Garland County Locker Room

Going strong since 2018, Henderson State University’s esports program gives students a chance to play video games competitively while getting a college education. Esports continues to grow across the state of Arkansas, and the Reddies offer scholarships to their esport athletes. The program awarded $20,000 in scholarships to students during the 2020-21 season while competing in a variety of different games. Krishnan Collins recently spoke with HSU esports coach John Price and esports athlete Jesse De La Cruz about the ins and outs of the university's esports program.

Soccer in the Spa City is trending up as the Hot Springs Soccer Association reports good numbers and a positive trajectory with the start of the spring season.Around 145 players signed up for micro soccer, and 95 athletes signed up for the HSSA’s travel clubs this spring. The classic team, the highest level team the association fields, currently holds 14 players for the 12-and-under team.Krishnan Collins recently spoke with HSSA president Edgardo Argueta about the upcoming season, the growth of the program and what the HSSA hopes to see the program become in the future.

Hot Springs natives Stephen Browning and Mark Davis are competing in Major League Fishing’s REDCREST 2022 with a prize of $300,000 on the line in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this week.Both professional anglers, Browning and Davis started fishing from a young age and were influenced by their surroundings on their way to becoming professionals in the sport.Krishnan Collins recently spoke with both anglers about how they got into fishing, how they went pro and their thoughts on the MLF pro tour this season.

The state basketball finals at Bank OZK Arena drew an attendance of 42,780 fans over three day’s worth of games, including two sold-out contests.The state championship games were split into six two-game sessions for two sessions a day based on classification between Thursday and Saturday. The Class 4A championship games played Saturday night between Nashville and Farmington on the girls side and Magnolia and Blytheville on the boys side both sold out.Krishnan Collins recently spoke with Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison and Arkansas Activities Association Assistant Executive Director Derek Walter about the three-day event.

Garland County will be well represented at the 2022 Arkansas Activities Association All-Star volleyball game in June. Fountain Lake’s Sophie Skinner and Lake Hamilton’s Audri Winfrey made the West All-Star roster, and Lakeside head coach Rhonda Thigpen was named head coach of the West All-Star team. Lakeside’s Madi Belle Landry was also included on the roster as a manager. Krishnan Collins recently spoke to Thigpen as well as Lake Hamilton head coach Karen Smith and Fountain Lake head coach Tina Moore about the players on their teams that are representing their respective schools and Garland County.

Seeing a five-overtime high school basketball game is not something that happens very often. Fortunately for Jessieville and Lake Hamilton, which both had games that went to five overtimes, they ended up on the right side of them.  Something even more rare is a five-overtime game in the state tournament, which is where the Wolves got to experiences their 52-minute marathon game. James Leigh recently sat down with Lake Hamilton seniors Chase Jessup and Demetrius Sharp and juniors Zac Pennington and Charter Harris, as well as head coach Scotty Pennington, to get their perspective on what will likely be a game none of them will ever forget.

Lake Hamilton great and Ouachita Baptist University freshman Aspen Thornton eclipsed the 500-point mark in her career before finishing her first season as a Tiger with 608 points, and Thornton led Division II women’s basketball with 23.4 points per game.Thornton hit 500 points in OBU’s 80-56 loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State Feb. 12, and the Hot Springs native was not even aware she was close to hitting that milestone.Krishnan Collins recently spoke with Thornton about surpassing the 500-point milestone, how she achieved at such a high level as a freshman and what she hopes to see next season.

Karl "Supergoat" Meltzer was a newcomer to the LOViT 100 this year, but that did not keep the top ultra-marathon runner in the world from crushing the previous course record.Meltzer finished the 100-mile course in 19:36:36, snapping the record of 21:01 set in 2020 by Pierre Loic Deragne. The win also marked the 46th 100-mile win of Meltzer's career.Race director Dustin Speer said that the win gave him and the rest of the race committee the chance to see how the course compared to others across the country.James Leigh spoke to Meltzer about his win, his thoughts on the course and plans for the future, and he also spoke to Speer about the overall event.

This weekend, an estimated 75-100 runners are expected to take to the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (LOViT), a 40-mile trail that extends from Denby Bay in Montgomery County to Avery Recreation Area at Blakely Dam.The eighth running of the LOViT 100 Endurance Run consists of two separate races — a 100-mile endurance race that is capped at 34 hours and a 100-kilometer race that is capped at 21 hours. This is the ninth year the race has been scheduled, but due to high water one year, the National Park Service rescinded the permit for the race.The 100-mile race starts Friday at 5 p.m. at the East Cove Pavilion with the 100-kilometer race starting at 6 a.m. Saturday. The race started in 2014 as a 100-kilometer race that started at Crystal Springs Resort and in 2015, it was expanded to include the 100-mile race and started at Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa.

Winning one marathon over the age of 50 is an impressive feat, but Spa Pacers President and Hot Springs resident Jerry White went beyond that and won back-to-back marathons in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Maui, Hawaii. The 51-year-old runner crossed the finish line at the Colorado Springs Marathon with a time of 3:01:59 on Oct. 2, 2021, and he won the Maui Oceanfront Marathon with a time of 2:56:52 on Jan. 16.