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FAYETTEVILLE -- Isaiah Sategna thought he had a chance to break a state record Saturday afternoon, and he chose the long jump as the most likely event to do it. The Fayetteville sophomore standout guessed wrong, but it didn't keep him from rewriting the record books. Sategna broke the state mark in the 60-meter hurdles, then did it again moments later in the straight 60 during the Class 5A/6A State Indoor Meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Sategna ran the 60 hurdles in a blistering 7.88 seconds, surpassing the previous mark of 8.02 set by Shaka Bogan of Marion last year. Moments later, he ran the 60 in 6.86 seconds and clipped the previous mark of 6.87 set by Kennedy Lightner of North Little Rock in 2019. "I wasn't expecting the 60 at all," Sategna said. "But the 60 hurdles is the one I'm more happy about. I was trying to get 7.95, and I really didn't think I could get that. But I went from running an 8.06 to a 7.88. "I think didn't think it was real. I thought the timing was off." Sategna had already won the long jump by going 23 feet, 1.5 inches in what he called "the best jumps of my life" and was 2 feet behind the board when he leaped. That came before his record-breaking performances, but his day, however, far from over. He cleared 6-2 in the high jump and took fourth in that event, then immediately ran and won the 400 with a time of 49.54. Sategna then capped his day by running a winning time of 21.93 seconds in the 200 and led Fayetteville to the Class 6A state boys title. "My legs, after that 400, don't feel so good," Sategna said. "I knew I had to do good to help my team win, and I did the best I could. I tried to go 6-4 in the high jump after running that 400, and I said I wasn't going to make it." On the girls side, three state records were broken, and Bentonville junior Sydney Billington broke the same record three times in a matter of minutes. She cleared 5-8 in the high jump on her first attempt and surpassed the previous mark of 5-7 set by Hannah Martin of Rogers. Two other athletes -- teammate Lexi Matlock and Springdale's Kiana Cooley-Hayes -- had also cleared 5-7 to tie Martin's mark but couldn't match Billington when she broke the record. Billington then cleared 5-9 on her third and final try, then went on to clear 5-10 on her final attempt despite several distractions of people walking in and near her jumping path. "I'm just as excited as anybody," said Billington. "I've been working really hard, and I feel like the work had paid off. Having those other two around me added a little pressure, but I just have to come back to my senses and focus on myself. "That feeling of getting over the bar at 5-8 and not touching it, it's really nice. My dad has been telling me what to do, like turning my shoulders and everything. I really focused on that for the last two jumps." The meet started and finished with a state record being broken. Fayetteville's team of Grace Litzinger, Mary Margaret Harris, Janet Fu and Carson Wasemiller started things off with a time of 9 minutes, 41.12 seconds in the 4x800 relay and broke the previous mark of 9:47.78 set by Bentonville in 2017. Rogers then broke the 4x400 relay record as the team of Alexa Wright, Samantha Todd, Grace Lueders and Adelina Means turned in a time of 3:59.82, surpassing the previous mark of 4:02.28 set by Bentonville in 2017. Sategna finished with 45 points as Fayetteville compiled 161 to win the 6A boys title, followed by Bentonville with 103 and Rogers with 101. Things were much closer on the 6A girls side as Bentonville compiled 140.75 to capture the title, while Fayetteville finished with 134.33 and Rogers had 111. In Class 5A boys, Vilonia breezed to the title as the Eagles had 138 points, while Lake Hamilton was a distant second with 55.5 points. The Eagles were led by first-place finishes from Carson Lenser in the 400 (50.31) and the pole vault (15-0), the 4x400 relay team of Draven Smith, Nick Lewis, Carson Lenser and Brayden Matyja (3:30.57) and the 4x800 team of Lewis, Matyja, David Adams and Brandon Raulston (8:26.8). Sheridan took the 5A girls title, but it wasn't easy as the Lady Yellowjackets held off Sylvan Hills by a 95-88 margin. Carly Strong claimed first place in all three sprints for Sheridan, while Lauren Godwin won the long jump (18-2.5) and Mackenzie Moring cleared 11-0 to win the pole vault.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Bentonville High School Athletics

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HENRY APPLE

nwaonline.com | 3/2/2020