By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CABOT -- It was a picture perfect day for a track meet.
Unfortunately the infield at Cabot's Panther Stadium looked a lot like a ghost town.
All eight AAAAA-East Conference schools were present and accounted for, there just wasn't as many athletes on hand as in recent years.
That, however, did not deter Jonesboro which took home both the boys and the girls' conference titles.
For the Jonesboro boys, the championship ended a quarter-century drought. The last conference title for Jonesboro came way back in1979.
For the Lady Hurricane, the title probably begins what appears to be a dynasty.
As they did a year ago, the Forrest City Mustangs finished sixth while the Lady Mustangs finished fifth.
Jonesboro accounted for 15 first-place finishes and will send approximately 32 Jonesboro athletes to Lake Hamilton for the Class AAAAA State Meet, Saturday, May 15.
Jonesboro finished with 215 points, closely followed by host Cabot (186), Mountain Home (89.5) and West Memphis (67). Rounding out the field was Jacksonville in fifth (40.5), Forrest City sixth (40), Searcy seventh (4) and Blytheville eighth (3).
Forrest City qualified sophomore sprinter Eric Walker in the 400-meter run and will send both the 400 and 1,600-meter relay teams to the state meet.
Mustang Coach Clark McBride took only 10 to Saturday's conference meet -- one of those 10, senior David Machen, who was running for the very first time with the team.
Machen, just out of baseball, ran the first leg of the two-mile relay.
Walker finished a disappointing eighth in the 200-meter run, after blistering the field in the prelims.
However, a camera malfunction at the finish line failed to record the official times and finish for the first three heats.
In the first heat, Walker ran away from the field, posting a time of 22 seconds, just seconds off the state's best time in that event this season.
After a called meeting of the boys' coaches in the infield, Cabot track officials decided to re-run the first three heats of the 200-meter run.
By the time Walker qualified the second time with a 22.6 and after competing in three ither running events, the sophomore finished eighth in the overall race, posting a time of 24.58.
"He was disappointed in himself," McBride said. "But I know he gave it all he had. He was just out of gas by the time the finals were run."
Walker won the 400-meter run in a time of 52.21, just seconds off his best time of the season in that event.
He finished sixth in the high jump to tie with teammate Justin Jones. Both Mustangs cleared 5 feet, six inches. He topped off the afternoon with a fifth-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, four inches.
Jones ran sixth in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 43.49.
Walker, Chris Barrett, Kenneth Jordan and Brian Smith ran third in the 400-meter relay posting a time of 44.62. The same four Mustangs ran third in the mile relay in a time of 3:34, one second off their best pace of the season.
Josh Freeman, Charles Freeman, Chris Scott and Machen ran fifth in the two-mile relay.
The Lady Hurricane has boasted plenty of success in recent years, now taking home its second conference title in as many seasons.
The Lady Hurricane team put up 202 total points followed by Cabot with 137 total points. Blytheville was third with 83, West Memphis fourth (51), Forrest City fifth (49), Mountain Home sixth (35), Jacksonville seventh (33) and Searcy eighth (30).
The Lady Mustangs established a first for the team scoring points in each event the team entered and scored 27 more points on Saturday than they did a year ago.
"That was a first for us," said Lady Mustang Coach Lewis Etheridge, who took only six athletes to the meet. Of that six, only two were seniors -- Jessica Perkins and Shanicka Blunt. "I was proud of the girls. They competed hard and they didn't quit. We were only two points out of fourth place."
All six Lady Mustangs qualified for the Class AAAAA State meet on Saturday. Perkins will run the 100 and 200-meter sprints while sophomore LeJoy Walker qualified in the 400.
Blunt qualified in the long jump and both the Forrest City 400-and mile relay teams qualified.
Perkins ran second in the 200 in a time of 26.71 and was fourth in the 100 in 13.09.
Walker won the 400-meter run posting a season-best time of 64.08. Walker was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles, despite tripping over the first hurdle and taking a fall.
In the field events, Walker was fifth in the high jump (4'6") while Whitney Lowe was eighth at four feet. Blunt was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet while Lowe was fifth with a jump of 14 feet, 11 inches.
The Lady Mustang 400-meter relay team ran third in a time of 53.35, the best time of the year using the quartet of Risondra Deans, Lowe, Blunt and Perkins.
The mile-relay team finished fourth (4:53.98) using Krystal Long, Lowe, Blunt and Walker.
Jonesboro's Leigh Ann Moore won the 1,600-meter run as well as the 3,200 and was first in the 4x800-meter relay, joined by teammates Ashley Raborn, Kailey Pinson and Mallory Rees.
Alisha Stanback also reeled in a trio of first-place finishes, including the 100-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles and the 4x100-meter relay, alongside Natasha Durant, Kara Taylor and Tarzanna Thompson.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
Vaccaro and Easley Law gained victories Friday night in the Minor (pitching machine) League to force a three-way tie for first place with Hartman Diesel, who was idle.
All three teams are off and running to 2-0 starts.
Easley fell behind 2-1 to Food Giant, but rallied to score six runs in the third inning to take a 7-2 lead. The team polished off Food Giant 12-2 by plating five runs in the fourth inning.
Justin Guyton and Seth Parker scored two runs each. Joseph Woods scored both runs for Food Giant.
Vaccaro got two runs each from Jared Haynie and Adam Hoy to put away Twillies Tigers 9-1 Friday.
Haynie led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run, opening the door for a four-run inning.
Tyren Bean scored the only run for Twillies.
Tonight's Minor League schedule, weather permitting, has Food Giant returning to play Twillies and Vaccaro taking on Easley in a battle of the unbeaten.
Just like in the Minor League, the Bambino (9-10) League has three unbeaten teams crowded at the top of the standings as First National Bank, Leslie's and Sanyo are all 2-0.
Leslie's Construction pounded Joey's Muffler Friday night 20-3 using three runs each by Joseph Tripp, Hunter McLean, James Pendergrass, John Gilbreath and Blake Lester as every Leslie's starter helped in the win.
Leslie's put up nine runs in the second inning to lead 10-2 and then added six runs in the third and four in the fourth.
Joewann Mitchell, Marlon McShan, Dusty Smith and Antonio Peters added single runs for Joey's.
First National Bank trailed Pearson Insurance 2-1 going into the bottom of the fourth but rallied to score 10 runs for an 11-6 win.
Pearson plated four runs in the top of the fifth.
Michael Ludwig led First National with three runs while Jacob Tittle and Jordan Chatters added two runs each. Chatters hit a home run in the fourth.
Pearson got runs from Jon Vowans, Scott Gracey, Tim Graham, Fred Carter and Waylon Brown.
Sanyo put up three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to erase a 5-4 Food Giant lead and then added five runs in the fifth to post a 12-5 win over Food Giant.
James Alldredge, Matt Jumper, Matt Lansford and Hunter Bowman scored twice for Sanyo.
Brian Morgan scored twice for Food Giant while Cameron Smith, A.J. Martin and Jolen Britton added single runs.
Taco Bell got runs from every starting lineup player including four runs each from Maurice Bradley and Robert Lee in a lop-sided 23-9 win over Giffins' Grins.
Taco Bell led 6-1 after one inning and 11-8 after two before scoring 12 big runs in the top of the third to put the game way.
Jalen Ford scored twice for Giffin's.
B&E Tire came up a little short Friday night against Dr. Schwartz in girls' 10-under slow pitch softball at the Sports Conmplex.
Trailing 10-5 going into the bottom of the third inning, B&E rallied to score four runs and had the bases loaded with two outs but couldn't get any of the runs home before making the final out to end the game.
Krishanna London and Hannah Lawson each scored three runs to lead B&E Tire while Kamona Phillips added two runs.
With two outs, Natalie Renigar, Mia Goodwin and Shelby Clark all walked to load the bases.
Dr. Schawrtz got two runs each from Katie Barnes, Katie Davis, DaJar Wynne and Chloe Harris.
True Value kept Children's Clinic winless Friday by taking an 8-7 win.
Jessica Stults scored three runs to lead Forrest City Bank to a 13-7 win over Southern Furnitire Friday.
Christina Clark added three runs for the winning team.
Southern got runs from Jade Haymer, Whitney Morgan, Haley Morris, Brandi Morgan and Lori Ratton.
Food Giant used a single run in the third inning to break a 9-9 tie and take a 10-9 win over Stevens Funeral Home.
Stevens led 4-0 before Food Giant scored five times in the first to take a 5-4 lead.
Food Giant added four runs in the second to lead 9-4 before Stevens forced a tie with a five-run third.
In the final game of the night, Walker Furniture scored the five-run limit in each inning to take a 15-5 win over Sanyo.
Once again this summer, Forrest City will host a pair of Mustang basketball camps for elementary and junior high age students at Mustang Arena.
The first of the two camps will be an elementary boys' and girls' camp scheduled for June 7-10, for students going into the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in the fall.
The girls camp will be held each day from 8 until 11 a.m. while the boys will have their camp sessions from 12 noon until 3 p.m., each day.
The second camp is a boys' and girls' junior high camp scheduled for June 14-17, at Mustang Arena.
The camp is for those students who will be entering the seventh, eighth or ninth grade in the fall.
The girls will meet from 8 until 11 a.m. and the boys from noon until 3 p.m.
Cost per student for each camp is $20 and all campers must have the paperwork completed and turned in with the camp fee by Thursday, May 20.
The camps will deal with the basics of the game and will feature individual competition as well as team competition in several areas.
Entry forms and money may be turned in to either Coach Dwight Lofton, Coach Jacky England or Coach Sue Jayroe or to the principal at the student's respective campus.