Hood earns State crown, Lewis scores 29 points for fifth-place Bryant
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Photos courtesy of Julie Shelby
CONWAY — Senior Haley Hood captured an individual State championship in the 300-meter hurdles and earned a trip to the Meet of Champs at the 2016 Class 7A State championship meet at Conway High School on Thursday.
Along with Hood, Jadyn Lewis, Zeia Robinson, Amanda Burt, Ty Foote, Daelyn Young and Deborah Shaw earned all-State honors with top three finishes at the meet.
Lewis compiled a team-high 29 points and Hood compiled 19 points to the Lady Hornets’ total of 68, which was good for fifth place in the 15-team field.
Fayetteville won the team title with 127 points with Bentonville second with 112. Conway was third (86.5) and West Memphis fourth (71).
“I was extremely pleased with our efforts today,” stated Bryant head coach Danny Westbrook. “We had several athletes set PR’s in a lot of events.
“Haley is the only automatic qualifier for the Meet of Champs right now, but I feel sure we will have several entries qualify when the list comes out on Monday,” he added.
Hood won her State crown in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 45.62. Earlier this season, she set the school record in the event with the best time of the season in the state at 44.43.
“Haley Hood remains undefeated in the 300-meter hurdles this season with one more race to go,” Westbrook said. “I can’t say enough good things about Jadyn Lewis. She is such a leader on our team. Even though she did not get an outdoor State title, she kept fighting in every race and set personal best in all her events.”
“Freshman Deborah Shaw just barely missed out on a State title in the hurdles,” he continued. “She is a phenomenal athlete with a very bright future in this sport.”
Shaw ran a 15.22 in the 100 hurdles to finish a close second to Fayetteville’s Lauren Holmes at 15.18. Hood was fifth at 16.05.
Hood was also seventh in the high jump at 4’10” and eighth in the long jump at 16’5.5”. In the 4×400, she and Lewis combined with Burt and Robinson to finish second with a time of 4:03.95, just short of rival Conway’s winning 4:01.15.
Lewis was denied State titles in two events by Paris Perkins of West Memphis as they dueled in the 200 and 400. Lewis ran 57.66 in the 400 but Perkins won in 56.77. In the 200, Lewis ran 25.36 only to have Perkins run a 24.65.
In addition, the Bryant junior was third in the long jump with a leap of 17’3”. She was fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.24.
Burt, Young, Robinson and Foote qualified for the Meet of Champs in the 4×100 relay, finishing third in 50.49. Megan Lee, Hannah Shelby, Maggie Laws and Zhania Hall are in position to get a bid to the Meet as well with their time of 10:13.56 in the 4×800.
The Meet of Champs is set for Saturday, May 14, at Russellville.
