By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
PARAGOULD -- The Jonesboro Lady Hurricane and Marion Patriots ran away with the team titles at the Coca-Cola Eagle Relays, Thursday at Greene County Tech.
The Forrest City Mustangs ran sixth while the Lady Mustangs finished fifth.
The highlight for the Mustangs may have been the first-place finish by 340-pound Stephen Henry in the Big Man 100-meter run, an event held for fun for competitors 230 pounds and heavier.
Henry a starting offensive lineman for the Mustang football team, finished the event in 15.1.
"That was a lot of fun," said Forrest City Coach Jeff Hudson. "Instead of giving Stephen a ribbon, I think they gave him food."
The meet belonged to the individuals stole the show at the state qualifying track and field meet.
Jonesboro's Katya Kostetskya set the pace, winning three individual events while Delaplaine's Staci Rothe scored 40 of her team's 41 points to claim the high-point award.
Kostetskya, the Jonesboro sophomore from St. Petersburg, Russia, actually bettered an overall state record in the 300 hurdles and also qualified for the Class AAAAA state track meet in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles and the 200 meters.
She won the 200 in 25.49, took the 100 hurdles in 15.64 and the 300 hurdles in 43.84.
Kostetskya's time in the 300 also bettered the overall state record of 43.89 ran by Antisha Anderson of Pulaski Robinson in 2001.
Buoyed by Kostetskya's efforts, the Lady Hurricane won the meet with 126 points, easily out-distancing second-place Marion with 102. Greene County Tech was third with 60.
The Lady Hurricane won only seven of 17 events, but scored in every event.
The Lady Mustangs got a first-place finish in the 100-meter run from Jessica Perkins who ran the event in 13.23, which Coach Lewis Etheridge said was a little slower than she normal runs in the sprint.
Perkins ran second in the 200-meter, posting her best time of 27.23Melissa Humphrey ran third in the 100-meter hurdles.
The Lady Mustangs ran in two relay events, finishing second in the 400-meter relay in a time of 53.90 as Chikisha McDaniel, Glenisha Williams, Perkins and Humphrey teamed up for the race.
McDaniel, Williams Lakeda Doolittle and Krystal Long finished sixth in the mile relay.
"I was pleased with our overall effort," Etheridge said. "We were missing a few girls in some spots, but the ones who were there ran well."
The Mustangs took sixth at the meet with their best finish of the day coming from Kerry Perkins in the 400-,meter run. Justin Jones ran fourth in the 300-meter hurdles and also in the long jump while the Forrest City two-mile relay team of Perkins, Brian Smith, Ricky Beard and Josh Freeman ran fourth.
Andrew Embry, LaCody Braddock, Smith and Perkins ran fifth in the 400-meter relay while Marquis Hunter finished fifth in the shot.
Jonesboro's Katie Strippling won the high jump and Allison Taylor took the shot put.
The Lady Hurricane also won the 400-meter relay (53.10).
On the boys' side, the Marion Patriots outscored Jonesboro 36-3 in the 200 and 300 hurdles to overtake the Hurricane and claim a 129-122 victory at the meet.
Rivercrest's Cedric Vaughn scored 25 points to earn high-point honors, winning the 100 (11.50), placing third in the 200 (23.92), sixth in the 400 (55.75) and second in the long jump (21-4 1/2).
Jonesboro's Glen Ritter won both the mile and two-mile, while Chucky Jones won the 400 (52.32), took second in the high jump (6-4) and also anchored the Hurricane's winning 1,600-meter relay team (3:36.33).
John Terrell's victory in the pole vault (12-0), along with Yuriy Morozov's win in the long jump (21-8 1/2) rounded out the individual firsts for Jonesboro.
The Mustangs will run Monday at Marion and at Jonesboro next Thursday.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Angela Williams scored three runs Thursday to help the Forrest City Lady Mustangs win their second consecutive game, an 11-1 victory over Blytheville.
The Lady Mustangs scored five runs in the second inning and four in the third to put the game way.
Mallory Nelson went the distance for the Lady Mustangs in picking up the victory.
Jessica Long and Tyeshia McDaniel scored two runs each for Forrest City (5-15 overall and 2-9 in AAAAA-East Conference).
Jennifer Ballard, Kim Hoots, Rachel Sims and Leigh Anna Taylor, running for Nelson, scored single runs.
Blytheville won the junior varsity game, 11-7.
The Lady Mustangs got runs from Chasity Lowe, Risondra Deans, Whitney Tracey, Taylor, Holly Simon, Shari Agnew and Amberly Elkins.
Forrest City will open play today at the Marion Invitational Tournament.
The Lady Mustangs will play Raleigh at 5 p.m. and White Station at 6:30 p.m. as pool play gets under way.
On Saturday, the Lady Mustangs will play Wynne at 9 a.m.
The top eight teams will advance to the championship round while the bottom four teams will move into the consolation round.
*A strong defensive outing and a solid pitching performance from Jessica Stepp helped Wynne sweep a AAAA-East doubleheader over Paragould Thursday, winning the first 3-0 and the second 6-4.
Stepp shut down the Paragould bats in the opener, striking out 13 batters and allowing just two hits and three walks.
Ali Imboden had two hits, including a two-run double. Jena Gracey also had a double for the Lady Yellowjackets.
In the second game, Stepp gave up nine hits and struck out just two.
Wynne (9-6, 5-3 AAAA-East) led 6-0 heading into the final inning.
Krystan Quinn had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Imboden added two hits and Stepp doubled.
Stepp was the winning pitcher in both games.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES -- The Hughes Blue Devils finally started rattling their bats Thursday, but Barton held on to take a 13-11 win in baseball action at Hughes.
The 11 runs were the most scored by Hughes in a single game this season.
Wayne Bartosh went the distance for the Blue Devils giving up the 13 Barton runs on 13 hits and six walks while striking out six.
Corey Scarborough, Michael Hudson, Ronnie Fesperman and Bartosh each scored twice to lead Hughes while Matt Henry, Cody Ladner and Tommy Ware scored single runs.
Hughes led 1-1 after one inning before Barton tied it at 1-1 and took a 5-1 lead after three innings.
Hughes plated four runs in the bottom of the fifth to trail 7-6 before Barton plated four runs in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 11-6. Hughes pushed home four runs in the bottom of the sixth to get within 11-10. Barton closed out the scoring with two runs in the top of the seventh and the Blue Devils added a single run in their last at-bats.
Hughes will host Turrell today for a conference doubleheader beginning at 3:30 p.m.
*At Wynne, Jonesboro churned out 14 hits Thursday en route to a 9-5 victory over Wynne in high school baseball.
The Hurricane (13-4) scored in each of the first six innings.
Murray Watts was 3-for-4 with an RBI; Matt Byrd had two hits, two runs and an RBI; Jimmy Tollison finished with two hits and an RBI; and Will Hollis and Hunter Smith had two hits each.
Smith was the winning pitcher for JHS, allowing seven hits, four earned runs and a walk in five innings of work. He struck out four.
*The Forrest City Mustangs will make the trip to Searcy for varsity-junior varsity doubleheader.
The AAAAA-East Conference game is set to begin at 4 p.m.
The Mustangs are still looking for their first victory of the season.
It is the first meeting between the two conference schools this season.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Junior Mustang track team won the West Memphis Junior Relays Thursday, scoring 109 points to out-distance their closest rival, Blytheville, who finished second with 58 points.
The Junior Mustangs had six first-place finishes and five seconds at the meet.
"We started fast," said Forrest City Coach Rich Trail. "Eric Walker won the high jump with a 5 foot two inch effort and Marcus Fair was second which spotted us 18 points right at the start."
It was the second first-place finish for the Junior Mustangs this season.
In other field events, Otha Hall won the discus with a toss of 111 feet while Richard Flenory was third with 105 feet.
Flenory was second in the shot with a toss of 45 feet while Hall was fifth.
In the long jump, Walker was second, landing just beyond the 18 foot marker and Rashad Green finished third.
Corey Embry picked up a first place in the 100-meter run in a time of 10.97 and tied for first in the 200-meter run with Walker, both finishing the event in 23.6.
Chris Barrett won the 400-meter run and Nicko Walker ran fourth in the 800-meter while Kenny Norman was fifth. Dennis Siggers also ran in the 800-meter.
Andre Stephens ran second in the mile run while Jamar Ison was third and Zach Jones finished fifth.
Embry, Walker, Kenneth Jordan and Barrett teamed up to win the 400-meter relay while Donnie Willis Jr., Kendall Rucker, Jordan and Patrick Maney ran second in the mile relay.
The two-mile relay team of Nathaniel Kidd, Cordero Brown, Isom and Stephens ran third.
"I was very pleased that we scored points in every event," Trail said.
The Forrest City Mustang tennis team opened the season Thursday in matches against West Memphis and Blytheville at Blytheville.
The Mustangs finished 2-3 for the day, winning one singles match and one doubles match.
Tanner Montgomery defeated Rick Steward 8-4 in singles play and then teamed with Curtis Northcutt in doubles action to defeat the Blytheville team of Hugh Smith and Ray Wilson 8-4.
Northcutt lost his singles match to Smith 8-4.
Forrest City's Kyle Ervin lost to John Owens 8-2 and Ramsey Gibson lost to Mark Green 8-2 in singles' play.
Ervin and Gibson lost to West Memphis' Jim Fields and Gary Hall in doubles.
The team's scheduled matches for Tuesday, April 15, at West Memphis has been cancelled.