By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
EL DORADO - A huge 22-team field congregated at Memorial Stadium Thursday for the Oil Belt Relays, which lasted well into the night. At the end of a long day, Texarkana and Genoa Central emerged as the boys and girls champions, respectively.
Texarkana scored 142.5 to best Magnolia (106.5) and Haynesville (95). Prescott (69.5), Genoa (39.5), El Dorado (34), Trinity Christian (25), Lafayette County (20), Ashdown (18), Camden Fairview (17), Parkview (16), Pine Bluff (15), Sheridan (13), Hamburg (12), Parkers Chapel (8), Monticello (7), Glenbrook (6), Watson Chapel (5), Bearden (5) and Smackover (3) rounded out the boys teams.
Texarkana’s Jonathan Gullatt totaled 46.5 points to run away with the high point award. Gullatt won the high jump, long jump, was second in the triple jump, second in the 110 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles.
The Wildcats were led by Jeremiah Henry, who scored 18.75 points. Henry won the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.28 and was third in the 100 (11.41).
“I thought our kids competed really well,” said El Dorado boys coach Mike Sprawls. “We’re going through another round of a young squad, right now. We’ve got a lot of sophomores who are competing well. I thought Jeremiah Henry had a tremendous meet today. He’s running really well. He’s getting in great shape. I think he’s one of the premier sprinters in south Arkansas.
“I’m real proud of some guys. Caleb Scott, I thought had a tremendous day. Every event he was in, he was right in the mix. I’m proud of our 4x100 team, who performed really well. We’ve got a couple new guys on there and we’re still kind of tinkering with things, tinkering with handoffs and placements.”
Genoa totaled 125.5 to hold off Texarkana (109) and Sheridan (99). Magnolia (75), El Dorado (68), Haynesville (41), Hamburg (26), Fairview (25), Parkview (24), Ashdown (19), Monticello (15.5), Smackover (8), Glenbrook (5), Pine Bluff (5), Prescott (4) and Claiborne Academy (2) rounded out the girls scores.
Sheridan’s Carly Strong was the girls high point winner with 31.50. El Dorado sophomore Breya Clark was second with 27.75. Strong was first in the 400, second in the 200, second in the 100 and fifth in the long jump.
Clark won the high jump with a clearance of 5-4 and won the long jump with a leap of 16-09. She was also fourth in the 100 hurdles.
“We had some real good effort. We have a couple battling minor injuries and they’re still fighting through it,” said El Dorado girls coach Blakely Sanders. “Breya Clark has shown up and done real well the past two weeks. This meet she PR’d at the high jump and then she won the long jump. She would’ve won the high point if she’d tried the triple jump but we didn’t want to push her and get her injured.
“LaDiamond Maker came in fifth or sixth in the 400 but PR’d by three seconds, which is really good. She’s continuing to get better each meet. That’s great. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Other top performances were turned in by El Dorado’s Chloee Richard, who was third in both the 1,600 and 800. Smackover’s Mercedes Ellis was second in the girls 800.
“Overall, I’m real proud of the meet. I thought the meet was outstanding,” said Sprawls. “I thought this was the best meet, for sure, south of I-30 tonight. We had some great workers with some great schools. It was a great night for our program.”