By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Memphis' Donny Forsyth was on a roll going into Saturday's Mightymite Triathlon. So was Lesley Brainard.
Forsyth, who has run third the past two years in the men's division, finally broke through Saturday to record his first-ever Mightymite victory, crossing the finish line in 56 minutes 56 seconds, the best time since Chip Cooper's 57:31 in 1996.
Forsyth's time also goes into the books, for now, as the third best Mightymite men's time since the race started 21 years ago in 1984.
Lesley Brainard, of Collierville, Tenn., became the first female triathlete to win the Mightymite three times.
Brainard won the race in 2001 and 2002 before taking last year off. She returned with a renewed spirit and a vengeance this time to post a finishing time of 1:06.02, more than two full minutes ahead of Jennifer Forsyth, her closest competitor, friend and wife of Donny, finished second in a time of 1:08.02.
"Lesley rocks," was all Forsyth could say after she jogged across the finish line. "She is tough as they come on the course. Once she gets on the bike portion of the race, she's hard to catch."
Going into Saturday's race, Brainard was one of five women who owned two Mightymite victories. Now, she stands alone.
Brainard's time on Saturday, was her best in the trio of wins. Her 2001 winning time was 1:06.40 while her 2002 winning effort was 1:06.30.
"I missed running last year, but it sure felt good to come back today," Brainard said.
Brainard's husband, John, finished fourth in the 30-34 age group and 27th overall in the men's division. He had a finishing time of 1:10.40
Forsyth and Brainard were both coming off first-place finishes at the Dragonfly triathlon, held June 20, in Memphis. In early June, Forsyth won the Iron Will Cross Country triathlon held in Jonesboro.
Both were the clear favorites in this year's Mightymite field.
Forsyth won the bike portion of the race in a time of 31 minutes with an average bike speed of 25.2 mph. He was second out of the water at Lake Dunn in the opening swim part of the triathlon, behind Victor Perini, who owns the Mightymite course record in his 1994 victory. Forsyth was also second in the run, finishing the three-mile leg in just over 17 minutes.
He was not, however, the first male runner to cross the finish line. That distinction went to former Wynne product Erik Leamon, who won the race in 2001, but finished third this time around. Leamon, who now lives in Conway, was first in his 25-29 age group in all three legs of the race, completing the swim in 8:19; finishing the bike ride in 31:44 and taking 18 minutes to run the three-mile finale. Lea
Barry Knight, of Paducah, Kentucky, finished second overall in a time of 57:54.
Knight won the Mightymite in 2002.
There were three previous Mightymite men's winners finishing in the top 10 Saturday -- Knight, Leamon and Rehan Mahmood, who shared first-place last year with his brother Imran. Mahmood finished sixth overall.
Tim Parker of Hughes, finished 22nd in the men's 35-39 age group and 79th overall.
Jon Christman, who runs only the Mightymite each year, finished fifth in the men's 50-54 age group.
Locally, Woody Harrelson of Forrest City, ran 10th in the men's Clydesdale Division while Mallory Nimocks ran 13th and Denny Jarratt finished in 16th place.
In the women's final standings, Forrest City's Dana Tittle finished fifth in the 40-44 age group in a time of 1:20.19.
The team of Carla Nimocks, Stephanie Davis and Gentry Parker, of Forrest City, finished third in the Female Relay division while the Forrest City team of Jim McInturff, Nancy Jarratt and Wilbert Dawson ran second in the Mixed Relay in a time of 1:26.35, just ahead of the third place team of Alyssa Aldridge, Rylan Nimocks and Wilson Parker, of Forrest City.
The 21st Mightymite began at Village Creek State park's Lake Dunn with a 1/3 mile swim which transitioned into a 13-mile bike ride, which took the competitors to East Arkansas Community College before finishing with a three-mile final run to the finish line at Sam Smith Stadium.
Approximately 285 runners competed this year.
Forrest City Post 4's stay at the Zone 2 AA American Legion diustrict tournament ended Saturday with a 5-0 loss to No. 1 seeded Trumann.
Forrest City had lost their opened on Thursday to Wynne.
The loss ended the year for the Forrest City Legion program.
Following the win over Forrest City, Trumann fell to Jonesboro 11-3 as the Coca-Cola team needed just one inning to equal its offensive output of its two previous conference games at Raider Field Saturday.
Jonesboro (20-10) got off to a quick start in the first inning, scoring four runs against Trumann pitcher Clint Trigg to start the 11-3 Jonesboro victory. In their previous meeting, Trigg shut out Jonesboro 2-0.
In the other winners' bracket semifinal, Wynne topped Searcy 7-4. Searcy was later eliminated by Newport 6-4.
The win placed Jonesboro Coca-Cola in the winners' bracket final against Wynne.
Jonesboro and Wynne split the season series with Wynne winning the last meeting 6-2.
Jonesboro rapped out 13 hits, highlighted by Daniel Mullis' solo home run in the fifth, and Ryan Blackburn tossed a complete-game seven-hitter as Coca-Cola earned a berth in the state tournament with a 6-2 victory over Wynne Cross County Bank in the winner's bracket final Sunday.
Coca-Cola (21-10) will take on Wynne again today at 5 p.m. after Post 66 eliminated Trumann 9-3 in the loser's bracket final Sunday night. A rematch will follow at 7:30 if necessary.
Jonesboro stumbled into the district tournament as the fourth seed, dropping its last district game to Wynne 6-2 to fall to 5-5 in league play on the year.
Aggressive at the plate, Jonesboro scored twice in the third inning on a pair of infield singles and matched Wynne with a run in both the fourth and fifth before tacking on two more insurance runs in the sixth to gain more revenge.
Chad Wynn had three hits while Hunter Smith and Ty Jones added two each for Jonesboro as every player in the lineup ripped at least one hit for the second-straight game.
Jonesboro stranded runners in each of the first two innings but struck through in the third after Justin Gambill was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.
Cody Pace sacrificed him to second and Wynn singled sharply off the third baseman's glove as Gambill had to hold his ground.
Murray Watts drew a walk to load the bases, then with two outs, Smith reached on an infield single in the hole to score Gambill with the game's first run.
Ryan Bauschlicher then beat a slow chopper to shortstop Chad Holland to score Wynn for a 2-0 lead.
Pace's RBI-double to center in the fourth made it 3-0, scoring Blackburn.
Wynne sliced into the lead in the bottom of the frame when Jesse Whittemore doubled into the left-center gap to plate Kory Ward but Jonesboro pushed the lead back to 4-1 in the fifth.
Post 66 got as close as 4-2, scoring an unearned run off Blackburn in the fifth before Coca-Cola scored twice in the top of the sixth when Mullis was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Smith lofted a sacrifice fly to center for the final run.
Blackburn scattered seven hits while striking out two, walking three and letting his defense make plays behind him.
"He really kept his head up," Allison said. "He settled down and he pitched with a lead. He went right after hitters and you can't ask more from Ryan."
Blackburn worked himself into a jam in the fourth with two outs, walking Kory Ward before Whittemore ripped an RBI double. Then with runners at the corners, Smith fielded a hard grounder at third and Watts made a nice scoop at first to end the inning.
Blackburn stranded two runners in both the fifth and sixth innings, retiring Ward on a foul pop to Mullis before enducing three straight fly outs in the sixth inning after Wynne had put two runners on with no outs.
Jonesboro will get a chance to earn a bye for next week's state tournament in Camden if it can come out and finish business today.
"I told the guys, we've got to come out here and show these guys that we're the best team in the tournament," Allison said. "Even though they've beat us before, that's baseball. I said 'Right now, it's our time to show everybody who the best team is here.'"
Trumann stayed alive earlier in the day by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh to eliminate Newport 5-4 with the aid of William Ruthven's two-run base hit.
Newport put two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the inning but Blake Wright made a diving catch in center field to end the game.
Daniel Rankin picked up the complete-game victory, scattering eight hits and striking out eight.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The Forrest City Wal-Mart Braves rolled to a third-place finish Saturday at the adult men's District 2 softball tournament, played at the Sports Complex.
Gym 2000, the regular season league champions, wasn't far behind, finishing fourth in the 17-team field.
Norac/Barnes of West Helena turned back West Memphis TMI in the "if" championship game, 15-7, to win the district title.
TMI, playing from the loser's bracket, defeated Wal-Mart 11-10 in the loser's semifinal to get to the finals and downed Norac/Barnes 20-5 in the first championship game to force the second.
Norac/Barnes has the option to advance to either the Class D or E state tournament, which will be played Aug. 6-7, at Pine Bluff.
TMI, Wal-Mart and Gym 2000, all have the option to play at either the E or EE state tournaments. The E state will be played at Pine Bluff while the EE state will be held at Rogers.
Norac/Barnes stayed in the winner's bracket, defeating Wal-Mart in the opening game Saturday morning and then getting past Midsouth Rail, Gym 2000 and TMI to get to the finals.
"We had some good, close games," said district commissioner Della Rose. "There were some solid teams out here, in both the men and the women's divisions, but there was not one dominant team."
Chism Concrete, the regular season league champions in Forrest City, defeated the West Helena Waves 13-8 in the women's district 2 final.
Chism took the high road to the championship game, defeating Elaine, Conoco/Odd Sox and TMI.
Forrest City men's teams, Kerby's, Middle Busters, Laws Contracting and the Head Hunters were all eliminated early in the tournament.
The women's state will be played Texarkana and Hot Springs.