Two area athletes placed in the top 10 at the annual Arkansas state high school decathlon Wednesday and Thursday at Fayetteville, Ark.
Adrian Block, Prescott, Ark., placed 6th, and Rhett Nelson, Trinity Christian, was 8th.
Haze Farmer, Lake Hamilton High senior, was the winner for the second straight year with a total of 6,192 points for the 10-day event over two days.
Sebastian Frazier, Springdale High, was a very close second with 6,155 points, and not far behind was Ty Graser, Rogers Heritage High with 6,130.
Like it was last year, it was pole vault that put Farmer on top with a vault of 16-1 for 880 points.
Farmer was behind Frazier and Graser with three events remaining, but his total of 880 points was enough to put him on top as Frazier scored only 418 points and Graser 617 points.
Block, who finished with 5,838 points, could have surged right to the top spot, but he only scored 275 points in the pole vault.
Nelson, a junior, moved up three spots from last year's finish with 5,510 points.
Nelson was second in the pole vault with a 15-9 to score 849 points.
In the other field events, he had a 38-3 in the triple jump, 19-8 in the long jump, 5-5 (high jump), 75-0 (discus), and 36-3 (shot put).
In the running events, he had a 17.68, 110 hurdles; 11.81, 100-meter run; 57.43, 400-meter run; and a 5:13 in the 1,500 meters.
Nelson could move up in the standings next year as Farmer, Frazier, and Graser will be graduating.
"There was a lot stronger field this year," said Russ Nelson, father of Rhett. "All these competitors are tremendous athletes to do these 10 events."
The possible odds-on favorite next year will be Isiah Sateigna of Fayetteville according to Nelson and other coaches at the event.
"People are just raving about this freshman, who wasn't able to compete this year because it is only for sophomores and above," said Nelson.
Other area decathletes were Caedmon Kyles, Genoa Central, 26th; Lucas Lanier, Genoa Central, 29th; Trey Rucker, Prescott, 30th; and Daily Nickerson, De Queen, 40th.
Also competing for Trinity Christian was Evan Miller, who placed 63rd out of 71 finishers.