VAN BUREN – Record-breaking sprinters Micah Hendrickson and Toray Wilford capped their senior seasons and careers by bringing the first state track title to Van Buren.

Wilford broke the school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.62 seconds during the Pointer Relays, surpassing the previous mark Hendrickson had set.

For Hendrickson, though, the season was bittersweet after suffering a hamstring injury that curtailed most of his season and the goals he had.

"It's hard to feel bad when we win the state championships and back-to-back champs in the 4x200," Hendrickson said. "I was doing so well early on, and it threw my whole season off. There was no progression to the season."

Hendrickson suffered the injury in April while preparing for the Cyclone Relays in Russellville. He had already broken two meet records, including a 32-year-old record in the 200 with a time of 21.81 seconds.

"It was after spring break," Hendrickson said. "I ran at Alma and the next week we were going to Fayetteville, and I tweaked my hamstring in practice. I couldn't really run. I took some time off, and it never got better."

Hendrickson broke freshman school records in the 100- and 200, anchored the record-breaking 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams that broke records and was cruising on the way to another spectacular season when the injury occurred.

It was an unsettling feeling among the remainder of his relay teammates.

"Losing Micah was devastating," Grant Olds said. "We were like what are we going to do?"

The Pointers turned to others, and they responded.

"It was a good season, but we lost our guy Micah and that threw us off a little bit," Wilford said. "We had to get used to running without him."

Wilford answered with his record-breaking performance, Daymon Mays stepped in to anchor the relay teams and Kyle Byford added another threat.

"My teammate Day-Day really stepped up," Olds said. "He was excited to step in but also kind of nervous. When it came time to run, he was ready."

Coach Hays Lemley likes the analogy about athletes getting on the athletic ladder at different rungs on their ascent.

"Those kids who have that high ability get on the ladder pretty high," he said. "They have an opportunity to compete with anybody in the state of Arkansas. That definitely was the case this year. Some of these kids didn't get real high; it was probably somewhere in the middle. Kids like Kyle Byford, Daymon Mays, they got on in the middle and they worked their way to the top."

Both the 4x100 and 4x200 teams won at the Class 5A State Track Meet behind the gutty performance of Hendrickson, who normally would have run several events that day but only ran the anchor of the 4x200.

"He's going to give it the shot of his life," Lemley said. "We had some athletic equipment to try to keep that muscle warm as long as we could once we started running. There was a thought that once he was hurt that it could be the end of our opportunity. We thought we could finish second, but when 4x100 won with Daymon holding off a guy to finish first, I thought that could be stepping stone to something else. It was."

Hendrickson pulled up shortly after his leg began on the 4x200.

"I got up out of my dry phase and snap, the whole way after about 50 meters," Hendrickson said. "It was by the grace of God. The trainers told me I tore it at the time, but if I had torn it there is no way I could have finished that race. It hurt."

Wilford answered the call to fill in for Hendrickson and responded with a record in the 100 at the Pointer Relays.

"It wasn't supposed to be me," Wilford said. "It was supposed to be Micah."