Archive - May 17, 2012
PEARCY – The Benton Panthers track and field team competed in four events in the Meet of Champs at Lake Hamilton High School in Pearcy on Saturday and finished fourth overall with 29 points. Vilonia took first with 52 points, followed by Conway (40) and Heber Springs (32). Bentonville and Rogers each had 28 points, coming behind Benton.
As usual, senior runner Zach Riley led the way for Benton, winning the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Riley won the 100 in a time of 10.75 and the 200 in 21.67.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK - The Central No. 2 seed Bryant Hornets will be making their third consecutive trip to the 7A State Championship game after handling the West No. 1 seed Bentonville Tigers 9-0 on Monday afternoon in the semifinals at Vince DeSalvo Stadium at Burns Park in North Little Rock. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but inclement weather postponed it.
There is an old saying that has been around for many, many decades: “You win some, you lose some.”
Those words have been muttered by coaches and athletes millions of times. The second part of the quote, “but you live to fight another day,” is the part that isn’t always the case.
The Benton Panthers’ season came to an end when their rival conference foe Sheridan Yellowjackets upended them 3-2 in the semifinal of the 6A State Tournament on Saturday at Mountain Home High School.
“It was a heck of a game,” Benton Coach Mark Balisterri said. “We just didn’t get the big hit. We had a couple chances to score some runs, but couldn’t get the big hit. We outhit them. They just scored one more than we did and that’s basically all there was to it.”
With a 7-0 semifinal win over the West No. 2 seed Springdale Har-Ber Lady Cats on Saturday in the State Tournament at Lady Hornet Field, the Central No. 1 seed Bryant Lady Hornets will make their third consecutive trip to the State Final game against the Bentonville Lady Tigers on Saturday, May 19, at Park in Fayetteville. Bryant will try to make it three titles in a row and are currently on a 36-game winning streak, dating to last season.
Nate Griffin, a former point guard for the Benton Panthers, signed his letter of intent with North Central Community College on Friday.
“Nate (Griffin) has turned out to be a really fine young man. We are really proud of him,” Chris Nail, Head Men’s Basketball coach for the Benton Panthers said. “He was a two year all-conference, one year all-state player and a good tournament player. He’s had a great career for us and we are excited that he gets to pursue his education for free and play some basketball.”
