Lady Hornets finish regular
season with strong performances
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).
With the two meets in the final week of the regular season, the Bryant Lady Hornets track team accomplished two different goals. At the Cabot Panther Relays on Tuesday, April 19, they continued to work at individual events without doubling up and had three runners surpass qualifying standards for the Class AAAAA State meet. On Thursday, April 21, they made something of a dress rehearsal for their conference and the State meet at the Sheridan Yellowjacket Relays and wound up earning a team victory in a meet that included two conference rivals.
Bryant will host the AAAAA-Central Conference meet with prelims on Thursday, May 5 and finals on Tuesday, May 10.
At Sheridan, the Lady Hornets amassed 112 points to edge conference rivals Little Rock Central (108) and Conway (98).
Six different Lady Hornets won individual events. Kelsey Mitchell, fresh from a school record performance in the 300 meter hurdles at Cabot, won the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 15.7. Jessica Norris won the triple jump by covering 33 feet, 8 inches.
And the Lady Hornets continued to shine in the distance events. Mary Edwards doubled up, winning with speed in the 400 meter run (1:01.9) and with stamina in the 3200 meter run (12:17.7). Jessica Sowell won the 1600 meter run in 5:43.6 and Brooke Higgs won the 800 in 2:22.8.
“This was a good tune-up for our conference,” said Bryant head coach Danny Westbrook. “The way it looks on paper, it is going to be a dogfight between Central, Conway and Bryant. Central and Conway both have great sprinters and good field events, so we will load up in the distance races and hope we can outscore them. Winning today proves we can.”
Mitchell added a second place finish in the 300 hurdles (51.2). She was also fifth in the triple jump (32-1) and seventh in the long jump (14-8). Sowell added a second-place finish in the 3200 meter run (12:48.6), and Norris took fifth in the long jump (14-9).
The Lady Hornets also got scoring from Samantha Montgomery in the 800 meter run. She was third in 2:34.2. Tracy Neal added fourth-place points in the pole vault, clearing 8 feet and Amber Bengtson took sixth i n the high jump, clearing 4-6.
In the relays, Bengtson, Edwards, Montgomery and Higgs combined to run a 4:2308 in the 1600 meter relay. That was good for second. In the 400, Montgomery, Mitchell, Norris and Bengtson teamed up to run a 54.1 to place fifth.
At Cabot, Mitchell’s school-record run in the 300 meter hurdles was good for second at the meet, but more importantly qualified her in the event for the State meet. Mitchell’s time of 48.5 broke the previous school mark set by Austyn Wingard in 2001.
“Kelsey really ran aggressively and it paid off for her,” Westbrook noted.
Edwards beat the qualifying time in the 1600, finishing second in 5:25.5; and Higgs qualified in the 3200, with a time of 11:48.06 which garnered third.
“We have all the events qualified for State that I had hoped we would at this point,” Westbrook commented. “So we are right on target in terms of doing well at the end of the season.”
Edwards also ran the 800 meters and won the event in 2:25.4. Higgs took her turn at the 400 meters and won it with a time of 1:00.1.
Mitchell added second-place points in the 100 hurdles, finishing in 15.26 while Norris took second in the triple jump (34-1). Sowell was third and Montgomery fourth in the 800 meter run. Sowell finished in 2:34 and Montgomery in 2:35.
Sowell also scored with a fourth in the 1600 (5:42).
