By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Once again the Mightymite Triathlon field is sprinkled with past winners and several top 10 finishers.
But that doesn't mean Saturday's race will have a repeat winner.
That hasn't happened since 1997, when Chip Cooper won the race for the third straight time. Cooper won the Mightymite in 1995, '96 and for the final time in 1997.
The 19th Mightymite will be run Saturday, beginning at Village Creek State Park's Lake Dunn at 8 a.m., and ending at Sam Smith Stadium.
The last four Mightymite's have seen four different winners -- in both the men's and the women's division.
A year ago, Erik Leamon of Conway (formerly of Wynne) was the men's overall winner and Lesley Brainard (of Collierville, Tenn.) won the women's division.
Leamon, as of Friday, was not among this year's field, but Brainard was.
Brainard's best previous finish was eighth in the 2000 Mightymite.
Other previous winners returning on Saturday include Lucia Colbert, the 1997 women's winner, M.C. Jermann, the 1999 women's winner and Victor Perini, a two-time winner in the men's division in 1994 and 2000. Perini still holds the Mightymite course time record of 54:31 and set during the 1994 race.
Other Mightymite alumni returning include Robert Burditt who finished seventh in 2000 and eighth last year; John Christman, last year's men's grand master; Amy Daily-Johnson, the women's overall seventh-place finisher each of the past two years; Darwin Davis, last year's men's seventh place finisher; Donny Forsyth, second two year's ago and Miles Fortas, fourth in the 2000 race; Todd Hink, of Clinton, fourth a year ago in the men's division and eighth in the 2000 race; Roy Harkins, last year's male master; Karen Harkins, who ran 10th last year; Joy Johnson fourth a year ago and fifth two years ago; Marda Kaiser, third last year which was up from ninth in the 2000 Mightymite; Forrest Owens third in the men's division a year ago and Cheryl Senter, last year's women's grand master.
As of Friday, the list of participants had surpassed the 300 mark with Tennessee sending the most runners (170). Just over a hundred runners are from Arkansas -- including five from Forrest City, Denny Jarratt, Gabrielle Kuijten-Celzo, Shane Suiter, Jim McInturff and Dana Tittle.
There are also runners from Mississippi, Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Sean Norton, formerly of Memphis who now lives in Alexandria, Va.
Norton has made the trip for the Mightymite for several years and stays with his good friend Joe Dewayne, a Memphis doctor.
Once again this year, the awards ceremony will be held as soon as the final runners complete the course at the finish line, which will be the practice football field just south of the football stadium.
Best Times, of Memphis, will be the official time keepers and Steve Stone, who is helping with registration, said he expects to sign another 20-to-30 runners before Saturday's start time.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Thursday night's action in the adult men's softball league was halted early when heavy rains moved through the area.
The weather stopped the action just before the final two games were to be played.
In other action, Food Giant and TSM Computers were both assessed losses in a double forfeit while M&T Paving moved a little closer to league-leader Barnes Timber and second-place Sanyo with a win over Miller Insurance.
M&T stands at 15-3 for the year behind Sanyo (15-2) and Barnes (17-0).
There was no game results for the Barnes-Gym 2000 matchup or the Young Guns-Boar's Head game.
Greg's-Morgan and Bulldogs-Kerby's were rained out.
The men's league has five regular season games remaining as well as two rain outs.
Weather permitting, the 22-team men's district tournament and the eight-team women's district tournament will start tonight at the Sports Complex.
M&T, Morgans, Greg's Kerby's, Sanyo, Gym 2000, the Bulldogs and Boar's Head are all in the mix.
Eight of Forrest City's 13 regular season league teams will be involved in the tournament while five of the women's teams represent Forrest City -- Sisco's First (First National), Mohr Sports, Clark Appraisals, Chism Concrete and Bud Light, the tournament version of the league's Purple Haze team.
Action begins at 7 p.m. tonight and continues through Saturday with the men's championship game set for 8:30 p.m. and the women's final set for 6:30 p.m.
The "if" games will be played just after the first finals, should the team from the loser's bracket win the first title game.
ADULT SOFTBALL
Thursday's Scores
TSM Computers vs Food Giant (double forfeit)
M&T Paving defeated Miller Insurance
Young Guns vs Boar's Head
Barnes Timber vs Gym 2000
Greg's vs Morgan - rain
Bulldogs vs Kerby's - rain