Submitted by Keith Willsey, Acorn Track & XC Coach
On Thursday, April 21st, the Acorn Tigers and Lady Tigers competed in the 2022 Fort Smith McDonald’s Relays. The track meet was held at the Jim Rowland Stadium on the campus of Southside High School in Fort Smith. Acorn High School athletes had the opportunity to compete against the best in western and northwest Arkansas. The meet required athletes to compete at a high level and standard.
In the 1600, Acorn Tiger Justice Neufeld lined up with some of the best runners in the State. Neufeld came into the race ranked 35th in all classifications for the 1600. After a blistering opening 800, he moved up for the final lap in 7th place but did not stay there. With a burst of speed, he came off the backstretch in 2nd place. He moved up to the State’s leading 1600. Neufeld fought hard in the final 200 and came up just short of the top spot to win 2nd place. This was Neufeld’s 10-second personal best and moved him up to the 6th best in the State.
This has been the year of distancing running in Arkansas high schools and Neufeld’s time is the 3rd best ran in Arkansas. Three of the top times for distancing running were run in Texas.
Track results for Acorn High School included personal best times and efforts of the year. Caden Tarkinton is a freshman and ran a personal best in the 800 with a time of 2:06.42 (8 second best). Tarkinton’s time is 2nd in Class AA and is 2nd only to teammate, Justice Neufeld. Jonah Rogan ran a personal best in 300 Hurdles with a time of 45.9 and Riley Weddle with a time of 25:09 for the 200.
Acorn Lady Tigers track results included Harlei McCourtney with a personal best in 100 and 200 with scores of 13.54 and 28.66 respectively. Sophie Strasner with a season best in the 800 with time of 2:49.57 and Miriam Garcia with 6:20.63 for the 1600.
