FAYETTEVILLE -- Jessieville sophomore Noah Eskew, a triple-crown winner in Arkansas high school track and field, won two events at the state 1A-2A-3A indoor track championships here Friday.
One of the state's top long-distance runners, Eskew took the 1,600 meters in 4:38.94 and the 3,200 meters in 10:19.57 at the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Center. The Jessieville runner had a comparatively close call in the shorter race, Conway Christian's Bennett Pascoe second in 4:40.61, but won the 3,200 with room to spare, Salem's Trevor Falco following in 10:31.01.
The top six 3,200 finishers ran in the faster of two heats, Heber Springs' Lane Carter winning the first in 11:13.62. Cave City's Kendall Townsley won the slower 800 heat in 4:56.11, finishing seventh overall.
A prominent state and national runner before competing on the high-school level, Eskew has back-to-back Class 3A cross country titles for Jessieville. As a Jessieville freshman, he won the 1,600 and 3,200 Class 3A titles outdoors.
Jessieville's Riley Taylor won the girls long jump Friday with 16 feet and a half-inch on her third of four attempts. She finished eighth in the 200-meter dash (28.60) behind winner Amalie Gunn of Central Arkansas Christian.
Lady Lion teammate Alina Homan placed fifth in the 3,200 meters (13:15.19), won by Trinity Christian star Elizabeth Gillette in a meet-record 11:30.71. Monticello's Sarah Claycomb set the previous standard (11:37.54) last year.
Crossett's boys (100.50-67 over Lafayette County) and Genoa Central's girls (86-53 over Monticello) won team titles.
Caddo Hills' Matthew Standridge, another product of Morry Sanders' Arkansas Vault Club, had a winning pole vault of 15 feet, Elkins' Devin Barker placing second at 13 feet. The Montgomery County school also produced the girls' vault champion with Kayla Torbett clearing 11 feet, 4 1/4 inches.
Crossett's Travean Caldwell set meet records in the boys triple jump (46 feet, 2 1/2 inches) and 400-meter dash (49.85). Previous marks were 44-4 by Nashville's Chris Benson (2001) in the triple jump and 50.35 by Heber Springs' Josh Foster (2000). in the 400.
Caldwell won two other events, the 60-meter dash (7.12) against University of Arkansas football signee Jordan Jones of Smackover and the 60-meter hurdles (8:30) by more than a half-minute over the Lafayette County runner-up. Caldwell finished second in the 200 to the meet-record 22.67 by Prairie Grove's Sydney Walker, three-hundredths of a second faster than the previous record set by Heber Springs' Foster in 2000.
Sports on 02/08/2016