Girls Track Athlete of the Year
Lauren Holmes
SCHOOL Fayetteville
CLASS Senior
HEIGHT 5-7
EVENTS Hurdles, jumps
THE SCOOP Holmes won the girls long jump with a personal best 17 feet, 10.5 inches during the Class 7A state meet at Springdale Har-Ber and ran a leg on the 4x100-meter relay, which Fayetteville won with a time of 49.04 seconds. She also finished second in the 100 hurdles (16.18) and in the triple jump (37-5.5) and took third in the 100 (13.09).
DID YOU KNOW Holmes was a notable contributor in Fayetteville’s state championships in volleyball, basketball and track this season. She also signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at the University of North Texas.
QUOTABLE “I think it was a rough season for me because I wasn’t doing as well in track meets as I was before, and I didn’t get started until late because of basketball,” Holmes said. “Overall, as a team, I was proud of us since we didn’t have that many people competing at the state meet. The 4x100 relay was my favorite event this year because I loved the girls on the team, and we always had competition in every single meet. We weren’t blowing everybody away, and it was good to have that competition in the meet.”
Girls Track Runner of the Year
Hannah Lueders
SCHOOL Rogers High
CLASS Senior
HEIGHT 5-5
EVENTS Sprints, hurdles
THE SCOOP Lueders won three events during the Class 7A state meet at Springdale Har-Ber, with her winning times being 12.61 seconds in the 100 meters, 45.66 seconds in the 300 hurdles and 25.86 seconds in the 200. Her best times this season were 12.23 seconds in the 100 and 25.48 seconds in the 200. … She returned to Rogers High after spending a semester at IMG Academy in Florida.
DID YOU KNOW Lueders signed a national letter of intent to run track at Pennsylvania. The plans are for her to run the sprints, but she said she wouldn’t mind looking into the hurdles after her victory in the state meet.
QUOTABLE “My times weren’t that great because a lot of our meets were run into a headwind, unfortunately,” Lueders said. “Personally, I had some good successes here. The team had really changed when I returned, and it was a lot of fun. I jokingly mentioned to my coach about ‘hey, you should put me in the 300 hurdles. It’s my senior year, and I can do something fun.’ She put me in it, and I ended up with a state championship. That was definitely unexpected, but it was a lot of fun.”
Girls Track Newcomer of the Year
Jamison Maass
SCHOOL Haas Hall Bentonville
CLASS Freshman
HEIGHT 5-6
EVENT Distance runner
THE SCOOP Maass was a three-time winner on during the Class 1A state meet at Hendrix College. Her times were 2 minutes, 32.79 seconds in the 800 meters, 5:40.89 in the 1,600 (the only runner to break the 6-minute mark in this event) and 12:38.05 in the 3,200 (more than a minute faster than her closest competitor)
DID YOU KNOW Maass’ victory in the 1,600 means Haas Hall Bentonville freshmen runners have won that event at the Class 1A state meet two consecutive years. Tori Willis, last year’s All-NWADG Newcomer of the Year who later transferred to Bentonville High, won the 1,600 last year.
QUOTABLE “The season went really well. I started a little late — around midseason — because track over there can be chaotic,” Maass said. “Our first race was at Springdale Har-Ber, so we had only two meets before conference meet. I think my favorite race is the 1,600. It’s not super long because you don’t have to go around the track eight times, but it’s not super short because running shorter races isn’t my favorite.”
Boys Track Athlete of the Year
Zach McWhorter
SCHOOL Springdale Har-Ber
CLASS Senior
HEIGHT 5-8
EVENTS Pole vault, hurdles, jumps
THE SCOOP McWhorter led the state’s pole vaulters when he cleared 17 feet and set the 7A-West Conference record for a second straight year … He also broke his Class 7A state record again when he cleared 16-10 during this year’s meet at Har-Ber, as well as won the Meet of Champs when he cleared 16-8 at Russellville. … Had a personal-best 14.70 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles and broke the Bulldog Relays record in that event this year in Fayetteville.
DID YOU KNOW McWhorter signed a national letter of intent to pole vault at Brigham Young, but he left earlier this month for a mission trip to Indonesia. He will return to BYU and participate in track once his mission has been completed.
QUOTABLE “A good way to describe this season is interesting,” McWhorter said. “This season, the coaches asked me to do more events, so I was consistently doing pole vault, 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and did long jump a couple of times. Pole vaulting, overall, wasn’t exactly what I wanted because I had pole brand difficulty. The timing was starting to click toward the end of the season, but the season was a little short.”
Boys Track Runner of the Year
Seth Waters
SCHOOL Harrison
CLASS Senior
HEIGHT 5-8
EVENT Distances
THE SCOOP Waters was the Class 5A state champion in the 800 and the 1,600 meters. He had the state’s third-best 800 time of 1 minute, 55.31 seconds, and he also had the state’s best 1,600 time of 4:14.47. He ran the final leg of Harrison’s 4x800 relay team, which set the Class 5A state meet record at 8:05.57, then the team became the only one in the state to break the 8:00 barrier during the Meet of Champs. Waters also was the Class 5A state runnerup in the 3,200.
DID YOU KNOW Waters has signed a national letter of intent to run at Arkansas State University and said he would like to run the 1,500 for the Red Wolves.
QUOTABLE “I don’t think I could have done any better. I think I ended the season on a high note. I peaked at the right time,” Waters said. “I started the season out in a funk — had some slower times and wasn’t where I wanted to be. Toward the end of the season I kicked it into gear and got where I wanted to be. I was more focused on my competitors in Class 5A, but I was definitely also looking at others’ times. That 4x800 will jump out because we had a PR and a 5A state record, and we were faster than we expected.”
Boys Track Newcomer of the Year
Bryant Parlin
SCHOOL Bentonville High
CLASS Sophomore
HEIGHT 6-2
EVENT Throws
THE SCOOP Parlin won the boys discus title at the Class 7A state meet with a throw of 149 feet, 7 inches, defeating his closest competitor by almost 10 feet. His personal-best of 160-10 came during the 7A-West Conference meet last month in Fayetteville, and it was the third-best performance in the state this season. He was also the conference runnerup in the shot put and finished eighth in that event during the state meet.
DID YOU KNOW Parlin won the boys discus at the Class 7A state meet despite injuring his back in the shot put, where he finished eighth in that event.
QUOTABLE “The season went very well and was very successful. I proceeded throughout the year, and I would PR on my throws by a couple of feet each week,” Parlin said. “In my first meet, I threw the discus 135 feet, then threw 160 during the conference meet. In practices I was averaging 150-155 feet, so I was hoping I could get one out there around the 160 mark. It was surprising at first, but I’m so glad I did it.”
All-NWADG Track and Field selections were made by Henry Apple based on performances from the 2017 spring track and field season. He is an NWADG sports reporter who has covered prep track and field for more than 30 years. He can be reached at happle@nwadg.com.