I love it when a plan comes together! And that is just what happened Friday in Fayetteville. 5 years of planning! The Rattlers and Lady Rattlers made the annual trip to northwest Arkansas for the State Indoor Championships in the Randal Tyson Track Center. Over 1500 entries arrived for the 1A-4A combined meet. Competitors from each classification would be competing head to head, but results were separated for each group with 1A-2A being grouped together. Magazine’s Caleb Hyatt set the tone early with a state championship throw in dominating fashion. Kobe Faughn took silver and Matthew Wood 5th. The Rattlers fed off that early performance for the rest of the 8.5 hour event. Clair Curtis finished 6th in the girls division. Josh Cox led three freshmen (Connor Ryan, Ashton Droemer, and Haden Littleton) to a bronze in the 4x800m relay. Xeng Yang then smoothly sailed over the hurdles for gold in the 60m hurdles. Tatum Scott took bronze in the 60m dash. At this point the boys had a marginal lead while the girls sat in 3rd place. Carlee Parrish took bronze and Marina Serna 4th in the 1600m. Chase Gibson and Tatum Scott hit gold-silver in long jump, Chase then won the high jump to push the lead a little. Then Tatum took silver in the 400m dash. Possibly the most exceptional performance of the entire night came when Jesse Witt smashed the school record (Cory Chambers) in triple jump with a gold medal 43’11.5” jump to annihilate all competitors. Taryn Leslie took gold-silver in long jump and triple jump. Levi Wright scored in both the 800m and 3200m runs and Connor Ryan hit a PR to score in the 3200m as well. Michal-Ann Dobson and Carlee Parrish scored in the 800m. Tatum Scott then hit gold in the 200m dash beating his friend/rival Zach Stanley from Danville in the 200m dash. Lauren Ryan took gold in the 3200m run. Leslie, Hannah Green, Becky Scott, and Lauren Littleton took silver in the mile relay. Scott, Witt, Yang, and Jacob Hall finished off the night with a silver in the mile relay. The girls battled all night long and finished 3rd overall! The boys: 2019 Class 2A Indoor Track and Field State Champions! By virtue of scoring 34 points and leading the Rattlers to the State title, Tatum Scott was named State MVP for 2A Indoor Track and Field! Yes, I love it when a plan comes together.
State champion: Caleb Hyatt shot put Chase Gibson long jump Jesse Witt triple jump Taryn Leslie long jump Chase Gibson high jump
Xeng Yang hurdles Tatum Scott 200m dash Lauren Ryan 3200m run
ALL STATE: Lauren Littleton Hannah Green Taryn Leslie Becky Scott Lauren Ryan
Caleb Hyatt Kobe Faughn Chase Gibson Jesse Witt Xeng Yang Tatum Scott Jacob Hall
State MVP: Tatum Scott