Lady Hornets tops at Yellowjacket Relays
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The Bryant Lady Hornets posted five first-place finishes and scored in 13 events as they captured the championship team trophy at the Sheridan Yellowjacket Relays on Thursday, April 20, at Bryant Stadium. (The meet was held in Bryant because the Sheridan track renovations had not been completed.)
In the boys competition, Lake Hamilton earned the team title. Bryant finished third, winning two events including a 1-2-3 finish in the 1600 meters.
The meet was the final regular-season event. Bryant was set to host the AAAAA-South Conference championship on Thursday, April 27.
The Lady Hornets won despite having just 12 athletes on the team. They accumulated 111 points to edge Arkadelphia which finished with 100. Lake Hamilton was third with 71 followed by Hot Springs (68), Sheridan (61), Stuttgart (60), White Hall (25) and Sylvan Hills (6).
Bryant actually trailed for much of the meet, but a strong finish with first-place finishes in three of the last five events provided the winning combination.
Gina Messina had a hand in three of the Lady Hornets’ first-place performances with Melanie Steele in on two. Jodi Hantz and Mandy Medlin joined Messina and Steele to finish first in the 3200-meter relay with a time of 10:51. Individually, Messina won the 3200 and 1600. In the former, she ran a 12:41.5, knocking over 20 seconds off of her winning time at the previous week’s Hot Springs Trojan Relays. Teammate Denise Whitworth scored a fifth in the event, running a 13:25.4 which bettered her Hot Springs performance by nearly 20 seconds.
In the 1600, Messina turned in a 5:45.2. Medlin was fourth in 6:01.7.
The Lady Hornets swept the distance events with Steele winning the 800 in 2:33.1. Medlin was third with a time of 2:36.2.
Bryant’s fifth first-place effort was turned in by Johnna Harrison in the 300 meter hurdles. She won with a time of 54.7.
Harrison joined Hantz, Medlin and Steele in the 1600 meter relay and the foursome came through with a second-place performance, running a 4:27.8.
The Lady Hornets picked up third-place points from Hantz in the 400 (65.6) and from the 400-meter relay team of Harrison, Hantz, Audrey Manna and Christy Keever (54.6).
Three Bryant girls contributed points in the pole vault and the high jump, respectively. Harrison cleared 9-0 in the vault to capture third. Amy Griffin was fourth (7-6) and Jessica Adams sixth (7-0). In the high jump, Keever cleared 4-8 to finish third with Medlin fourth (4-4) and Hantz fifth (4-0).
“We had some people do some extra events,” noted Lady Hornets coach Dan Westbrook. “Mandy and Jodi jumped in the high jump. All those fifth and sixth places — they add up and that’s what really helped us. We had some people step up that we needed to step up and we came on late in the meet and won.”
The Lady Hornets’ 800-meter relay team finished fourth in 2:10.7 with Keever, Griffin, Amanda Young and Adams teaming up.
In addition, Manna contributed a sixth in the 200 (29.7) and Keever was 6th in the long jump (14-5).
“It really bodes well for (the conference meet),” he added. “Since we’re hosting it, I get to seed it and I get to see all of the times from everybody. There are three really strong sprint teams — Texarkana, Pine Bluff and McClellan — but they’re not very strong distance-wise. I feel like we can do well if they cut each other up enough that if we can pile up enough points in the distance races we could really do well.”
The Hornets’ effort at the Yellowjacket meet was highlighted by the sweep of the top three spots in the 1600 meter run. Graham Linder led the way with a 4:43. Nick Taylor was second in 4:49 and Joe Holland third in 4:51.
The Hornets also picked up a first in the high jump. Matt Sullivan came through with that effort.
“Matt did a great job,” noted Bryant coach Paul Calley. “And the guys in the 1600 were just super.”
Linder also contributed a second in the 3200, running a 10:49.
Bryant picked up third place points from Derik McCoy in the 400. He ran a 54.1. In the 800, Jason Mazurek was third and Jesse Jones fourth. Mazurek ran a 2:09 with Jones close behind at 2:12.
In the field events, Greg Prewett was fourth in the pole vault and Bruce Joslin fourth in the high jump.
Bryant’s 400-meter relay team finished fifth in 45.3 with Jones, Jonathan Jameson, Josh Baumbeck and Bobby Winn teaming up.
In the 800 meter relay, Rick Newby, Baumbeck, Jameson and Alex Pudinas ran a 1:36.3. The 1600-meter relay team of Mazurek, Stephen Rushin, Sullivan and Stephen Heasley combined on a 3:42.
The Hornets finished with 75 points. Lake Hamilton won the event with 123. Watson Chapel was second with 97 with Sheridan third with 88. Sylvan Hills was fifth with 70 followed by Stuttgart (44), White Hall (18) and Benton (14).
