Bryant boys sweep at Camp Robinson meet; Jr. Hornets post perfect score
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Photos courtesy of Cynthia Austin
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — The Austin brothers, Bresner and Hagan, finished second and third overall to lead the Bryant Hornets to the team title at the Arkansas National Guard “Be Your Best” cross country meet at Camp Robinson on Saturday.
In addition, the Bryant Junior Hornets posted a perfect score of 15 points, taking the first six places and seven of the top eight to win their division at the meet.
Bresner Austin was nipped at the tape by Rogers Heritage’s Lawson Douglas for individual medalist honors. Douglas was clocked at 16:47.5 and Austin at 16:47.6.
“Bresner Austin ran a great race and ended up in almost a dead heat with the runner from Rogers Heritage,” related Hornets coach Steve Oury. “Both athletes were falling across the line and it was too close to call. Bresner really believed that he was ahead, but the edge went to the Heritage runner. Neither kid deserved to lose — just a great effort by two very good runners.”
Hagan Austin’s third-place time was 17:38.6.
Bryant finished with 39 points with Heritage second with 82 and Siloam Springs third at 119. In all, 21 teams competed in the race.
“I was very pleased with our performance,” said Oury. “We met all the team goals we set for the day. This is the first year for this meet, so we had never run the course before.It was a challenging course so while our times were not bad, I think we will see them drop significantly in the next couple of weeks.
Christian Brack was Bryant’s third runner. He finished eighth overall with a time of 18:12.9.
“Hagan Austin ran very well, and Christian Brack really stepped up for us this week,” mentioned Oury.
Chris Herrera was 12th in 18:14.6 and Ammon Henderson was 14th in 18:17.0 to complete the Hornets’ top five.
Ethan Ives was 22nd in 18:37.0 and Jaxon Holt ran an 18:52.4 to finish 30th.
For the junior boys, George Terry won individual medalist with a time of 11:55.4. Following in order from second through seventh were Brady Bingaman (12:04.1), Brandon Avila (12:06.6), Mason Lewis (12:12.1), Alex Skelley (12:19.4), Ben Watson (12:20.5) and Layton Baugh (12:20.6). Mitchell Elmore was ninth in 12:30.1 then Payton Brack was 11th in 12:44.6 and Sam Herring was 12th in 12:47.6.
“Our junior boys did a great job out there,” Oury declared. “Perfect scores don’t happen too often, so it was really fun watching them. Coaches Brooke Meister and Nicole Bradbury at Bryant Junior High, along with Coach Denise Smith at Bethel, and Deanna Porter at Bryant Middle have all done a great job with these boys.”
Heber Springs was second with 95 points and North Little Rock was third with 99 points. There were 14 teams in the field.
Bryant runs again next Saturday at the Cyclone Relays at Arkansas Tech in Russellville.
