Austin brothers lead Hornets to third at conference meet
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Photos courtesy of Cynthia Austin
FORT SMITH — Brothers Bresner and Hagan Austin each earned all-conference honors as the Bryant Hornets finished third at the 6A-Central Conference cross country meet on a sloppy course in Fort Smith on Monday.
The Hornets finished with 64 points. Conway won the team title with 25 points led by individual medalist Brady Pascoe’s 16:25.86. Conway swept the top three positions. Cabot finished with 53 points to edge the Hornets for second. Fort Smith Southside was fourth with 137 points.
Bresner Austin led the Hornets with a sixth-place finish, running a 17:07.98. Hagan Austin’s 17:19.68 was good for eighth.
Bryant sophomore Chris Herrera just missed a top 10 finish and all-conference honors by placing 11th in a time of 17:38.58.
“The boys ran their hearts out in some of the sloppiest conditions I’ve seen,” said Hornets head coach Steve Oury. “Fort Smith was hammered with heavy rains last week, so the entire course was saturated and there was lots of areas of standing water. The Fort Smith Southside and Northside coached did a great job getting the course as ready as they possibly could.
“We knew that if Conway ran well, they would be tough to beat,” he related. “And Cabot is running really well right now. Cabot just edged us out for second bit I was pleased with our effort.”
Christian Brack and Ammon Henderson completed the Hornets’ top five as they finished 19th and 20th, respectively. Brack ran 18:13.80 and Henderson finished in 18:16.18. In addition, Cam Apel was 24th in 18:34.39 and Luis Martinez was 29th in 18:49.87.
“Now, we will start preparing for the 6A State meet, which will be at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs on Saturday, Nov. 9.
