sports
14
August 23, 2017
Weekly Publication
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Tigers are Ready to Run A
BY LOGAN MCCOURTNEY l.mccourtney@mypulsenews.com
corn Cross Country has been one of the dominate programs in Southwest Arkansas for a number of years under the direction of Keith Willsey. Since 1996, the Tigers have been a factor at State, making numerous visits and winning several championships along the way. This year is no different at Acorn, the Tigers look to keep the tradition going and add more championships. The Acorn senior girls have been dominating the cross country landscape over the last eight years, winning four State Championships and earning Runner-Up the other four trips. This year the girls return two of their top runners, including Faith Hill, a three time All-State runner. Other girls that will contribute to the success of the team are Jr. Kendra Branson, Soph. Sophie Jackson, Soph. Allie Strothers, Sr. Josey Webb, and Sr. Mackenzi e Goss. The L ady Tigers will look for help from Ashlynn Bissell, one of the top 8th grade runners in the area last season. After a year in which the girls won many of their Invitational meets in both senior and junior high, the L ady Tigers look to build on that success this season. Currently, they are ranked 2nd in 1A-2A and will look to challenge last years’ champion Q uitman. Acorn senior boys will be a factor in the conversation at the end of the year as the season winds down. Coach Willsey has been trying to help get the boys back into the top couple of positions over the last couple of years. Over the last couple of years the boys have demonstrated a lot of talent and with a young team coming back there shows to be good promise. The Tigers will return several State runners including Matthew Chaney, Brady L yle, Aaron Baker, Adam Hughes, Curtis Shorts, and Mason Stout. Last year Acorn finished 6th in the team standings at State and look to build on that this year. The boys were successful and finished well in a lot of area races and Coach Willsey hopes the boys build on that success. Ouachita was the 1st place team at State and the Tigers are looking to make up ground and make it back to the podium at State. Numbers will be high again this year for the program, as Acorn looks to have 40 -60 runners out to compete. The Tigers will partner with Mena and Coach Randy Peters to host a meet at the L ions Club in October.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY PHILPOT • MORE PHOTOS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT MYPULSENEWS.COM The Bearcats held their annual fall Red/Black Scrimmage August 17th at Bearcat Stadium in front Bearcat fans who are ready for the start of the season. The scrimmage provides an opportunity for the team to get some good reps, while also giving fans a preview of the team. “We are a young team so any ame e perien e e an ain is al ays ene ial says Coa h Tim Harper. The coaches tried to split the teams evenly for the scrimmage, providing a competitive scrimmage. “I was very pleased with the effort. I was impressed with our linebackers, they are young, but they showed good effort an are hun ry here ere a ouple of areas that Coa h arper hopes to see improvement as the Bearcats move forward, “Defensively we need to tackle better in space. On offensive, we need to sustain our blocks a little longer and our receivers to make sure their routes are where the QB thinks they ill e
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