Athlete of the Year

I have to say congratulations to El Dorado's Alecia Williams, who was named News-Times Athlete of the Year last week. Alecia is only the second girl to ever win the award. El Dorado's Amanda McCurdy, who went on to become a golf All-American at the University of Arkansas, is the only other girl to be so honored.
We discussed in the office if it's time to start giving out an award for boys and another for girls for Athlete of the Year. The reason we didn't to start with was because, frankly, some years there hasn't been a girl that deserved it.
That hasn't been the case the past few years. The problem is, while there will always be three or four guys who play multiple sports at high levels, that's not always the case for girls. Once you start giving an award for both boys and girls, you have to keep it up.
We looked at next year's senior class of prospects and believe girls like El Dorado's Chasity Hay, Parkers Chapel's Dana Gray and Smackover's Kendra Marsh and Nickole Frazier could have great athletic years. But, what about the next year and the next?
The time is coming for both a Boy and Girl Athlete of the Year. But, not yet.
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Although there's no official team award for the Meet of Champions, which is an individual event. But, according to the Arkansas Activities Association, El Dorado's girls easily were the Meet of Champs winners, totaling 61 points to just 39 for Lake Hamilton. Pine Bluff scored 37 with Conway and Arkadelphia at 34. Northside and Texarkana scored 31 and 30, respectively.
It's just another example of how far the Lady Wildcats came this year on the track.
I hope they keep it up.