For the first time in school history, Prairie Grove had a pair of athletes participate in the annual Arkansas Meet of Champs, which combines the top finishers from each classification's state championships.
In addition, Prairie Grove senior Ashley Cox will become the first athlete from the school to participate in the annual Arkansas Heptathlon this week.
Cox is headed to Cabot for the Arkansas Heptathlon, a two-day, seven-event competition that began Wednesday. Events scheduled for Day 1 are the 100-meter hurdles, long jump, discus throw and 200-meter run. Day 2 wraps up with the high jump, shot put and 800-meter run.
Prairie Grove doesn't have an on-campus track or other equipment necessary for field events like the high jump. In other words, Cox's only actual practice for those events has been at track meets.
The last athlete from the WCEL coverage area to compete in the Arkansas Heptathlon was Lincoln's Nikki Thordson, who finished 20th out of 64 entrants in 2013.
The only other two athletes from West Washington County to participate also were from Lincoln. Brittany Faust finished 25th out of 61 competitors in 2010 while Shae Dorman was 41st out of 53 in 2011.
At this year's Meet of Champs in Russellville on May 14, Prairie Grove's Bekah Bostian and Sydney Walker qualified for events.
Bostian, a freshman, came in seventh in the 3,200-meter run after winning the event at the Class 4A State Championships in Nashville on May 3.
Walker, a senior, finished fifth in the 200-meter dash. He came in third in the event at the state meet.
Sports on 05/18/2016