Bryant’s Barrientos paces the field at Bob Gravette Invitational
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
Photos courtesy of Cynthia Austin
ARKADELPHIA — The Bryant Hornets opened the 2017 cross country season with a third place finish at the Bob Gravette Invitational at Ouachita Baptist University on Saturday. Chris Barrientos ran away with the individual title by a whopping 49 seconds over the second-place finisher. Barrientos ran a personal record time of 16:20.
Lake Hamilton won the team title with a total of 29 points, with Conway second with 68 points, Bryant third with 73 points, Benton fourth with 93 points, and Lakeside fifth with 139 points. A total of 14 complete teams and 206 individuals completed in the 5k (3.1 mile) race.
After Barrientos, the rest of the Hornets top seven were Henry Terry (12th in 18;15), Decatur Austin (22nd in 18:53), Nick Fowler (23rd in 18:54), Blake Shields (26th in 19:06), Chris Morgan (29th in 19:14), and Christian Brack (30th in 19:18).
“Chris Barrientos made it look really easy out there,” said head coach Steve Oury. “He surged to the front early and after the mile point he quickly opened up a gap that just kept growing. He stayed relaxed and under control throughout, a very nice start to the season for him.
“We had several sophomores running their first official high school 5k, so I thought they handled it well,” he noted. “We also have some veterans who will just keep improving. Henry Terry ran his first cross country race since middle school and did a great job of moving up through the pack. It’s going to be fun to see how these guys progress through the season.”
