On their heels : Bulldogs take second at state track meet for fifth straight time
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Sports/65243/
The fourth time wasn’t the charm for Hunter Bourke or his fellow Fayetteville High seniors on Thursday at the Class 7 A State track meet.
Bourke and Robert Rolfe finished first and second, respectively, in the 200-meter dash to give the Bulldogs an eight-point advantage for the top spot through 12 events at John McDonnell Field, but distance events ended the night and Fayetteville ultimately fell to its fifth consecutive second-place finish in the championships.
“ The seniors have nothing to be upset about, ” Fayetteville coach Drew Yoakum said. “ A lot of teams can say they never won a trophy and we’ve got five big ones under our belt. They came out and competed, but Rogers has a great team. ”
Rogers won its second state title in the men’s events, compiling 125 points to Fayetteville’s 99.
“ Their distance is what carries them, ” Bourke said. “ We’re pretty much even with them in the jumps, but when it comes to the distance, they always pull away. ”
Bourke’s time of 49. 76 in the 200-meter dash proved to be Fayetteville’s lone championship event, and Rolfe’s runner-up finish gave the Bulldogs their highest point total in one event with 18.
The Bulldogs took the lead once before when three Bulldogs finished in the top seven in the 100-meter dash in the ninth event. Paced by Bourke’s 11. 33 and sixpoint effort in third, the Bulldogs took the top spot from the Mounties, 60-58.
Fayetteville’s lead didn’t last long, though, and Rogers retook the advantage in the 1, 600-meter run with 16 points in the event.
On the girls’ side, Fayetteville placed ninth with 38 points. Jessica Potter led the way with 15. 5 points, including a 5-foot jump in the long jump for a sixthplace finish.
Potter and Hannah Culp finished second in the 4 x 100 relay and added eight points.
“ The girls’ numbers aren’t as high and that has a lot to do with our finish, ” Yoakum said. “ There were some good individual performances, so they’ll come back and we’ll have another chance next year. ”
Bentonville won its second state championship with 107 points.
The Fayetteville boys placed four runners in the top eight in the long jump earlier in the finals but, again, distance events were the Achilles’ heel. Rogers scored 49 points in the final five events in dash, hurdle and extended running relay events.
“ We probably needed to do a little better in the jumping events to have a chance, ” Yoakum said. “ In track meets, you never know what’s going to happen. But I’m proud of what we did. We have nothing to be ashamed of. ”