Four Siloam Springs athletes participated in the state high school decathlon/heptathlon Wednesday and Thursday at Ramay Junior High in Fayetteville.
In the heptathlon, senior Quincy Efurd finished 18th overall, while sophomore Rachel Rine took 64th out of 75 participants.
Junior Hunter Talley finished 20th in the decathlon, while senior Keegan Soucie was unable to finish the competition after suffering an injury in the high jump on Wednesday.
"The Siloam Springs track program was well represented in the Arkansas decathlon/heptathlon this week against some of the best athletes in the state," said Siloam Springs boys track coach Chuck Jones.
Girls track coach Sharon Jones said each school is allowed to have a maximum of two entries for each competition.
The girls compete in seven events: The 200-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles, long jump, discus, 800-meter run, high jump and shot put.
The boys compete in 10 events: The 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter run, 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, triple jump and 1,500-meter run.
"It's a true individual contest for the best track athlete in the state," Sharon Jones said. "They compete in seven events over two days. The boys compete in 10. I'm extremely proud of these kids who chose to extend their season and compete in events they don't normally do. I love to see that kind of adventurous spirit. The heptathlon/decathlon may be my favorite meet all season. It's a fun two days of competition and camaraderie among athletes and coaches."
Efurd, a University of Arkansas-Fort Smith signee for cross country and track, finished with 3,232 points in the heptathlon. Pea Ridge senior Blakelee Winn won the competition with 4,294 points, while Bentonville's Sterling Thomas placed second at 4,023.
Rine finished with 2,187 points.
On day one Wednesday, Efurd finished 26th in the 200-meter dash at 28.91 seconds, while Rine was 56th at 30.50.
Efurd placed 16th in the 100-meter hurdles at 17.73 with Rine in 60th at 21.34.
Efurd finished 40th in the long jump at 14 feet, 2.75 inches with Rine in 66th at 12-8.75.
The final event of Wednesday was the discus and Efurd placed 18th at 72-10, while Rine was 66th at 47-5.
Efurd started the second day Thursday with a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:31.73, while Rine was 33rd at 2:43.72.
Efurd placed 51st in the high jump at 4-3.25, while Rine was 74th at 3-9.25.
Efurd placed 29th in the shot put at 24-8.25 with Rine in 67th at 20-1.75.
"Quincy Efurd improved in almost all her events," Sharon Jones said. "She kept setting many goals throughout the competition and was having fun achieving them. She ended up finishing 18th overall out of 75 girls. Her best events were probably the 100 hurdles and the 800 meters because she's used to doing those. Coach (Henry) Janes did a good job preparing the girls in the shot and discus. We were thrilled at how well she threw.
"Rachel was new to the heptathlon this year. She was fun to watch. I think she caught the bug and will do this again next year now that she has a better handle on all the events she'll have to do. Her best event was the 800, but we were surprised at how well she also ran the hurdles and long jumped. I'm excited to see her do this again."
Talley had two top five finishes -- including first place in the shot put -- on Wednesday and was among the leaders.
He finished eighth out of all the non-seniors competing in the event with 4,804 points. Sam Hurley of Fayetteville won the event with 6,713 points to beat Vilonia's Carson Lenser who had 6,157.
Talley placed 32nd in both the 100-meter dash (12.28) and long jump (19-5).
Talley then placed first in the shot put at 40-3.5 and then fourth in the high jump at 5-9. In his final event of the day Talley was 32nd in the 400-meter run at 56.09.
On Thursday, Talley placed 15th in the 110-meter hurdles at 17.88 and 26th in the discus with a throw of 83-0.
However, Talley was unable to record a high in the pole vault which cost him points. In the triple jump, Talley finished 21st at 38-6, and he took 16th in the 1,500-meter run at 5:04.18.
"Hunter had a great decathlon," Chuck Jones said. "He is a fierce competitor, so I knew he would give everything he had. Hunter was in group two and I was the group two leader, so I had a front-row seat. Winning the shot, placing fourth in the high jump, and the 5:04 1,500-meter run were highlights for me. We feel like Hunter left 300 to 400 (points) out there in a couple of events he should have performed a little better in. He was happy with where he finished but not satisfied. He will return next season gunning for a top 10 finish."
Soucie placed 20th in the 100-meter dash at 12.01 seconds and took 12th in the long jump at 20-9.5.
Soucie then had back-to-back fourth place finished in the shot put (36-8.75) and high jump (5-9). He placed 67th in the 400-meter run at 1:04.
"I am sick for Keegan," Chuck Jones said. "He was a top 20 finisher in the decathlon as a sophomore but didn't get to compete (as a junior) because of covid shutting everything down last year. Keegan was having a great first day until felt his quad twinge in the high jump. He was able to jog the final event of the day, the 400 meters, but didn't feel like he could compete in the final day's events."
