ARKADELPHIA — The Bryant Junior Lady Hornets put on a clinic as to how to win a cross country race Saturday. Bryant[more] won the team championship at the OBU Bob Gravette Invitational by putting six girls in the top 20.
Bryant took the title with 26 points. Lake Hamilton was runner-up with 43 points followed by Little Rock Christian (111) and Pulaski Academy (112). There were 10 teams and 175 individual finishers in the race.
Bryant eighth-grader Sydney Wilson took the individual title with time of 12:57. She was closely followed by freshman Hannah Shelby in second place at 13:00. Finishing third for Bryant was freshman Sarah Cowell (6th, 13:20) followed by eighth-grader Hadley Dickinson (7th, 13:27). Reagan Smith was 10th overall with a time of 13:35.
Eighth-grader Abby Ostrem finished 13th in 13:43. Also receiving one of the top 20 individual medals was Jessica Butler in 18th place at 14:03.
“Our Jr. Girls ran great today,” stated Lady Hornets head coach Danny Westbrook. “We had a big pack of Bryant girls up front the entire race. Hannah Shelby did a good job of pacing at the front throughout the race and Sydney just barely nipped her at the line. Both girls had terrific times for this early in the season. This group can really be something special if they will keep working hard and racing like they did today.
“I would really like to commend our middle school coaches for the great job they do with their respective athletes,” he added. “Cross Country is unique in that in the junior high races the 7th, 8th, and 9th, grades all run together competing as one team. Coach Deanna Porter at Bryant Middle School and Coach Kayla Daniels at Bethel Middle School always have their runners ready to race well.”
The Junior Lady Hornets compete at the annual Hornet Invitational this Thursday at Bishop Park.
