By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JONESBORO -- The Forrest City Lady Mustangs didn't stick around to get the final results Tuesday at the Lady Hurricane Relays at Cooksey-Johns Field in Jonesboro.
On a chilly day, it was the host team Lady Hurricane who ran to the championship -- edging West Memphis 138 to 136 1/4, to defend last year's title.
Jonesboro was coming off a big win at last week's Wynne Yellowjacket Relays.
Jonesboro took a double-digit lead over West Memphis at 116 to 105 after a strong finish in the 800-meter run, grabbing second, fourth and fifth place.
West Memphis won the final two events but fell just short of overtaking Jonesboro for the senior girls' title.
Blytheville finished a distant third with 83 1/2 points.
"I only took 10 girls and two of them probably shouldn't have competed," said Forrest City Coach Lewis Etheridge. "Both were nursing injuries but they went ahead and taped up and ran. With the chilly temperatures we felt like we needed to leave before the sun went down. We didn't want to get anyone seriously injured."
The Lady Mustangs only placed in four events and had just one first-place finish.
Verika Robinson won the 1,600-meter run. Oscie Lockett, a senior running for only the second time this season, finished sixth in the 110-meter hurdles and helped the 400-meter relay team to a fifth-place finish. Lockett was joined on the relay team by Akissi Robinson, Stephanie Hancock and Chasna House.
The Lady Mustangs finished fourth in the 3,200-meter relay using the combination of Jeanean Washington, Tricia Newborn, Rica Russell and Verika Robinson.
Jonesboro had just one double winner, Malloree McDonough, who won both hurdle races.
The Lady Hurricane managed just three other first place finishes, Latoya Wortham in the triple jump, Angela Pipes in the pole vault and Allison Taylor in the shot put.
Jonesboro and West Memphis will battle again next week at the AAAAA-East Conference Meet, set for April 26 at West Memphis.
The Lady Blue Devils were without their standout
sprinter Marquita Aldridge, who only competed in the discus.
Turrell's Amber Bledsoe scored 46 points to win the high point honor.
Bledsoe won the 100, 200 and 400-meter runs and was second in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles.
In junior high competition Jonesboro Annie Camp won the girls' title beating out crosstown rival Jonesboro MacArthur for their sixth consecutive title.
Annie Camp ran up 158 points but it was MacArthur's Aqusha Anderson who walked away with the high point award, scoring 42 1/2 points.
The Forrest City White Lady Mustangs finished in the middle of the pack, getting a strong performance from freshman Jessica Perkins.
Perkins ran fifth in the 100-meter and finished fourth in the400-meter relay with Melissa Humphrey, Nicole Parker and Candance Jones.
Emily Harris finished fourth in the shot put and finished second in the discus.
The Mustangs and Lady Mustangs will run Friday at the Pine Bluff Zebra Relays.
All four Forrest City junior high teams will run next Tuesday at the district meet at Jonesboro.
The Forrest City Mustang golf team finished in a tie for fifth place at the AAAAA-East conference tournament played Tuesday at Cabot's Greystone Country Club.
Cabot and Jonesboro finished 1-2 in the competition with the Panthers taking a 10-stroke victory over the Hurricane.
Matt Malham fired a four-over-par 76 to win his second straight medalist award and paving the way for four-time defending champion Cabot to win its fifth consecutive golf title.
Cabot ended 18-hole play with a team score of 323 to win the title in the play five, count four scoring format.
Jonesboro finished with a team score of 333 while West Memphis placed third at 362. Blytheville held on for fourth with a team total of 377 while Forrest City and Sylvan Hills both ended with scores of 415. Jacksonville took sixth and Little Rock Mills came in seventh.
Malham edged Jonesboro's Matt Sullivan by one stroke. Sullivan finished with a round of 77.
Malham eagled the 18th hole from 110 yards out to overtake Sullivan for his second straight individual title.
Sullivan's third shot landed about 20 feet short of the flag, bounced once and fell in.
Cabot, Jonesboro and West Memphis each qualify for next Tuesday's AAAAA state tournament, which will be played at Greystone.
Individuals qualifying for the state tournament included Mustang golfer Chad Halbert, who finished the day with a round of 90 , Jonathan Myers of Blytheville and Daniel Thomasson of Sylvan Hills.
Forrest City's Brian Hacker was second for the Mustangs with a round of 104 while Josh Coleman finished with a 105 and Luke DeBuhr shot a 116. Jake Wade was forced to withdraw after the 12th hole, when he ran out of golf balls.
"He took 12 with him and lost all of them," said Forrest City Coach Tommy Wheetley.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BLYTHEVILLE -- The Forrest City Mustangs gave up 10 runs in the bottom of the fifth inning Tuesday at Blytheville, which led to a 15-10 loss in AAAAA-East Conference baseball action.
The Mustangs (5-11 overall and 2-7) led 9-4 going into the bottom of the fifth.
Blytheville sent 15 batters to the plate and scored all 10 runs with no outs to lead 15-9.
The Mustangs scratched for one more run to set the final.
Blytheville got a bases-loaded, two-run double from Brandon Bennett and Mario Rogers fouled off eight straight pitches before sending a two-run single up the middle to tie the game at 9-9.
The Chicks improve to 8-8 overall and 4-3 in the AAAAA-East.
Blytheville will travel to Cabot on Friday, April 20 for a doubleheader while the Mustangs will host Sylvan Hills in a varsity doubleheader at the Sports Complex.
The Palestine-Wheatley Lady Patriots and the McCrory Lady Jaguars canceled their softball game Tuesday.
P-W will host Barton Friday.
The Forrest City Lady Mustangs travel to West Helena today to complete a conference game suspended from last Thursday.
Hughes Coach Wes Swift was named the Arkansas Boys' Basketball Coach of the Year today by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Swift, in his fourth year at Hughes, led the Blue Devils to a 35-1 record this past season and the Class AAA state championship.
Junior Blue Devil guard Lonnie Smith was named to the All-Arkansas first team, joining Camden-Fairview's Darrell Atkins, Stephens' Antonio Glover, Clarksville's Gavin Ludgood and Little Rock Central's Dedrick Poole.
Smith and Poole were the only two juniors to be named to the first team.
Smith was named the AAA state tournament MVP and averaged 18 points and three rebounds for the Blue Devils.
The All-Arkansas second team included Matt Jones of Fort Smith Northside, Jonathan Modica of Smackover, Anthony Smith of Little Rock Hall, Judson Stubbs of Fayetteville Christian and Chad Wise of Lonoke.
Osceola's Donnell Haynes was named Mr. Basketball.
Forrest City senior forward Daffy Norment was named to the All-Arkansas Honorable Mention team along with Kevin Barnes of Rivercrest, Jeremy Bell of Marked Tree, Jeremy Brown of Sylvan Hills and Carlos Merriweather of Little Rock Mills.
Mills forward Jara "Bam" Doyne was named the Sophomore of the Year.
"Being named Coach of the Year is an honor but it was the kids who made it happen," Swift said this morning. "They played unselfishly all year and I knew that would help them go as far as they wanted to go."
Swift is a graduate of Sylvan Hills High School and came to Hughes to take over the junior high boys' basketball program after spending one season at Gillett as head coach of both the junior and senior high boys' teams.
His Gillett teams were a combined 0-37.
In his four years as head coach of the Blue Devils, Swift has compiled an 86-36 mark.
The high school girls All-Arkansas teams will be released Thursday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
JONESBORO--The Forrest City Blue Junior Mustangs finished sixth Monday at the Hoffman Relays at Jonesboro.
The Blue Mustangs won the 400-meter relay using the foursome of Kawon Deshon, Chavelle Wilson, Andrew Embry and Kenyatae Chism.
The team finished second in the 800-meter relay using Chism, Deshon, Wilson and Leo Drone.
Drone finished fifth in the hurdles while Wilson was second in the high jump and fifth in the long jump. Embry finished fourth in the discus while Terrance Cook was sixth.
The mile-relay team ran fourth while the 3,200-meter relay team ran sixth.