CABOT — Bryant’s Melinda Murdock was fifth, Leah Ward 12th and Haley Hood 39th out of 66 competitors after the first day of the annual Arkansas Heptathlon at the Cabot High School track on Wednesday.
Springdale Har-Ber’s Payton Stumbaugh led the way with 3,132 points, which included the best times of the day in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200 meter dash. She was second in the long jump and third in the discus.
Kelsey Herman of Crossett was second with 2,831 points followed by Cabot’s Lexi Weeks (2,638) and Tori Weeks (2,542). Murdock had 2,461, just a point better than Jada Bylark of Little Rock Parkview.
Today, the competition will conclude with the high jump, the shot put and the 800-meter run.
Murdock’s best performance of the first day was the hurdles in which she finished fourth with a time of 15.22. She was 11th in the discus with a throw of 76’1 ½” and the 200 with a time of 26.64. She was 12th in the long jump at 16’6 ½”.
Her strongest event figures to be the 800.
Ward finished the first day with 2,257 points. She had a sixth-place finish in the discus with a throw of 85’12” and she was seventh in the long jump, covering 16’10”. She ran a 26.55 in the 200, the ninth best time but got off to rough start with a 17.69 in the hurdles, which was 27th.
Hood, a sophomore, compiled 1,763 points on Wednesday. She ran 27.13 in the 200 and 19.51 in the hurdles. Her discus throw covered 63’0 ¾”. Her long jump was 15’1”.
Herman had the top long jump of the day at 18’11 ¼” while Des Arc junior Kirby Smith turned in the top discus throw at 107’5 ¾”.
