Blakley shines for Hornets at Cabot Invitational meet
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
Bryant junior Ethan Blakley had the best night of his track career Thursday, April 20, at the Cabot Panther Invitational at Cabot High School. Blakley posted personal records in winning both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs to lead Bryant to a sixth place finish with 39 points.
Thirty nine teams were entered in the meet and 26 teams scored.
Blakley held off Forrest City’s Kyle Houston in an exciting 1600 meter run with a winning time of 4:24.26, which automatically qualifies him for the state meet. Houston was less than a second back in a race that was the fastest 1600 meter race in the state this season.
“Ethan’s victory in the 1600 meter run was probably the most exciting race of the meet,” stated Hornets coach Steve Oury. “Houston had already run a 1:55 leg on the 3200 meter relay, so when he pulled up even with Ethan with about 100 meters to go, I’m sure everyone in the stadium expected Houston to pull away. Ethan showed that he has developed a nice finishing kick of his own when he started to pull away from Houston.”
In the 3200 meter run, Blakley had no such competition and narrowly missed the school record by posting a state qualifying mark of 9:46.02. Justin Radke currently owns the school record in the 3200 meter run with a time of 9:45.3, which was set in 1993.
“We were hoping to get the school record, but it was a great race regardless,” said Oury.
Spencer McCorkel provided the Hornets’ third win of the evening in the pole vault, clearing 16 feet. He narrowly missed on all three attempts at 17 feet. Ben Griffin set a new personal record in the pole vault with a 12-8 clearance to place fourth.
“McCorkel was way over the bar on his attempts at 17 feet, so I know it was frustrating for him to brush the bar on his way down,” Oury related. “This will just pump him up even more for our remaining meets. Griffin did a great job and just keeps getting better. He’s knocking on the door of the 13-foot barrier, so hopefully he’ll get it soon.”
Other scorers for Bryant included Zack Orick in the discus (7th with a personal record throw of 123 feet) and Zach Barnes (7th in the long jump with a leap of 19-6). New personal records were set by Ben Higgs in the 1600 meter run (4:55.6) and Preston Adami in the 3200 meter run (11:48.7).
“Orick and Barnes are both very talented athletes,” Oury stated. “Either of them can score in the high jump at any given meet, and Orick is getting better and better in the discus while Barnes has improved in the long jump.”
The Hornets will next be in action at the AAAAA-Central Conference Championships at Scott Field in Little Rock on May 4 (prelims) and May 9 (finals).
