By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CONWAY -- In the season opener Saturday at Conway, the Forrest City Cross Country team appeared to be headed in the right direction.
Forrest City opened the year at the Orange Crush Cross Country run held at the Mabee Recreational Center at Hendrix College.
"We didn't finish first, but we weren't last, either," said Forrest City Coach Lewis Etheridge. "For our first time out this season we did well."
Nearly 800 runners, from junior high through college, were on hand for the meet.
To be more specific, the Crush had 229 junior high, 134 high school boys, 174 high school girls, 127 college and open women and 111 college and open men.
Runners came from as far away as Germantown, Tenn., to run this race that has been growing every year.
Fielding two complete teams this year for the first time, the Forrest City boys finished 10th overall while he girls finished 17th.
Kyle Houston led the boys team by finishing the 3.2 mile course in a time of 19:10, good enough for 19th out of 134 runners.
Blake Davis finished the course in 22:51 while Zack Jones had a time of 23:38. Dexter Lyles ran the race in 25:40 while Thomas Broussard had a finishing time of 25:43 and Kyle Gaines was across the line at 25:59.
Jones and Broussard are the two returning team members from last year's squad.
Heber Springs won the overall event while DeQueen finished second and Jonesboro was third. Marion ran fourth.
Conway's Raven Fuller ran first, finishing the course in 16:24.
Jonesboro's Josh Parkey ran third in 16:56.
Melanie Cook was the first Forrest City girl across the finish line, completing the 3.2 mile course with a time of 30:45, four minutes and 38 seconds slower than her time of 26:06 last year.
Alyssa Aldridge ran the course in 32:16 while Leigh Anna Taylor had a time of 32:59. Kayla Grantham finished with a time of 35:02 while Jessica Flowers had a 39:40; Keri Shepherd posted a time of 42:26 and Bailey Pettus ran a 42:27.
Houston High School won the overall girls' title while Mount St. Mary's ran second and Jonesboro finished third.
Ashley Williams of Mount St. Mary's ran first in a time of 18:47 while Carlisle's Emily Carpenter ran second and Jonesboro's Leigh Ann Moore was third.
Cook, Aldridge, Taylor and Shepherd are the returning runners for the Forrest City girls team.
The Forrest City team will run next on Saturday, Oct. 9, when they compete at the Lake Hamilton Invitational to be held at Oaklawn Race Track in Hot Springs.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BALD KNOB -- After rolling past West Helena last Thursday, the Forrest City Mustang golf team edged past Bald Knob and Newport Monday in a trimatch played at Bald Knob.
Forrest City slipped past Bald Knob 190-193 and then turned back Newport 90-122.
Matthew Howton led the way with a 44 while Weston Lewis finished with a 46. Doug Drake fired a 48 and Steven Holmes finished with a 56 in the victory over Bald Knob.
Forrest City's lone girl, Katie Ramsey won her match against Bald Knob and Newport with a round of 50.
Bald Knob's Josh Jones took home medalist honors with a 41 while Justin Jackson finished with a 60.
Against Newport, who fielded only two golfers for Monday's round, Howton and Lewis teamed up to take the win.
Last Thursday, at West Helena, Nehemiah Stevens shot an even-par 36 to earn medalist honors as the Mustangs routed the Cougars for the second time this season.
Howton was one strike back at 37 while Drake had a 43 and Weston Lewis and Holmes finished with 53 each.
Shane Gracey led the junior varsity with a 62. Ramsey did not make the trip to Helena.
The Mustangs play at West Memphis today.
* Jordan Payne fired a 3-under-par 67 to lead West Memphis to an 8-stroke victory over Wynne Monday in high school golf at Crowley's Ridge Country Club.
West Memphis finished with a team score of 315 in the play-5, count-4 match.
Wynne (6-4) shot 323, led by Sam Stacy's 79.
Hank Hammonds and Bart Goodin each shot 81, and Devin Turner 82.
Wynne won the junior varsity match.
*The Manila golf squad finished with a team score of 133, 16 shots better than Rivercrest Monday at Big Lake Country Club.
Josh McDaniel shot a 39 for Manila and Stephon Halfacre fired a 43.
Michael Hanna finished with a 48 for Rivercrest and J.A. Beall shot a 50.
WEST MEMPHIS -- The East Poinset County boys' and girls' tennis teams remained undefeated in matches against Marion, Hughes and Earle Monday.
The EPC girls' team defeated Marion 7-2, topped Hughes 6-0 and beat Earle 1-0.
The EPC boys' squad topped Marion 13-2, beat Hughes 9-0 and defeated Earle 5-0.
The win puts both the EPC boys' and girls' teams at 13-0 on the season.
The results of the matches follow:
In girls' singles matches beween EPC and Hughes, it was Marrisa Holiman (EPC) over Hughes' Tiffany Frymire, 6-0; Sabrina Benton (EPC) defeating Jana Robinson, (Hughes) 6-1; and EPC's Stephanie Steakley defeating Vertina Braddock, of Hughes 6-0.
In girls' doubles EPC's Hinton and Heather Benton downed Hughes' Marley Lemon and Jana Robinson 6-0 while Holiman and Ruiz blanked Keshia Simmons and Braddock, 6-0. EPC's Heather Benton and Steakley defeated Hughes' Takeyla Brown and Shatina Tiggs, 6-1.
In boys' singles matches Justin Parnell of EPC, downed Hughes' Dwayne Fields, 6-1; Cody Brown defeated Steven Johnson, 6-0; Cameron Gean of EPC shut out Fields, 6-0; EPC's Justin Williams defeated Michael Hutson, 6-4; Brian Branch of EPC defeated Hughes Josh Malone, 6-2 and Chris Stover downed Johnson, 6-2.
In the boys' doubles Robertson and Chamberlin combined to down Cody Ladner and Hutson, 6-0 while Williams and Gean downed Ladner and Hutson, 6-1.
EPC's Branch and Stover defeated Hughes' David Funderburg and Josh Hutson, 6-1.
In the EPC-Earle girls' singles matches, it was Jessica Ruiz of EPC getting past Yolanda Eason, 6-1.
In boys' singles Parnell of EPC defeated Eddie Qualls, 7-6 (7-2); while EPC's Colby Turner downed Qualls, 6-3. Steven Emrich of EPC defeated Marco Williams, 6-0 and Adam Chamberlin (EPC) downed George Crosby, 6-0.
In boys' doubles matches Emerich and Brown teamed up to blank Williams and Tony Fleming, 6-0.
In the EPC-Marion girls' singles matches, it was EPC's Holly Hinton edging past Jennifer Brenner, 7-6 (8-6); Marion's Julie Heath holding off EPC's Marrisa Holiman 6-4.
Heather Benton of EPC slipped past Cassie Halmark, 7-5; Jessica Ruiz of EPC downed Lacy Edwards, 6-2 and Stephanie Steakley downed Marion's Erica Cox, 6-4. Sabrina Benton shut out Jessica Rivers, 6-0.
In the girls' doubles matches it was the Marion team of Brenner and Heather holding off Hinton and Benton, 6-3; EPC's Steakley and S. Benton defeating Rivers and Cox, 6-2 and Holiman and S. Benton shutting down Cici Rosa and Rivers, 6-0.
In boys' singles matches, EPC's Adam Robertson blanked Greg Dunaher, 6-0; Colby Turner got past Shawn Gray, 6-2; Justin Parnell doubled up Justin Lowery, 6-3; Cameron Gean defetaed Sam Piriani, 6-2; EPC's Adam Chamberlin downed Allen Weddington, 6-0; Steven Emrich downed Josh Foster, 6-4; Cody Brown blanking Stewart, 6-0; Justin Williams won over Beau Britton, 6-3 and Brian Baioni of Marion held off Adam Chamberlin, by a final score of 6-2.
The Calvary Christian varsity and junior varsity girls' volleyball took wins over Faith Heritage Christian School Monday in matches played at Calvary.
Tyler Kimbrell led the Calvary JV team past Faith two games to one.
Calvary won the first game 25-13, lost the second game 25-19 but took the third and deciding game by a score of 15-13.
The varsity Lady Eagles swept Faith in three games, winning 25-12, 25-12 and 25-13. Katie Hornbeak led the scoring charge for CCS.
The volleyball teams will Thursday against Covenant Christian.
In elementary boys soccer Monday, Faith Heritage defeated Calvary 4-0.
Calvary will host Macon Road on Saturday.
Just in time to open AAAAA-East Conference against Forrest City Friday, the Jonesboro Hurricane moved into third place in the Associated Press' state high school football poll on Monday.
Jonesboro was fifth last week, before beating Poplar Bluff, Mo., 45-28 behind a school-record 297 yards rushing effort by running back Cowan Hutson. The week before, the Hurricane edged Wynne 10-7.
Blytheville (3-0) is fifth in the Class AAAA poll, Rivercrest (2-0) fifth in the AAA poll and East Poinsett County (2-0) fourth in AA.
The Hurricane will host the Mustangs Friday at Cooksey-Johns Field. Forrest City is 1-2 after losing to Osceola on Friday.
In other AAAAA-East games Friday, it will be Cabot at Searcy, West Memphis at Sylvan Hills and Mountain Home at Jacksonville.
*The Searcy High Junior Varsity football team lost to Jacksonville 22-20 on Monday night.
Despite a solid performance by quarterback Justin Rowden, who was 7-of-9 for 147 yards, and running back Garren Betts, 14 carries for 80 yards, the Lions fell just short of the win.
Searcy trailed 6-0 at the half. Jacksonville pushed their lead to 14-0 in the third quarter.
After recovering a fumble, Searcy scored when Tanner Gibbs ran in from the 6. He kicked both of the extra points, making it 14-14.
In the fourth quarter, Searcy took the lead when Rowden threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Gibbs. The extra point was blocked.
Jacksonville tied the game on an 80-yard touchdown run before putting together the winning play when the Red Devil quarterback ran in for the two-point conversion.