Neal Dunn

RUSSELLVILLE -- Will Neumann grinned after he finished second to Fort Smith Southside senior Ethan Dunn in the shot put and vowed Dunn wouldn't do it again in the discus.

The Bentonville senior kept his promise -- even though it took his final attempt to do such.

Neumann, who is headed to Air Force for football, capped his high school career with a 180-foot throw to win the event Wednesday during the Meet of Champs at Cyclone Stadium. Neumann edged out Dunn, whose throw of 178-6 on his second attempt was his personal-best and allowed him to be the leader until Neumann's final throw.

"It's kind of bittersweet," Neumann said as he reflected on his friendly four-year rivalry with Dunn. "This was going to be our last time going head-to-head, and it was a great competition. We were going back and forth the whole day, and now that it's over it's going to be bittersweet."

The two competed earlier in the shot put, and that was Dunn's time to take top honors. Dunn won the event on his fifth attempt with a throw of 58-4.50 -- slightly off his personal-best -- while Neumann had his best throw on his fifth attempt, going 58-2.5.

Neumann then went 58-1 on his final attempt, allowing Dunn to come away with the victory.

"It's nice that it was so close," Dunn said. "It made it fun for our last meet -- probably more fun than at any other meet we've had, and I just enjoyed it. I had one of my best days overall."

While Neumann and Dunn enjoyed one last chance to compete against each other, many other athletes elected not to compete at Wednesday's meet for various reasons. That gave other athletes the opportunity to earn their moments in the spotlight.

Nobody shined more than North Little Rock sophomore Kynnedi Neal, who finished as a double winner. She won the 100 meters with a time of 11.83 seconds, then came back to win the break the meet record and the overall record in the 200 with her time of 24.02 seconds.

Her time eclipsed the previous meet mark of 24.12 set by Hamburg's Tiana Wilson in 2018, and surpassed the previous overall record of 24.04 set by Siloam Springs' Desirae Riehle in last year's Class 5A state meet. She did it while being closely chased by Fayetteville sophomore Izzy Sategna, who finished right behind her at 24.03.

"I feel happy because I know I trained for everything, so I wanted to come here and show everybody," said Neal, whose time broke her previous best of 24.67 at the Class 6A state meet last week. "And Izzy was right there. She's a great runner.

"I really didn't feel like it was a big difference because I knew I still had to do what I did at the state meet. I just needed to continue what I had been doing and don't let the pressure of having somebody on me break me. I have to remember to pump."

Neal was one of two athletes to set records, with the other being Jonesboro sophomore Jaylen Heard. He did his earlier in the meet when he leaped 47-11 in the triple jump and surpassed the previous mark of 47-9 by Bentonville's Adrian Broadus in 2017.

There were also two other double winners at the meet. Senior Eva Hobbs of Heber Springs capped her high school career by winning the throws with tosses of 151-6 in the discus and 42-1.75 in the shot put.

Providence Academy sophomore Maggie Bishop, meanwhile, left her mark in the distance races. The younger sister of standout and Arkansas signee Gabbie Bishop ran a 4:58.15 in the 1,600, then turned in a winning time of 11:00.94 in the 3,200.

"It was definitely a new step forward," the younger Bishop said. "I decided to take the opportunity to go out there, give it my all, get some wins and really get used to what the next two years are going to give.

"It's definitely different (without Gabbie) and sort of like passing the baton. I feel like it gives me the opportunity to run my own race. I see us as two different runners, even though we get to run with each other often."