The Jonesboro Hurricane were golden at the Paul Hoffman Relays Thursday, as the boys won the meet title for the first time in more than 10 years.
Jonesboro scored 124 points, 21 points better than second-place Cabot (103).
Following Jonesboro and Cabot in the team standings were West Memphis (97), Marion (72), Osceola (55), Blytheville (30), Nettleton (15), Westside (14), Forrest City, ninth with just nine points.
The Mustangs had just a handful of athletes at the meet.
The Junior Mustangs battled Annie Camp in the junior boys' portion of the meet finishing second.
The Jonesboro senior boys sent a profound message to four other AAAAA-East conference teams and to Marion which had edged the Hurricane a week ago at the Eagle Relays at Greene County Tech.
As has been the case all season, Jonesboro has received contributions in every way possible.
The Hurricane cut in and scored in its weaker events and continued to stand tall in its traditional strengths.
Jonesboro's Glen Ritter scored run-away victories in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.
Sprinter Chucky Jones was second in the 400 and in the high jump and bolstered the 400 and 1,600 relays to third and second-place finishes, respectfully.
West Memphis' Ken Byrd won the high-point award with wins in the 100 and 200 meters and led the Blue Devils to a .07 second win over Blytheville in the 4x100 relay.
Charles Chalk of Osceola won the high jump with a jump of 6-4. Jeremy Cullins of Blytheville finished behind Byrd in both the 100 and 200 and ran the anchor leg of the Chickasaws' second-place finish in the 4x100 relay.
Other top local finishers included: Dustin Lewis of Osceola placed third in the 400, James Turner of Nettleton finished third in the 1,600 meter run, Charles Moore of Osceola placed third in the 110 hurdles, Osceola also crossed the line third in the 4x400, Scott Steele placed third in the pole vault and Daniel Fowler finished second in the discus throw.
*In the junior high meet, it came down the mile really, the final event.
Forrest City trailed Annie Camp by just seven points and needed a first-place finish to have a shot at the meet title.
But it was Annie Camp squeezing out the win over a Forrest City to win the meet with 96 points. The Junior Mustangs finished as runners-up for the second meet this week, with 86.5 points. MacArthur was third with 55 points. Marion was fourth with 43 points, Rivercrest 43, Blytheville 27, Paragould 22, Nettleton 21, West Memphis Wonder 17, Westside 12, Turrell 11.25 and West Memphis West finished last with .25 points.
"We were behind the whole meet," Forrest City's Rich Trail said. "I think at the midway point we may have been as close as two points to Annie Camp, but then they began to extend their lead. We got back within seven before the mile relay and needed to win and hoped Annie Camp would finish way back in the pack. That didn't happen."
Annie Camp's Damron Thomas emerged the high-point winner with 24.5 points.
For Forrest City, Cory Embry won the 100-meter run while Eric Walker ran third. Walker won the 200-meter run with Embry placing second. Chris Barrett was fifth in the 400-meter. Jamar Isom ran fifth in the mile.
Embry, Walker, Andre Ellis and Kenneth Jordan ran first in the 400-meter relay while Embry, Walker, Jordan and Kendal Rucker ran second in the mile relay while Tsom, Nathaniel Kidd, Michael Miller and Cordero Brown ran fifth in the two-mile relay.
Walker was fifth in the high jump and Marcus Fair finished sixth. Walker placed fourth in the long jump. Richard Flenory won the shot put with a toss of 17 feet 7 inches and finished second in the discus. Otha Hall was second in the shot.
The highlight of the junior high meet came in the pole vault competition. Drew Bell from MacArthur made a 26-year-old meet record look insignificant. Bell eclipsed the previous record height of 12-6 by eight inches with a vault of 13-2. Matt Moore of Nettleton finished second with a 9-6; Annie Camp's David Terrell placed third with a 9-6 and Aaron Primm of Nettleton settled for fourth with a vault of 9-0. MacArthur's Josh Parkey found no equal in the 800 and 1,600 meters. Parkey won the 800 by two seconds with a 2:15.50 clocking over Nettleton's Dustin McDaniel.
Parkey also won by 29 seconds in the 1,600 with a time of 4:54.06.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City and Searcy took an international voyage into extra innings Thursday to decide their AAAAA-East Conference fast-pitch softball game played at the Sports Complex.
Locked in a 2-2 tie after seven regulation innings, the two teams played the eighth inning using the newly-installed international tie breaker rules for high school fast pitch softball teams.
Searcy's trip produced a 5-3 victory.
Simply put each team begins their portion of the inning by placing a runner on second base -- the batter who made the final out of the previous inning -- and then trying to score that run before making three outs.
That meant Lady Lions pitcher Erica Ledbetter took her place at second base to open the top of the eighth inning.
Searcy's Stephanie Lay, who already owned two RBIs in the game, led off the inning with a single, which was misplayed by Forrest City for an error, allowing Ledbetter to score the tie-breaking run putting Searcy in front 3-2.
The Lady Lions added two more runs in the inning to lead 5-2.
Forrest City plated Rachel Simms from second on a sacrifice flyout by Kimberly Hoots to cut the lead to 5-3, which is how the game ended as Jessica Long popped out in foul territory for the game-ending out.
The Lady Mustangs fall to 7-20 overall and 2-12 in the conference.
The Lady Lions won for only the second time in their last 11 games.
Ledbetter, the Searcy pitcher went the distance and picked up the win giving up the three Forrest City runs on five hits and four walks while striking out 11.
Forrest City pitcher Stacey Gracey went the distance allowing the five runs on just four hits -- two of those coming in the eighth inning --while walking four and striking out five.
Shelly Verhoeven scored two of Searcy's runs while Ledbetter, Lay and Shonda Rushing scored one run each.
Angela Williams and Kanetra Pendleton and Simms scored single runs for the Lady Mustangs.
It was a much different game than when the two teams met in Searcy last month. That conference affair ended with the Lady Lions taking a 10-0 shut out victory.
The two teams engaged in a scoreless battle through four innings before Searcy pushed their first two runs across the plate in the top of the fifth despite a pair of sparkling defensive outs by Pendleton at shortstop.
With two outs, Lay doubled to drive in Brandi Iglehart and Ledbetter, both of whom had reached base on a fielder's choice, for a 2-0 Searcy lead.
Forrest City tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Williams walked and scord on Pendleton's RBI single.
Pendleton stole second and third and then in dramatic fashion, ran her self out of a run down when she was hung up between third and home, getting past Ledbetter to score the tying run.
Pendleton then started a 6-4-3 double play to end Searcy's seventh inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, with two outs, Gracey singled and Pendleton walked before Simms went down swinging to end regulation.
*Ashley Cochran allowed just nine hits in two games and Brandi Davis drove in five runs on the day as Nettleton swept a AAAA-East high school softball doubleheader from Wynne Thursday.
Nettleton won the opener 11-1 and took an 8-0 shutout win in the nightcap.
Nettleton (17-6, 7-3) scored six times in the fourth inning to break open the first game.
Davis was 2-for-4 with three RBIs while Brittney Heath and Cochran were each 3-for-4 and drove in a run.
Charla Kelly was 2-for-2 with three stolen bases and an RBI to lead Nettleton in the second game in which the Lady Raiders scored in the first five innings.
Davis and Cochran were each 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Nettleton.
Wynne dropped to 13-10 on the season.
Jonesboro 15, Blytheville 0
Amanda Berry gave up no hits and the Jonesboro offense made for a short outing behind her Thursday, as the Lady Hurricane topped Blytheville 15-0 in three innings.
Berry also had five strikeouts in the win.
Chelsea Reeves led Jonesboro (11-8, 9-3) with three hits. Tara Lehman and Amanda Cole had two hits apiece.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BARTON -- Finally, the Forrest City Mustangs broke free.
Free from their season-long 15-game losing streak and free from the prospects of what was looking like a winless season.
Catfish Crossen pitched seven strong innings for the Mustangs Thursday holding Barton to two runs on two hits and two walks while striking out five as the Mustangs held off the Bears 4-2 at Barton.
The Mustangs improve to 1-15 for the year while the Bears fall to 5-6.
Terrence Ware scored twice to lead the Mustangs, crossing the plate in the fifth and seventh innings.
Kiel Smith and Danny Flowers accounted for the other two Forrest City runs.
Barton got a solid pitching performance from Alex Woods, who struck out 13 Mustang hitters while giving up the four runs -- two earned -- on three hits and two walks.
Barton led 1-0 in the second inning and Forrest City tied the game at 1-1 in the third. Each team plated a single run in the fifth to tie the game at 2-2.
The Mustangs executed the suicide squeeze bunt to manufacture a run in the sixth and then used a passed ball in the seven to pad their lead to 4-2.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Forrest City junior center DeAngelo "Buck" Braddock will spend much of the Easter weekend in the hills of northwest Arkansas.
Braddock is one of several local basketball players invited to the annual Arkansas Athletes Outreach Top 25 Camp, which starts today at Fayetteville High School.
Each year, many of the state's best basketball players attend the camp.
Braddock is the first from Forrest City. Palestine-Wheatley junior center Vince Jones will also be at the camp, as will several east Arkansas athletes.
"It is an honor for both the player and the school to have an athlete invited to the AAO camp," Forrest City Mustang Coach Dwight Lofton said of Braddock's selection. "Buck has worked hard this year and has improved his game, especially the second half of the season. He will benefit and be a better player for us next season after attending this camp."Fifty-six boys throughout the state have been selected to participate in two days of high-level basketball activities.
Other local athletes slated to participate include EPC's P.J. Lacy, Spencer Hartston and Danile Collins as well as West Memphis' Desma McCoy and Quinton Furlow; Ryan Williams of Jonesboro; Kyley Newth of Mountain Home; Blytheville's John Fowler and Brad Jones from Marked Tree.
Players are divided into four different teams, consisting of 10 players. Each team will play two games lasting 32 minutes using a continuous clock.
Games will be played tonight at 6:30 p.m. and at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Many colleges use the AAO Camp as a recruiting tool.
In past years, coaches from Arkansas, Arkansas State, UALR, Southwest Missouri State, Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and all of the smaller schools in Arkansas have attended the camp.