Bryant girls capture conference track crown
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Photos courtesy of Stephanie Shaw and Cynthia Austin
LITTLE ROCK — Kristin Garner set a school record in the pole vault and the Bryant Lady Hornets won three other events and finished second in eight others on the way to capturing the 2019 6A-Central Conference championship at Scott Field on Friday.
Bryant finished with 190.5 points to beat out Conway with 178.
“We worked pretty hard,” said Lady Hornets coach Keith Dale. “I’m proud of them.”
Garner cleared 10.9” to top the old mark set by Christen Kirchner in 2006.
“That’s been her goal all along,” said Dale. “She wanted that record.”
Two other Lady Hornets scored in the event with Madelyn Thomas taking fourth by clearing 8’6” and Erin Thompson finishing fifth at 8’.
Deborah Shaw accounted for a first place and two seconds along with a seventh. She won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.88, beating out rival Taylor Conway of Conway (16.23). Allison Morse was third in 17.89 with freshman Samantha Achorn eighth in 19.20.
In the long jump, Shaw leapt 17’4” to finish second to Little Rock Central’s Kamaria Russell’s 17’9”. Freshman Parris Atkins was sixth at 16’5”.
In the triple jump, Shaw covered 35’1.5” to finish behind Conway at 37’6.5”. Freshman Yonni Allen’s 33’7” was good for sixth for Bryant.
In the high jump, Shaw cleared 4’10” with Atkins finishing third, getting over 5’.
Ella Reynolds was first in the 400 and second in the 200. Her winning time was 58.09 as part of a contingent of four Lady Hornets who scored in the 400. North Little Rock’s O’Shayla Muldrow was second in 1:00.15 but Zhania Hall was fourth in 1:01.36, Oriel Spikes was sixth in 1:02.57 and Amya Smith was eighth in 1:03.98.
In the 200, Reynolds ran a personal record time of 26.07 to place second behind Russell at 24.87. Atkins was fourth in 26.26 with another freshman V’Mia Palmer fifth in 26.91.
The fourth Bryant first was in Lady Hornets traditionally strong event, the 4×400. Hall, Megan Lee, Amya Smith and Reynolds ran a 4:03.45 to barely beat North Little Rock at 4:03.50.
Lee was second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.43. Conway was first in 46.40. Jada Deaton was fourth in 51.31 and Achorn ran a 54.28 to finish seventh.
Henriette Bochmann’s discus throw of 107’8” was second only to Z Smith of Conway (111’4”). Lee picked up a fourth with a personal record throw of 89’10.5” and Isabella Martinez was eighth with a throw of 76’5”.
“We took some other kids and put them in various places,” Dale said. “In fact, I even put Megan Lee, which I normally don’t do, in all the throw events. Of course, we do that to help prepare for the Heptathlon, which is coming up in about three weeks. We’ve been putting her in and out of some of the meets just to see, to get her a little bit more experience. We thought she could help us in those, so we decided to go ahead and use her.
Bochmann was fifth in the shot with a toss of 32’1” and freshman Monica Shifflet placed eighth at 38’10.75”.
Smith was second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.85 with Atkins third in 12.86 and Palmer sixth in 13.18.
“Deborah had a good meet and V’Mia had a really good 100-meter time,” Dale said. “That’s her best time ever. Amya was second then Parris was right behind her.”
The freshmen helped, the coach acknowledged, “Between Parris, V’Mia, Kim (Hernandez), Margo (Gilliland) and Monica, they helped us a lot. Sam Achorn even placed in both hurdle events as a freshman.”
In the other relays, Bailey Brazil, Caroline Pelton, Madison Dettmer and Gilliland combined on a 10:21.36 to place second behind Cabot’s 9:45.73 in the 4×800. Jaiyah Jackson, Mallorie Scott-Smith, Palmer and Atkins teamed up on a 49.66 to finish only behind Central (49.02) in the 4×100.
Hernandez was fifth in the 1600 and sixth in the 3200 with Gilliland finished sixth in the 800. In the 1600, Hernandez ran a 5:51.68 with Aryn Stiles eighth in 6:04.84. Hernandez’ time in the 3200 was 13:11.09. Gilliland ran a 2:35.62 with Brazil seventh in 2:35.89.
“We had some events where we didn’t do near as good as what we should have,” Dale mentioned. “In fact, I was telling one of the other coaches I figure we left about 20, 25 points sitting on the table coming off the field events. But we ended up making them up in the running events.”
The 6A State meet is next for Bryant. It’s at Lake Hamilton on Friday, May 3.
