DECATUR -- Decatur and Gentry track fans received a bit of good news recently when five of their top male and female athletes competed in the 2018 Arkansas Activities Association's Heptathlon and Decathlon track and field event in Cabot May 17-18.
The two-day Decathlon is a series of 10 events which included 100-meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter run, 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, triple jump, and concluded with the 1500-meter run. The top Arkansas high school male track stars from all seven conferences compete in this yearly event for the title of the best of the best.
Like their male counterparts, the top female track athletes in the state compete in the Heptathlon, which consists of seven events including the 100 hurdles, long jump, discus, 200-meter run, high jump, shot put, and 800-meter run.
Each athlete competes in his or her strongest and weakest events for points which are tabulated, and the athlete is ranked according to his or her finishing position in the final totals.
By the end of the first day of competition, which included the 100-meter hurdles, long jump, discus and 200-meter dash, Decatur's track sensation, Desi Meek, found herself sitting on the bubble in 11th place in the Heptathlon.
Meek struggled in the first two events of day two, coming in 62nd in the high jump and 58th in the shot put, dashing her hope for a top 10 finish. In the last event of the meet, the 800-meter run, Meek managed an impressive sixth-place finish, putting her 15th out of a field of 81 in the final tallies.
For Gentry fans, Chastery Fuamatu took first place in the girls' discus with a throw of 126 feet, 11.5 inches, which earned her 629 points, pushing her up the rankings to 45 overall on day one.
The "wow factor" was in play on day two, with Fuamatu taking her second gold medal of the meet in the shot put. She launched the ball 39 feet, 3 inches. Fuamatu finished 51st overall.
Decatur's Destiny Mejia finished the competition 44th with a seventh-place finish in her best event, the high jump. This was the first Heptathlon for Mejia, a sophomore.
On the boys' side, Decatur's Taylor Haisman wrapped up his high school career with a 26th place overall finish in the Decathlon. His best showing of the meet was a fourth-place finish in the 1500-meter run.
After finishing in the middle of the pack on day one of the Decathlon, Johnny Brandon was poised and ready to move up in the rankings. But a fall in the 110-meter hurdles cost him valuable points. Brandon was pulled from the pole vault by Decatur track coach Shane Holland, fearing he might sustain an injury due to the height of the bar at the beginning of the event. Brandon finished the meet in 65th place.
Results, Girls Heptathlon
- Desi Meek with 3,489 points.
Day 1: 7 in 100m hurdles 16.23, 31 in long jump 4.76m, 31 in discus 68-02, 16 in 200m dash 27.32.
Day 2: 58 in shot put 21-06.25, 62 in high jump 4-01.25, 6 in 800 meter 2:32.24
- Destiny Mejia with 2,851.
Day 1: 40 in 100m hurdles 16.66, 52 in long jump 4.36 meters, 73 in discus 47-01, 54 in 200m dash 29.27.
Day 2: 55 in shot put 21-10.00, 7 in high jump 5-00.25, 52 in 800 meter 3: 01.05.
- Chastery Fuamatu with 2,781 points.
Day 1: 46 in 100m hurdles 19.16, 71 in long jump 4.01m, 1 in discus 127.00, 75 in 200m dash 31.45.
Day 2: 1 in shot put 39-03, 64 in high jump 4-01.25, 78 in 800 meter 3:44.84.
Results, Boys Decathlon:
- Taylor Haisman with 4,694 points.
Day 1: 34 in 100m dash 12.13, 50 in long jump 17-01.50, 40 in shot put 30-05.50, 30 in high jump 5-03, 17 in 400m dash 53.08.
Day 2: 4 in 1500m 4:40.07, 31 in 110 hurdles 20.89, 31 in triple jump 36-11.25, 14 in pole vault 10-02, 38 in discus 77-01.
- Johnny Brandon with 2370 points.
Day 1: 35 in 100m dash 12.16, 69 in long jump 8-02, 65 in shot put 25-06.25, 55 in high jump 4-09, 31 in 400m dash 54.87.
Day 2: 62 in 1500m 6:25.68, DNF 110 hurdles, 65 in triple jump 26-01.50, DNF in pole vault, 63 in discus 49-02.00.
Results courtesy of the Arkansas Activities Association.
General News on 05/23/2018