long jump.

Griffin and Moore contributed through the distance events, Raine Hecox produced in the triple jump and two sprints. Kellie Wisneski scored in both shot and discus.

Phang and Escalante covered sprinter points for the Tiger men. Sammy Sellers pointed in both throws. Escalante, Hayslip, and Phang added top-8 placements in the horizontal and vertical hops.