ROGERS — Kaleb Knox scored 20 of his team’s 38 points at the Class 6A State track and field championship meet on Thurdsday.
The 6A-Central Conference champion Hornets finished seventh as a team. That was the top finish for a Central team. The first six places were held by 6A-West teams led by State champion Fayetteville with 135. Bentonville West was second with 128 points.
Knox was second in the 300-meter hurdles, third in the 100 hurdles, fifth in the long jump and seventh in the 100-meter dash as the Hornets scored in 10 events.
In the 300, Knox’ 40.60 was second only to the 39.08 run by Tyrone Luckett of Bentonville West.
In the 100 hurdles, Knox finished in 15.15. His long jump covered 21’7.75” and his time in the 100-meters was 11.07.
“Kaleb Knox had a remarkable day,” acknowledged Hornets coach Steve Oury. “Combining prelims plus finals (including a re-run of the 110 meter hurdles), he ran eight races while also competing in the long jump and triple jump.
“I didn’t think he would be able to go in his last race, the 300 meter hurdles,” he continued. “He was hurting. The fact that he ended up in second place was just amazing.
“I personally don’t agree with having prelims in a one-day meet. I just don’t think it’s fair to the athletes. I would hope in the future we could eventually either have a one-day meet with no prelims, or go back to having a two-day meet with prelims and finals being on separate days.”
Gabe Allen was eighth in the long jump at 20’7.25”.
LaQuav Brumfield scored in two individual events and helped the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams produce points.
In the 400-meters, Brumfield was seventh in 52.28. He was eighth in the triple jump, covering 41’5.5”.
With Brumfield joining Owen Lee, Ammon Henderson and River Gregory in the 4 x 400, Bryant finished sixth in 3:30.49. With Gabe Allen, Kyle Knox and Gregory, Brumfield helped on a 43.51 in the 4 x 100, good for fifth.
Henderson was fourth in the 800-meters with a time of 1:59.86 and lent a leg to the 4 x 800 team, which took seventh in 8:28.62. Henderson joined Hagan Austin, Sam Herring and M.J. Ferguson.
“We knew the level of competition was going up dramatically,” Oury said. “We were projected to finish seventh in this meet and we did, which shows just how tough the 7A-West is. I’m very proud of our effort throughout the season, and this was no different. We have some promising young talent coming up, so I’m hopeful they will stick with track and help to close that gap between the 6A West and the 6A Central.”
