SILOAM SPRINGS — The Siloam Springs volleyball team added to the Arkansas historybooks last weekend with its sixth consecutive state championship and seventh title overall.

However, the Lady Panthers’ remarkable accomplishment didn’t hit me until I put it in perspective in my own life.

When coach Rose Cheekand the Lady Panthers began the streak in the fall of 2004, I was a single, rookie sports writer who had just moved to Jonesboro fresh out of college at LouisianaState University.

Six years and six consecutive state championships later, I am proud to call myself a husband, a father of two beautiful kids, and now the new sports editor of the Siloam Springs Herald-Leader.

So the Lady Panthers have done a lot in that time, and well, so have I.

In June 2006 my little family packed up from Jonesboro and moved to Benton County where I took a sports writer job at the Benton County Daily Record in Bentonville.

There I was able to cover three state championshipbound football teams in Rogers (2006) and Bentonville (2008 and 2009), several fun basketball teams in Pea Ridge and all the baseball and softball I could ever want.

Of course, my duties also brought me here from time to time, so I’m no stranger to this area. And I’m well aware of the great sports fans in western Benton County and eastern Oklahoma.

So with introductions out of the way, I would like to extend a personal invitation to this community regardingthe sports desk of the Herald-Leader.

If you have a sports item, please feel free to contact me. You can e-mail me at grahamt@nwanews.com or call at (479) 524-5144.

Graham Thomas is the sports editor The Siloam Springs Herald-Leader. He can be reached by e-mail at grahamt@nwanews.com.

Sports, Pages 16 on 11/04/2009

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