Hector Hernandez
This Thursday, the Leopards will travel to White Hall, Arkansas, to compete in the 5A South Conference meet. Many of the Leopard athletes have pre-qualified for the State Meet in Harrison by getting a specific amount. In the field events, Maurice Moore has qualified in both the shot put with a throw of 52-5 and the discus with a throw of 178-5. Mac Lugo has qualified in the pole vault with a jump of 14’6”. In the high jump, Logan Hall has qualified with a jump of 6’6”. In the sprinting events, Hall has also qualified in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.49. Tanner Manasco has qualified for the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.51 and the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 39.44. In the distance events, Hector Hernandez qualified for the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.22. At the conference, many more of our athletes are set to qualify, as many of them place among the top four in the conference. REID DEAN
The DeQueen Leopards Track Team had a great meet at Ashdown last Friday winning 1st overall with 133 points. Logan Hall had a big meet breaking the school 200m record with a time of 22.49 seconds. Sedrick Bell behind him in fourth place with a time of 23.54 seconds. It was a big meet for freshman Marquez Ester getting fourth place in a senior high track meet in the 100m dash with a time of 11.52 seconds. In the 400m Logan Hall ran 51.83 seconds for second place and Daniel Angeles running 54.90 seconds for fifth place. Tanner Manasco took fourth place in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.24 seconds and second place in the 300m hurdles in 39.71 seconds. The 4x100 team which consisted of Reid Dean, Sedrick Bell, Tanner Manasco, and Marquez Ester ran 44.86 seconds for third place. Logan Hall, Tanner Manasco, Hector Hernandez, and Daniel Angeles ran a 3:34.27 for second place in the 4x400. Hector Hernandez ran a 2:05.29 for third place in the 800m and a 4:40.71 in the 1600m for second place. Logan Hall cleared 6 feet 3 inches in high jump taking first place. Mac Lugo cleared 14 feet in the pole vault for fourth place, and Giovanni Huesca cleared 11 feet 6 inches for seventh place. Maurice Moore got first place in the shot put and discus with a throw of 52 feet 5 inches in the shot and a throw of 164 feet 9 inches in the discus. The conference is coming up so help cheer on the team to win their first 5A Conference Track Meet. Hector Hernandez
On April 18, the Leopards traveled to Nashville to compete in the annual Coca-Cola Relays. Among the competition was 6A State Champions Arkansas High and conference rivals Magnolia. In the field events, Mac Lugo placed 1st and Giovanni Huesca finished 6th. In the discus, Maurice Moore placed 1st and Lucas Dorsey placed 7th. In the shot put, Moore once again placed first and Malik Beasley placed 6th. In the high jump, Logan Hall placed 3rd. In the distance events, the Leopards started off with a 5th place finish in the 4x800-meter relay. Victor Guillermo finished 8th in the 1600-meter run to give the Leopards a point. In the 800-meter, Hector Hernandez finished in 3rd with a state qualifying time of 2:01:22. Jair Patricio finished 8th in the 800-meter run to secure a point. Jesus Cisneros finished 5th in the 3200-meter run to finish off the distance races. In the sprinting events, Logan Hall placed 2nd in the 200-meter dash, he also placed 2nd in the 400-meter dash. Daniel Angeles placed 7th in the 400-meter dash. Tanner Manasco placed 3rd in the 110-meter hurdles to qualify him for the state meet with a time of 15.51. Manasco also placed 1st in the 300-meter hurdles, less than a second off the school record. The Leopards placed 7th in the 4x200-meter relay and 3rd in the 400-meter relay to end the meet. The Leopards finished runner-up behind Arkansas High, losing by 23 points. HECTOR HERNANDEZ
On March 30, the Leopards traveled to Hot Springs Lakeside to compete in the Lakeside Ram Relays. Lots of good competition had shown up to take on the potential 5A State Champions. Last year’s 5A runner-up Vilonia, 6A runner-ups Lake Hamilton, and 7A schools, Conway and Bryant, were among the competition. Logan Hall placed 1st in the high jump. Hunter Earney placed 2nd in the long jump and also 3rd in the triple jump. Mac Lugo tied for 3rd in the pole vault and Giovanni Huesca placed 5th also in the pole vault. Maurice Moore placed 2nd in shot put and 1st in the discus. Lucas Dorsey placed 8th in the shot put and 7th in the discus. The Leopards placed 5th in the 4x800-meter relay. Hector Hernandez placed 5th in the 800-meter run. Gustavo Arce placed 7th in the 3200-meter run. Earney placed 4th in the 110-meter hurdles, missing out on 3rd by 1 millisecond. Tanner Manasco placed 6th in the 110-meter hurdles. Manasco also placed 3rd in the 300-meter hurdles, with a time of 40.49s, that qualifies him for the state meet. Hall placed 1st in the 100-meter dash. The Leopards placed 1st in the 4x100-meter run, the first time in a while they had done so. Kaden Tollett placed 5th in the 400-meter dash. Hall also placed 1st in the 200-meter dash with a state qualifying time of 22.83. The Leopards placed 5th in the 4x400-meter relay to finish off the night. In the end, the Leopards were barely able to edge out a victory, beating Lake Hamilton by 1.5 points. Logan Hall received the high point for his great performance on the night. HECTOR HERNANDEZ
On Thursday, March 2nd, De Queen hosted the first of its two home meets, the Leopard Relays.6A state champions Arkansas High, 6A runner-ups Lake Hamilton, and 5A conference rivals Magnolia were the biggest competition to the Leopards. Logan Hall placed 1st in the high jump with a jump of 6-05. Hunter Earney placed 5th in long jump with a jump of 19-07, also with the 7th place in triple jump with a jump of 40-01.50. Logan Hall placed 5th in the 100m dash with an 11.64, and Sedrick Bell placed 8th with a time of 11.79. Hunter Earney Place 6th in the 200m dash with a time of 24.55. Logan Hall placed 4th in the 400m dash with a 53.96. Rolando Sotelo also placed in the 400m dash with a time of 56.39. In the end, we beat conference rivals Magnolia by over 40 points, finishing 17 points behind 6A powerhouse Lake Hamilton. REID DEAN
The boy’s basketball team is off to a rocky start this season, but let’s see if they can turn that around when they play El Dorado this Friday. Malik Beasley says, “Playing against a team that's at the same level as you does not show your strengths or weaknesses; playing against someone better than you proves what you have got on the floor.” The rest of their season is going to be tough with Lake Hamilton appearing on the schedule. Quinton Thorton says, “I feel pretty good about our upcoming season; we give a lot of effort, and that will help us on the way and in the conference.” El Dorado is a tough team, so we all need to be cheering on our Leopards. The game will take place in El Dorado on Friday, December 2nd. MARIA MUNOZ
This week the Lady Leopard’s basketball team faced off against Ashdown’s Lady Panthers on their court. The Lady Leopards came out with the win, and Sophomore Ashley Dykes told the Paw Print all about it. The whole game was a close race for the win but the Lady Leopards had expected a win from the beginning, “We always go in with a win in our mind, and we do what we can to make it happen the Lady Panthers have always been a team that will give us a run for our money but we always come out as the winners, and that’s what we were expecting.” Dykes stated. The Lady Leopards put in the work all week according to Dykes who also credited coach Barker for always pushing them so hard during practice, “Even if we don’t really like it while we’re doing it we know it’s what’s helped us keep winning.” Dykes also made it clear the Lady Leopards don’t see a loss for them anywhere in the near future and that the team is more prepared and more solid than they have been in the past years, so going to state won’t be a problem for them. The Lady Leopards basketball team is at the beginning of their season and already have a few wins in the bag, and they expect a win in their next game as well. MARGARITA CABANILLAS
Basketball season has started, and the cheerleaders love it. Although they are upset about football season being over, they are excited for the new change in environment. The most recent home game became heated, so much that the student section was told to tone it down a little (twice), but that did not stop them or the cheerleaders. They continued to pump up the crowd, and the crowd loved it. Since the games are indoors, the cheerleaders do not have as much room, so they came up with a plan. At home games, half the cheerleaders will cheer during the girls game, and the other half will cheer during the guys game. The ones that aren’t cheering during a game must sit in the crowd and cheer with the other girls, so that way they still sound very strong. “I feel like our plan is good thing because we get to cheer in the student section, and we get to have breaks.” said Dania Castillo. Since the cheerleaders have been sitting in the student section, the crowd has been more excited and much louder. This change is a successful plan. “I think basketball is a great time for the student section, everyone can cheer, and now that we are there- it is becoming louder than ever,” said Katelyn Mcdougal. The cheerleaders are all very excited to cheer at the next home game, which will take place on Friday, December 9, 2016. HECTOR HERNANDEZ
On November 12, the De Queen Leopards Cross Country team went to their final meet of the year. It was a very rough day for most of our runners because, for some, it was their last race. Heidi Galvan placed 14th; Saleni Rojas placed 16th, and Savanah Nickerson placed 24th. The girls finished in 3rd place with 104 points. “During the race, I felt like I was missing something because my running buddy Martha was not running with me since she was sick and I let my asthma get to me, but I heard a coach telling her we need those points, and to pass her and in the last 100 meters. I gave it my all, and guess what, she didn't get the points, I got them”, said Saleni Rojas. Jair Patricio placed 30th; Gustavo Arce placed 36th, and Asael Sanchez placed 41st. The boys finished in 6th place with 221 points. “I felt like everything that we trained for was leading down to that event. We needed to run hard and leave everything we had on that race,” said Gustavo Arce. During the winter, most of our runners will be preparing for upcoming sports like track, soccer, and next season’s cross country. MARIA MUNOZ
The Lady Leopards basketball team kicked off the season with a win! The Lady Leopards went face to face with Fauke’s Lady Panthers, and mercy ruled them in the 3rd quarter. Senior Miriam Rodriguez told the Paw Print all about it. It was the first game of the season, and the Lady Leopards were ready for a good game, “We were nervous because they are a solid team but we knew we could beat them,” Rodriguez told the Paw Print. The ending results showed just how ready the team was because, by the 2nd quarter, the Lady Leopards were dominating most of the game. The game stayed pretty close all through the 1st quarter, too close to tell if they would win, but in Rodriguez’s words, “ We did so good because our team is so solid this year and we have so much depth. We have a solid 10 players and it’s gonna get us far.” “We just hope for some more wins and hopefully making it through all rounds of state,” Rodriguez said about the rest of the season. Although it was only the first game, the Lady Leopards are already looking forward to this season with State as their goal in the end. MARIA MUNOZ
This past week, the Leopards faced off against the Magnolia Panthers for their last home game on October 28. The Leopards tried, but weren’t able to come out with a win. As Malik Beasley put it, “It was one of those games where we played hard, but we just couldn’t stop them from scoring.” The game started off with the Leopards ahead of the Panthers 14-0 and in the 2nd half the tables were turned. Beasley blamed the lost on mental mistakes. “We had a lit week of practice and a lit start in the game but you know we just got too confident,” Beasley stated. As the score changed in favor of the Panthers the Leopards were intimidated and also motivated to try and catch up, “Highkey we were just trying to catch up or keep them from scoring but we had lost it already. Everyone was so sure we had it in the bag we started to lay back and we couldn’t come back after the tables were turned on us,” said Beasley. This Friday is the Leopard’s last game of the season and Beasley assured the Paw Print the team would go out with a bang. HECTOR HERNANDEZ
On Tuesday, October 18th, the Cross Country teams went to Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia to compete in the 5A South Cross Country Conference meet. The girls were able to repeat their success of last year, lifting the title once again. The boys ,on the other hand, were not so fortunate as they finished runner-up to Magnolia once again. “Conference is one of the most important parts of cross country. It is what we have been working for and our team pushed hard. It was a close race but we managed to pull through and achieve first place. I'm super proud and can't wait what state has in store for us!” said Erika Zamora. From the girls, Saleni Rojas finished 1st, Martha Mosqueda finished 2nd, and Heidy Galvan finished 3rd. The boy’s top 3 places were Hector Hernandez, who finished 5th, Gustavo Arce, who finished 6th, Jair Patricio, who finished 7th. “I feel like we did alright but we could've of done better as a team,” said Jesus Cisneros. DeQueen had 21 runners that finished in all conference positions, 9 out of 22 from the boys, and 12 out of 17 from the girls. MARGARITA CABANILLAS
Friday night on the 14th of October, the Leopards took on the Cardinals from Camden Fairview. The cheerleaders were fully prepared. As the kickoff began the cheerleaders roared with enthusiasm. They seemed more preppy than usual on Friday night. “We don’t know why, but we were really excited to watch the boys play! Although we didn’t win, it was a fun experience,” said Dania Castillo. The season is almost over with 3 games remaining, and the cheerleaders still cheer like it’s the first game. This season has been good for the Leopards, making it good for them, and giving them a reason to cheer at all. “This year has been amazing, last year we took so many losses, and this year just feels like a victory!” said Nubia Buendia. As the season is coming to an end, with the next game being on October 21st, the cheerleaders are ready for the last three games, and they will soon start preparing for basketball season. HECTOR HERNANDEZ
The De Queen boys and girls Cross Country teams both won their races at the McCurtain County Invitational meet at Idabel on the 4th of October. The boys the top 3 finishers were Hector Hernandez who placed 4th, Jair Patricio who placed 5th, and Asael Sanchez who placed 6th. From the girls side, Saleni Rojas placed 5th, Martha Mosqueda placed 8th, and Heidy Galvan placed 10th . “De Queen ran really well, I felt like it was the best race I've ran so far,” said Asael Sanchez. The course’s low hills resulted in a lot of low times. The fastest De Queen time for the boys was a 15:27 by Hector Hernandez . For the girls, the fastest time was 13:41 by Saleni Rojas in the 2-mile. “After two years of not going, those two miles set a good memory to my last year of running there,” said Senior Martha Mosqueda. Even though it was a good course, it was short compared to Oaklawn in Hot Springs where state is held. KATELYN PATTERSON
The Lady Leopards Basketball team has been preparing for the winter season during their 8th hour class period. The athletes go over plays, do conditioning workouts, and play each other in order to be the best they can be before the season begins. The basketball team lost a few seniors last year, but they also gained sophomores this year. The incoming sophomores won their district tournament last year, and this year, they are determined to help the Lady Leopards take state. Sophomore Ashley Dykes said, ¨I think that winning district last year really motivated us as incoming sophomores to show the other girls that we can help them win and go to state,¨ when asked about how winning district undefeated as a freshman will encourage them to win state this year. The athletes train hard from the beginning of the school year to the end of basketball season. The entire team works to their best ability to get in shape and be ready for the coming season. When asked about how offseason training will help the team win during the season and ultimately go to the state competition, Senior Reagan Wilkerson said, ¨I think offseason really helps us get ready for the season because it builds muscle and endurance that we use during games. It also brings us together as a team which can help us win games and go to state.” The Lady Leopards Basketball team is preparing for the winter season. They are training to be at their best physical shape, and they are ready to take on the challenge of winning state. |
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