Bryant duo completes Heptathlon among top 20
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HOT SPRINGS — The Bryant Lady Hornets had two entries in the 2012 Heptathlon held at Hot Springs[more] High School Wednesday and Thursday. Sophomores Melinda Murdock and Leah Ward both finished in the top 20 in points scored and both were individual event champions. The heptathlon is a two-day event which includes seven events.
Payton Stumbaugh of Springdale Har-ber won the individual overall title with a total of 4,260 points. There were 44 girls in the competition.
Murdock scored a total of 3,427 points to finish in 12th place overall. She was the individual champion in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:22.04.
Ward scored 3,198 points to finish 19th place. She was the individual champion in the long jump with a leap of 17’10 1/4”. With that jump, Ward set a new Bryant school record, which was previously held by Angela Moreland from 1988.
“I was really proud of Melinda and Leah,” said Bryant coach Danny Westbrook. “This was their first time at competing in the Heptathlon and I thought they did an outstanding job. We won two individual event titles and Leah broke the long jump school record which has been there since 1988.
“Coach Keith Dale, our sprint coach, really deserves a lot of credit in getting them ready to compete,” he added. “He competed in the decathlon in college and was able to share a lot of his knowledge about multi-event competition with them.”
