By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
WYNNE -- There's nothing like defending the home turf.
Thursday, at the Junior Jacket Relays, Wynne did just that, winning the junior boys title by a mere half point.
Holding off 13 junior high boys' teams, Wynne finished with 74 1/2 points to claim the title at their own junior high track meet.
MacArthur and Marion tied for second, each team finishing with 74 points.
Jonesboro Annie Camp finished third with 39 points and Osceola was fourth with 35 points.
The Forrest City Junior Mustangs, attempting to rebuild after last year's championship season, failed to crack the top five. The Palestine-Wheatley Junior Patriots finished out of the top five, as well. Neither of the two school's girls' teams ran at the meet.
The Annie Camp girls' track team, coming off an impressive victory at Tuesday's Junior Eagle Relays at Green County Tech, picked up where they left off, grabbing nine first-and second-place finishes, to win the girls' side of the Junior Yellowjacket Relays Thursday.
Annie Camp scored 127 points total, staying well ahead of Newport (79), Rivercrest (58.5), Greene County Tech (51) and Paragould (33).
However, the meets high point award went to Newport's Vallison McFarland, who finished with 24 1/2 points to edge Annie Camp's Lauren Hall (22 1/2) and Paragould's Kayce Felts (22 1/4).
McFarland won the 100-meter run, was third in the 200 meter and was fourth in the long jump.
Hall took first place in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:54, and the 800-meter run, posting a 2:40. Michaela Jeffrey finished first in the discus with a distance of 77-2. Carloine Redman cleared 7-6 in the pole vault for first.
Christine Owens, Elizabeth Jones, Laura Poe and Hall were part of the winning 3,200 relay team that finished in 11:40. The 400 relay team also took first with a time of 52.47.
Rivercrest's Danton Jackson rolled to the boys' high point award, finishing with 37 1/2 points. Jackson had two firsts in the long jump and in the 200-meter run and two second-place finishes in the 100-meter and in the high jump.
Forrest City got a fourth-place finish from Kyle Houston in the mile run and a fifth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles from John Washington in a time of 17.73.
Forrest City ran fifth in the 400-meter relay using Mario Sims, Justin Ross, William Mitchell and Washington. Ross was fifth in the long jump (18 feet, 2 1/2 inches). Mitchell was fifth in the 200-meter run and the Forrest City mile relay team finished fifth using Kenneth Rucker, Chris Tripp, Cameron Norris and Ross.
Palestine-Wheatley's Hunter Rybolt was sixth in the pole vault with a leap of eight feet and finished fourth in the 800-meter run.
The Junior Patriots ran second in the two-mile relay behind Marion. Blake Simmons was fifth in the high jump with a leap of five feet, four inches.
P-W's Nathan Bridges finished fifth in the discus with a toss of 121 feet, three inches.
Annie Camp's David Terrell won the pole vault with a height of 10-0.
*The Jonesboro High School track team won the Heber Springs Panther Relays Thursday to kick off its track season.
Jonesboro won the meet with 176 points, followed by Heber Springs with 141 and Batesville with 115.
Jonesboro finished second in the 400-meter relay (45.04) and third in the mile relay (3:41.09).
In the pole vault, Drew Bell reached 13-0 to win the competition. John Terrell was third with a height of 11-6.
Other top-three finishers included Marshall Williams finishing third in the 200 meters (24.07); Geramey Trimble was second in the 400 meters (53.54); Erik Guzman and Juan Walton finished 2-3 in the 110 meter hurdles with times of 16.98 and 17.45, respectively; Walton added a second-place finish in the 300 hurdles (43.34); and Jonathan Parks finished third in the high jump with a height of 5-10.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Blytheville showed much improvement in Thursday's rematch against the Forrest City Lady Mustangs High school softball roundup.
The first matchup went to Forrest City 20-4 in three innings.
Thursday's rematch, which was more than a half hour late getting started due to a mixup with the umpiring crew, went the Lady Mustangs' way again, but this time it was 9-5 in seven.
"They are a better team now," said Forrest City Coach Pam England. "Their fielding was much better this time. They made some good plays. We hit the ball hard, but we hit it right at them, which made their job easier."
As was the case Wednesday against Brinkley, England stayed with the same pitching scheme against the Lady Chicks -- starting Mallory Nelson and then bringing in Stacey Gracey.
Nelson went the first four innings and gave up three runs on six hits and five walks while striking out three to get the win.
Gracey threw the final three innings, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out five.
Gracey led the team offensively with two singles and a double while Leigh Anna Taylor scored three of Forrest City's nine runs using a single and two walks.
Risondra Deans had two hits and scored a run while Randal Ross, Holly Simon, Chari Agnew, Rachel Sims and Shardavia Davis scored single runs.
Forrest City closes in on getting to the .500 mark by improving to 6-7 overall and 3-6 in the AAAAA-East.
Forrest City led 2-1 after the first inning and 7-3 after three innings. Blytheville got within two runs, at 7-5 in the top of the sixth before the Lady Mustangs added two runs in the bottom portion of the inning.
Prior to the game, Sims, the team's lone senior, was recognized for her efforts to the Lady Mustang softball program.
Sims has lettered four years for the team and started playing softball at age seven.
The Lady Mustangs return to action on Tuesday, April 13, when they host Jonesboro.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
HUGHES -- Brett Hogan threw 11 strikeouts and added two RBIs as Bay rocked the Hughes Blue Devils 9-1 in high school baseball action Thursday at Hughes.
Hogan was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Robby Bollinger and Sye Barnett each scored two runs for Bay (14-5, 5-1 3AA-South).
*Hunter Wolf smacked a two-run home run in the first inning for Weiner, to lead to an 11-0 shut out win over McCrory Thursday.
Blaine Gardner went 3-for-4, while Jesse Ford and Todd Childers added 2-for-4 performances, with each scoring twice.
*Derrick Coleman's grounder between first and second with the bases loaded in the eighth inning gave Jonesboro a 9-7 victory over Gosnell in high school baseball Thursday.
Coleman got the win in relief, pitching the seventh and one out of the eighth. He gave up one hit and walked three. Jonathan Million got the save, finishing up the eighth for Coleman and striking out one.
Jack McGrath hit two doubles, including one to begin the Jonesboro (12-8) rally in the eighth.
*Rector needed just three innings to post 19 runs against Maynard, taking a 19-0 victory Thursday.
Bryce Conley blasted a three-run homer in the first inning in a 2-for-2 performance.
*Clint Trigg struck out 10 in a two-hitter, plus went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead Trumann past Osceola 12-2 in a five-inning high school baseball game Thursday.
Trigg (4-5) walked none and allowed no earned runs over the full five innings.
*Michael Schwarz laced a one-out RBI single to drive in Casey Spencer for game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving Valley View a 4-3 victory over Harrisburg Thursday in high school baseball at Jack Moore Complex.
Daniel Rankin (4-2) earned the win, allowing five hits while striking out seven and walking three for Valley View (12-10, 5-6 3AAA-South).
*Zach Roberts doubled in the tying run and then scored on Brett Stephens' one-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Cross County an 8-7 win over Riverside Thursday in the second game of a high school baseball doubleheader.
Cross County won the first game 14-13 in eight innings.
Derek Simmons earned the win in the nightcap despite allowing 14 hits and seven runs. He struck out nine.
Jeremy Mann (2-2) took the loss after giving up eight runs on nine hits (five earned) over all seven innings.
Zach Roberts and Kory Ward each had two hits and an RBI for Cross County, which banged out 15 hits in the opener.
Riverside stands at 10-10 and 5-4 3AA-South.