HOT SPRINGS — The 4×400 relay came down to the wire at the Ram Relays at Hot Springs Lakeside High School on Thursday. It came down to less than a second as the Vilonia Eagles edged the Bryant Hornets for first. The thrilling finish was the result of the effort of Bryant’s quartet of J’Lun Herron, River Gregory, Darrick Rose and Josh Robinson, who turned in a 3:30.91. Vilonia clocked in at 3:30.27.
The Hornets got winning performances from Chris Barrientos in the 1600 and Bresner Austin in the 3200 to highlight the team’s efforts as they finished fifth overall with 70 points.
Conway won the team title with 141 points. Vilonia was second with 122.50, followed by Cabot (97.5) and Little Rock Central (81) in the 17-team field.
Barrientos ran a 4:32.80 to beat out Vilonia’s J.D. Otts in the 1600. Hagan Austin was seventh for the Hornets with a 4:49.61 clocking.
Bresner Austin turned in a 10:05.57. John Sutton of Conway was second at 10:08.62.
Robinson scored in two jumping events. He was second to Central’s Johnathan Jones in the high jump, clearing 6’4” to match his own school record. Johnson got to 6’6”. Braylon Butler cleared 5’10” to tie for seventh.
In the triple jump, Robinson’s 38’9” was good for sixth-place points.
Michael Chatmon’s shot put of 45’2” was fourth while Braden Williams ran a 23.46 to finish sixth in the 200-meter dash.
Ammon Henderson ran a 2:05.83 in the 800 to finish seventh while Gregory’s 54.51 was good for eighth.
In the relays, the team of Jake Dreher, Logan Kretsch, Hunter Ulmer and Henderson finished third with a time of 8:29.47.
In the 4×200, Herron, Jaden Newburn, Roderick Forte and Kyle Shorter took third in 1:36.45.
Williams, Robinson, Butler and Joseph Young ran the 4×100 and finished fourth in 44.84.
The Hornets are scheduled to compete next at the Cabot Panther Relays on Tuesday, April 2.
