FAYETTEVILLE -- Alexis Duffy hasn't been to any track practices yet, but the Siloam Springs senior has already won a state championship.
Duffy, a senior at Siloam Springs, jumped 5 feet, 4 inches in the girls high jump to take first place in the event Saturday at the Class 5A-7A Arkansas State Indoor Meet held at the Tyson Indoor Track Complex on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
Duffy hasn't been able to practice with track yet because she's playing on the high school girls basketball team.
The only competition she had received to this point was participating in an invitational meet three weeks ago, where she jumped 4 feet, 11 inches, according to head girls track coach Sharon Jones.
"She's had zero practice," Jones said. "We tried not to bother her since she was in season with basketball as well, plus I knew she'd do fine."
Duffy beat out Elise Randels and Hannah Martin of Rogers, both of whom topped out at 5 feet, 2 inches.
Duffy and Randels each sailed through the early heights in the high jump until they came to 5-4, and both went out at 5-4 and finished in a tie for first place.
However, the rules state there cannot be a tie for first place, so the jumpers got one more attempt at the height, Jones said.
"If they both would've missed, the bar would've been lowered by one inch and they would have gotten three more jumps at the lower height," Jones said.
Duffy made sure it didn't come to that.
On her fourth attempt, Duffy barely cleared the bar at 5-4 and it stuck, and Randels missed giving Duffy the state championship.
"This is truly a great way for her to start up her outdoor season with this under her belt and that kind of confidence," Jones said. "I'm really happy for Alexis. She's fun to watch. I'm sure it's a love-hate relationship with the other jumpers though. She is very social and makes friends with the girls she competes with. But I'm sure they don't like to jump against her, because she has proven to be consistently good.
"Coaches always ask me what grade she's in. They're ready to see her graduate. That's a huge compliment to her."
Jones hopes Duffy can get even better once the outdoor season starts.
"I'm looking for her to clear at least 5 feet, 6 inches this year," Jones said. "She's not afraid of high bars. She just needs to keep her head in the right place."
Duffy's first-place finish scored all 10 of Siloam Springs' points. The Lady Panthers finished in a tie for 12th place with Greenwood and Cabot. Fayetteville won the meet with 113 points, while Bentonville had 103.
In the 400-meter dash, Chloe McGooden ran a time of 1 minute, 8.40 seconds to finish 30th while Duffy was 32nd at 1:08.83 and Caroline Farine 39th at 1:11.02.
Boys
The Siloam Springs boys scored a total of five points to finish 18th overall in the boys meet. Fayetteville and Bentonville tied with 90 points to win the meet.
Senior Aaron Capehart finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.25 seconds and scored three of the Panthers' points. Ryke Beever placed 22nd at 9.84 seconds and Caleb Ellis was 28th at 10.18 seconds.
Senior Elliott Pearson scored the Panthers' other two points with a seventh-place finish in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:41.30. Connor Humphrey placed 49th in the event at 5:12.34.
Also for Siloam Springs, Kyler Duncan placed 25th in the shot put with a throw of 39 feet, 4.75 inches.
Trent Lyon placed 34th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.67 seconds, while J.D. Horn was 49th at 7.96 and Coby Roach 59th at 8.20.
Lyon finished 19th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.62, while Chandler Stewart was 38th in the 800-meter run at 2:19.16.
Horn finished 33rd in the 200-meter dash at 24.73.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Beever, Capehart, Ellis and Lyon finished 14th at 3:45.72.
Sports on 02/10/2016