Arkansas Track

[Pick_DA_EAGLES]

AB, if that much info was just on the top of your head im glad you didnt dig deep down way back in there and bring all that info out. 

i know des arc returns, from the 2a state champ team, robinson, hollis, huggins, holloway,and maybe one or two more. if i only had the top of my head like, AB. lol.

[RATTLER43]

AB and I think alike. I will give a AA preview in a couple of months.

[AB™]

AB, if that much info was just on the top of your head im glad you didnt dig deep down way back in there and bring all that info out. 

i know des arc returns, from the 2a state champ team, robinson, hollis, huggins, holloway,and maybe one or two more. if i only had the top of my head like, AB. lol.

Well, I meant to go back and change the "off the top of my head" part.  The names and places they finished, for probably 75% of them were off the top of my head.  The rest I had to look up via directathletics.com and arkansastrackstats.net.

I can't do an entire 5A preview tonight.  I think Vilonia will give us a run for our money at district this year, and as the norm, Magnolia and Alma will be in a dogfight at state.

[RATTLER43]

Just counting down the days until the first meet. Kids are back to working hard.

[AB™]

Just a thought....

And this comes from what I was told by my brother and other kids on the track team last year, prior to the conference meet.  They said they may have just as tough of a time winning district as they would state because Vilonia is so far ahead of 3-8 in our conference.  When Alma ended up beating VIlonia as bad as they did, and coupled with how well the team finished in McDonald's Relays at Southside, they felt VERY good going into the state meet last year.

The 5A West district meet has turned into the Alma vs. Vilonia showdown.  We still got the best of them last year 263-197.  Third place finished with 51 points.

[RATTLER43]

Kind of nice to have a rival in a sport. Of course, winning is great too!

[RATTLER43]

Class AA Track and Field preview:

Pole Vault 15'6" this event has been on the rise for the past few years.
Irwin/Ida, Morrell/Eureka, Kohler/Mag, and a younster from Mt. Ida; Irwin looks to repeat. Many vaulters over 11' this season returning.

Long Jump 21'7" Clark/Augusta, Weir/UCA, Hollis/DA Chambers from Magazine could crack top 3.

High Jump 6'3"  Worley/Eureka, Chambers/Magazine, May/Murf   Both Chambers are dangerous.
There are no great leapers like a few years back with Anderson from JC. It is wide open.

Discus 155' Williams/Magazine, Aydelott/Magazine,  McDonald/Mineral Springs   Magazine has 4 throwers over 115'; Williams looks to repeat.

Shot  52'5" Jones/JC, Williams/Magazine, Wilkerson/UCA   Jones goes for four in a row. Class AA could have three throwers over 50'!!

Triple Jump 42'9"  Robinson/DA, Weir/UCA, May/Murf   Wide open just like high jump.

4x800m relay  8:48 Magazine, DA, Eureka  Magazine has either won or gotten silver 5 of 6 years.

110 hurdles 15.33  Hollis/DA, Lampkins/Mineral, Yang/Magazine  Look for some newcomers in this event. Kohler and Moua look to score.

100m  11.21Turner/JC, Clark/Augusta, Dority/Magazine  Turner looks to take sprint double this spring.

1600m 4:44 Oxford/PV, Williams/Magazine, Brown/Sloan-Hendrix  Conference foes Cory Oxford and Travis Williams battle all season for supremacy.

4x100m  44.1Bearden, JC, DA  Augusta and Magazine attempt to get points in an event dominated by top three.

400m  51.21Spears/Augusta, Huggins/DA, Chang/Magazine  Spears looks to repeat.

300h 41.43 Weir/UCA, Hollis/DA, Turner/JC    Weir and Hollis go at it again. Kohler in the hunt.

800m  2:07Schneider/PV, Williams/Magazine, Wells/Eureka  2A-4 has top three runners in the event. Top four if Oxford decides to run it.

200m  23.55Turner/JC, Clark/Augusta, Spears/Augusta  Chang and Dority get top 5.

3200m  10:47Oxford/PV,  Williams/Magazine, Brown/Sloan-Hendrix   Oxford, Williams, Thao, Churxa, Reed and Hilgendorf give the 2A-4 6 of top 8 in class AA if they can all get qualified.

4x400  3:37 Augusta, Magazine, DA  UCA will have to replace to repeat.

Of course there are always newcomers, surprises, letdowns, injuries, etc. This is just a preview. I pick Magazine boys in a narrow victory over Des Arc, Junction City. Homerism at its finest!!!!  

Give me your picks.

[RATTLER43]

I love track and field. It is such a pure sport pitting athletes against each other while adding a team element to it.

AB, you told us about Alma. Here is my group. Remember that we are Class AA so performances will not match up with Alma's. We also lack the depth so my predictions are not personal bests but what I expect at district and/or state when doing their possible event(maybe their 4th, 5th, or 6th event of the day plus prelims).

Pole Vault- Kohler 11'6", Chambers 11'2", Yang 11'
High Jump- Chambers 6'2", Chambers 6'0"
Shot- Williams 50', McElroy 44', Moua 37', Moua 36'
Long Jump- Chambers 20'6", Chambers 19'7", Chang 19'2"
Discus- Williams 150', Aydelott 130', Moua 120', McElroy 118', Moua 105'
Triple Jump- Chambers 39'5", Chambers 38'2"

4x800m Relay- Williams(2:04, McElroy 2:09, Thao 2:12, Yang 2:15) 8:40
110HH- Yang 16.9, Kohler 16.9, Moua 17.2
100m- Dority 11.48, Chang 11.51
1600m- Williams 4:48, Thao 4:59, Riddle 5:45
4x100m- Yang, Moua, Yang, Dority 45.9
400m- Chang 52.9, Crawford 53.9, McElroy 54.1, Dobson 58.2, Travis 55.9
300H- Kohler 42.3, Moua 46.96
800m- Williams 2:09, Chadwick 2:15, Crawford 2:15, Makamson 2:28
200m- Chang 24.1, Dority 24.1
3200m- Williams 10:45, Thao 11:05, Churxa 11:05, Moua 11:45, Evans 11:45
4x400m- Chang, McElroy, Yang, Dority/Dobson/Crawford/Travis 3:37

I have others but they will have to earn their ways up the depth charts.

[Pick_DA_EAGLES]

Of course there are always newcomers, surprises, letdowns, injuries, etc. This is just a preview. I pick Magazine boys in a narrow victory over Des Arc, Junction City. Homerism at its finest!!!!  

we will give you this victory for the one this friday nite.   

[RATTLER43]

Too funny.

I'm greedy. I want two.   

Understandably, I know the task is super tough in either case. I have been coaching track for twenty years and have gotten close to the title on 7 occasions and have yet to break thru. Hoping this is the year. 

[move]Rattlers[/move]

Des Arc Eagles
Hoping the race looks like this. 

[RATTLER43]

Back in 45...

[RATTLER43]

I saw that DA lost Dunlap and Metcalf; JC lost Carter and Paris; we lost Enix and Ellis. Who are the up and comers?  I have Chang Yang, Joseph Thao, Churxa Yang, Long Yang, Daniel Aydelott, Skyler McElroy, Josh Dority, Carl Crawford, Ryan and Cory Chambers just to name a few.

[Pick_DA_EAGLES]

d.a. will add colt huggins, luke devorak, trentt whiting, t. warren, probably a couple others that are slipping my mind right now.

[RATTLER43]

After a few meets I will give my updated preview. I love this stuff.

I will try to post personal bests in Class AA events all spring.

[AB™]

I won't have a good feel for Alma's team and season outlook until they've ran in 3 or 4 outdoor meets.  We have a ton of kids that don't even do Indoor.  Then we have a lot that don't start picking track over baseball until the McDonald's Relays, Distirct, and State.  Honestly, until the McDonlad's Relays, Alma may only have their full team 2 or 3 outdoor meets at the most. 

I'm still stoked and can't wait for the first indoor meet to get here.

[RATTLER43]

Stoked is the word.  We had a great distance practice this morning. Kids are so pumped.

[RATTLER43]

I agree. I begin to get a good idea after about 5 meets.

[AB™]

Every year, Alma judges themselves on how well they perform at the McDonalds Relays. 

My senior year we won them and I remember the guys coming to school the day after saying how excited they were and how this meant there was a VERY good chance they would win state.  Becausee apparently for a 5A (then AAAA) school to win the McDs Relays is a VERY big deal. 

Last year Alma placed third and I knew then we could win state.

Top 8 at last year's McDs Relays which may be the best non-State track meet there is each year.

1.  Southside  155
2.  Lake Hamilton  89.75
3.  Alma  89
4.  Bentonville  70.75
5.  Rogers  68
6.  Fayetteville  51
7.  FS Northside 33
8.  Pryor (OK)  30


Alma more than held their own against some of the best teams in the state and came withing .75 points from finishing second.  A meet a lot of Alma coaches feel is tougher for them to win than State.  That's why we knew we had state in the bag my senior year after we won the McDs Relays.

[RATTLER43]

Teams travel from all over to compete at Southside for that meet. We have attended a number of times to try to get some athletes prequalified.

[superd2312]

Whats goin on Rattler? Havent been on here in a while. Shocked to see track talk already. Thats nice to see. How has Magazine track been the past couple years. I was reading some of your posts, and ya the high jump used to be fun with Me, James Anderson, and your boy you used to have.... (Forgot his name). Yall still producing those constant 3200 relay championships?? Haha!!! One thing is for sure, Jessieville track has fallen greatly. Got 4th in 3A state last year, had a hurdler break the 3A state record in the 110's so that was cool. But that wasl all they had that won. Have a decent miler this year who should be around 4:50 or so, but thats about it.

[RATTLER43]

Hey, good to hear from you.  Yes, you, Anderson, and John Charles(we call him JC) were great to watch competing.

Our 4x800m has finished the race at state in either first or second for seven consecutive years.*(we won four straight then in 2008 we had a huge lead only to be overtaken in the final 10 meters to lose by about 6 inches by Mt. Pine. My anchor walked off the track in frustration, threw the baton down, and we got disqualified. Last year we had a lot of first year guys running it. Murfreesboro ran in the high 8:40s early. We were around 9:26. At state my anchor ran right behind their anchor after making up about 10 seconds. When he kicked mine had nothing left and they beat us by about 5 seconds. I was pleased that my young group made up so much ground during the season. We take a lot of pride in the event.

I don't know why high jump has been down so much for a couple of years. I have two sophs(twins) who were at 5'10 and 5"11 last year. Hope they make the next level this year. They are both dunking now so I know the verticals have gone up. They just have to tweak techniques.

I have my best team in my twenty years of coaching. Hope to make a run at it again this year. Those third place finishes are getting tough on us. (actually we just enjoy track, practice, and competing) It's a great sport.

What's up with you. Still in college or out in the workforce, military?

How is your younger brother progressing? Is he into the track scene?

[RATTLER43]

My mid-distance runners are bent on winning the 4x800m relay again.
1997-Bronze
98- Silver
99- Gold
00- Gold
01- 4th
02- 5th
03- 4th
04- Gold
05- Gold
06- Gold
07- Gold
08- Silver DQ
09- Silver

Not a bad run. Each championship relay has a special story. The Little Rock Dem/Gazette ran an article on the one in 05 in Dardanelle where my third leg runner made up over 120 yards on you guys and Genoa to give our anchor a chance to win it. Bonner ran nearly a 2-flat to catch us up.

04 group held off Stamps/Lewisville group who thought they would dominate us. They were actually trash talking on the track before the race.

06 group was incredible as they got down to 8:32 by MOC.

07 group could have gotten down into teens but they chose to all play multiple sports and held on to win with a less than stellar time. They all wish they had devoted to track and maybe broken state record. Let it go boys.

Hope this year is a stellar year. Go Rattlers!!!

AB, don't make fun of our times. I typically have a great runner, a good runner, and two medium runners(sometimes one slow one). We make the most of our abilities. We leave it all on the track.

Getting pumped up again.

[AB™]

I'm not laughing at your times. I've been spoiled by Alma's dominance in the 800 and 4x8 for what will be the 7th year in a row. If you want to be the 4th leg at Alma you are going to have to be able to crack 2:10 and usually run in the 2:07 range. Last year we had four guys running 2:04 or better which is insane. I don't know how a 5A schoold produces 4x8 teams that can consistently run sub 8:20s and on ocassion in the 8:10 range. Most years we have one of the best 4x8 teams in the state regardless of classification with far fewer numbers to chose from that Southside, Rogers, LH, Conway, etc.  Coach Mac has done an amazing job. Last year we ran an 8:12 at state and 2nd place ran an 8:26. We coasted and if we had been being pushed might have cracked 8:10. My brother (who runs anchor) said he put it on cruise control the last 200m and he still ran a high 2:04 split. Were going to have our weakest team, 1-4, than we've had in awhile:  1:59, 2:02, 2:07, 2:10. And that's just their PR's from last year. I think all 4 will knock off 2+ seconds off those times by district. We should still be one of the best in the state though.

[RATTLER43]

We usually get to see it up close and personal at Alma, Greenwood, Mansfield, etc.  I think it was at Mansfield a few years back we got second place in the event and Alma beat us by about 30 seconds!!!!!!!

[AB™]

Teams travel from all over to compete at Southside for that meet. We have attended a number of times to try to get some athletes prequalified.

Like I said, my senior year we placed 1st at the McDs Relay.  Our guys came to school the next day and said that meet was much harder for a 5A school to win than state would be, and that a state championship was in the bag.  Low and behold, they won state very comfortably that year. 

[AB™]

We usually get to see it up close and personal at Alma, Greenwood, Mansfield, etc.  I think it was at Mansfield a few years back we got second place in the event and Alma beat us by about 30 seconds!!!!!!!

Last year at the DISTRICT meet!  All 5A West schools....Alma laps every single team in the 4x800, except for Vilonia (who is a top 2 or 3 4x800 team in the state) and still has a 100-200m lead on them.  Again, the anchor leg for Alma puts it on cruise control and coasts the last 50-75m. 

[RATTLER43]

It's weird the way some of that stuff works out. At our conference meet last year we had 6 runners in the 3200m run, 3 from Magazine, one from Mulberry/PV, one from Eureka Springs, and one from Union who all would have placed at state yet only two get to move on. Luckily, my top one had prequalified but we needed the other two as well. At state we took three of the top four spots anyway as a conference.

Magazine will hopefully get three in the 3200m this year.

[superd2312]

Im actually at Arkansas State finishing up my degee in Phys Ed and minor in History. I plan on Coaching Basketball and at least helping out with track if no coaching. At least helping out with the jumps. Me and Nate Hall went to southern Arkansas University and ran our freshman year, and we just didnt enjoy it. It just wasnt there. Teamates were jerks and coach was a nice guy, just didnt make it fun for us. So i transfered to ASU and him to UCA.

And yes my brother is a senior this year. Just finished up football losin in the playoffs. He was a heck of a corner and tailback. Last year as a junior Jville went 1 and 2 in the 800. He got 2nd and ran a 2:11. He isnt a naturally fast person, but he works on it. I hope he can get down to 2:07 or so this year.

[RATTLER43]

Your bro. sounds like my kind of kids.

I understand about the collegiate level. I had some similar experiences back in the day. Got to remember why we are in a sport. Has to be enjoyable.

ASU is a great place. So is UCA. Hope Nathan is doing well there.

Hope your coaching career starts off with a bang. I will probably see you around at clinics and such.

[RATTLER43]

AB, how did the other teams in your conference do at state last year? I know Alma did great but what about GW, Vilonia, etc.?

[AB™]

1.  Alma  112.5
2.  Magnolia  97
3.  Crossett  67
4.  Forrest City  60.5
5.  Vilonia  54
23. Harrison  4
25. Siloam Springs  2


As you can see there is a huge drop off in our conference after Alma and Vilonia.  Also a big drop off after Alma and Magnolia.  Greenwood, CAC, Morrilton, and Greenbrier didn't score at state.

[RATTLER43]

Wow, would not have guessed GW would go scoreless.

[RATTLER43]

Travis, this is the page I was referring to.

[RATTLER43]

Well, we won another football game. Each game puts us a week closer to track season. I love football but am passionate about track. Indoor is right around the corner.

I have looked at my track team's depth chart. We are beginning to have that Alma type look to our team-multiple state entries in almost all events.

PV-Kohler, Chambers, Yang
HJ-Chambers, Chambers
Shot-Williams, McElroy, Moua, Moua, Williams
LJ-Chambers, Yang, Chambers
Discus-Williams, Aydelott, Moua, McElroy

4x800m
110HH-Kohler, Yang, Moua
100m-Dority, Yang
1600m-Williams, Thao, Yang
4x100m
400m-Yang, Travis, Crawford
300h-Kohler
800m-Williams, McElroy, Chadwick, Thao, Yang, Crawford
200m-Yang, Dority
3200m-Williams, Thao, Yang, Evans, Moua, Chadwick
4x400m

We have never had this kind of depth before. Cannot wait to get it started.

If you are wondering about the same names:  Williams 2 brothers and a cousin, Yang 2 brothers and a cousin, Moua 4 brothers.

[AB™]

Wow, would not have guessed GW would go scoreless.

Greenwood's track program has really fallen off the map the last 3 or 4 years.

[RATTLER43]

I see that. I wonder why. They have athletes. It helps develop speed and power. Our track kids lift the same lifts at same time as football players since the majority of my kids play football. Makes no sense.

I know their distance runners were better this year than in the past 3 or 4 years. Maybe they will be up this year.

How do your junior high teams look? I am just looking to see how long this dominance looks to last.

[AB™]

The River Valley Conference consists of

FS Kimmons
FS Ramsey
FS Chaffin
FS Darby
VB Butterfield
VB Coleman
Greenwood
Alma

Despite being the second smallest (and honestly probably one of the three least athletic) school in the conference, we won the district meet last year.


Alma    127.5
Darby(Northside feeder)   121
Ramsey(Southside feeder)  119
Chaffin (Southside feeder)  80


They won the Greenwood Relay's last year.  Top 3...

Alma  167
Greenwood  136
Magazine   99
Booneville  82


Two years ago at the RVC Championships...

Ramsey   171
Alma      129.5
Kimmons(Northside Feeder)  80



So, as you can see, there should be a steady stream of dominance for awhile.  There might be a bit of a drop off but we'll continue to be a state power as long as we have the great coaching we currrently have and continue to get the big turnout we've been getting every year.   

[RATTLER43]

Sounds great. Hey, I see us in there. We won the junior girls division at Greenwood. We won every junior girls meet we attended last year!

Yes, if you do that well against the Ft. Smith group you know you can compete with any team.

What all will reclassification change in your conference and in Class AAAAA? Any track powers move in to join you and Magnolia?

[AB™]

I don't think so.  Huntsville moved up into our conference but they aren't anything to be worried about in track.  In fact, IIRC, Huntsville is going to be the only new team in 5A next year, replacing Pulaski Robinson I believe. CAC moves from the West to the Southwest and Huntsville takes their palce in the West.

[RATTLER43]

Ours is greatly affected. Danville moves in. They are really decent at T&F in Class AA. Bigelow, I think, comes into the conference. Hector, West Yell Co., and Two Rivers as well. Union, Hackett, Hartford, Eureka Springs, County Line, and Decatur go out. Mulberry/PV goes back to Class A. The AAA really changed ours around a lot. We and JC Westside remain.

[RATTLER43]

I love the fact that Danville comes back in after two years out. I wish Union and Eureka could stay. It made for more competitive meets come district time.

[AB™]

RATTLER, are you the only coach for track?  Or do you have some assistants?

The main reason Alma is so successful is because we have 4 dedicated track and field coaches.  I mean, they don't all 4 coach track and nothing else, but they take their T&F coaching duties very seriously.

Coach Mac of course is as good as anyone in the state.  Coach Hale, is an assistant football coach but he is one of the best throwing coaches in the state.  We got a new coach who was a hurdler at DeQueen and he is helping out a lot in that area.  And Coach Hall (another football assistant) is a great PV coach.  My brother said that's the biggest reason Alma enjoys so much T&F success is because most schools might have 1 or 2 coaches who don't care much for it, but Alma has 4 who love coaching T&F and are very dedicated.

[RATTLER43]

In our conference, Union is strong in field events, hurdles, and relays; Eureka at distance, field events, and relays; Mulberry/PV at distance and sprints.
Union athletes were state champions in 4x400m relay (edged us out) and 2nd in 300m hurdles and  3rd in shot;
Eureka athletes top three in PV and HJ plus 800m;
Mulberry/PV athletes won 100m, 1600m, and 3200m;
Magazine won discus, was 2nd in 4x800m, shot, 4x400m, 1600m, and 400m, 3rd in 400m, PV, and 3200m. Our conference teams placed 4 teams inn top 10. We represented well.

[RATTLER43]

I coach alone. I coach both 7th grade teams, both junior high squads, and both senior high teams. Our after school practices we all work as groups. I will have 10 to 14 throwers working at our two throwing areas. I work on some technique, have a student from EAST lab video, and my best thrower works with them as well. I use this method with all events. My best hurdlers work with the younger ones as I move on to my relay teams. My vaulters-same. My best distance runner is the best leader on my team so he really motivates the runners to do the required workouts then the extra work on their own before school, during lunch, and in evenings. I have former athletes who have competed at the various NCAA and NJCAA levels who come back and put on mini-camps for me. It has really helped my field events kids and sprinters/relays.

I absolutely love it. Our practices are really long so I can work with all groups but our kids have really bought into it so they love it as well.

[AB™]

I've wanted to be a basketball coach basically my entire life.  However, the last 4 or 5 years I have really gotten into track and field.  I absolutely LOVE going to track meets, and I think a state T&F meet is one of the most exciting, nerve wracking, high school sports experiences there is.  It's an all-day event, you're sitting there crunching numbers in your head, nervously trying to figure out where your team stands, how certain events are going, etc.  And when it comes down to the 4x4 relay as it did at the 5A State Meet two years ago, all bets are off on high the intensity level and tension will get.

[RATTLER43]

I agree. I started my career as a basketball coach in eastern Arkansas. I fell in love with track early on. Still love b-ball but track has become my passion. That AAAAA meet may have been the best of all time. I only got to read about it but with teams still in contention and within striking distance of each other and each with a really fine 4x4 has to be the best.

[RATTLER43]

Was Helena the third team still in it?

[RATTLER43]

By looking at your earlier post I see that GW junior boys had a decent showing. Maybe they are back on the rise.

[AB™]

Was Helena the third team still in it?

No, two years ago it was just Alma and Magnolia again. 

1.  Magnolia  101
2.  Alma       97.5
3.  Camden    64     

The atmosphere at that meet was incredible.  Unfortunately, we knew that the only way Alma could win state was if we had a miracle top 4 finish and hope Magnolia didn't finish 1st or 2nd.  Neither happened, Magnolia won state, and we went home just 3.5 points. 

We should have won it that year, though.  We had a kid who was a senior in the shot put.  He decided to go on a cruise as a senior trip the same week of the state track meet.  John White from Alma that year threw a 52' 0.25" and placed 2nd.  Leading up to state the kid who went on the cruise was throwing in the 50' to 52' range.  If he had gone to state and thrown, say a 50' 6", he places 4th in th shot, and Alma wins by 1.5 points.  Either way, it was a great meet and very close all the way to the end.

You're thinking of the 2007 state meet.

1.  Magnolia    111
2.  Alma         104
3.  HWH          98

[RATTLER43]

Do any of you guys know when the Razorback indoor high school invitational is scheduled?