BENTON — The Bryant Hornets freshman team won five events and amassed 190 points to capture the 2021 Central Arkansas Junior High Conference championship on Thursday at Benton High School.
The team, coached by John Orr, completed a season in which they won every meet in which they competed, undefeated.
Lake Hamilton was second with 122 points followed by Benton (115), Cabot North (113), Cabot South (83), Conway White (21) and Conway Blue (9).
Though he didn’t quite match his school record throw from last week, Devyn Steingisser once again won the discus with a fling of 162’7”. Cabot South’s Keegan Vest was a distant second at 146’10”. Bryant’s Tate Settle was eighth at 127’2”.
And it’s not too often that a race the distance of 1600 meters comes down to less than a second but that was the case when Brandon Avilla won the event with a time of 4:52.52, a personal best. Max Henry of Conway White was right with him, clocking in at 4:52.56. Payton Brack was third for the Hornets with a season-best 4:53.72.
Avila was second in the 800, finishing in 2:13.67 right behind Cabot South’s Brandon Waller (2:12.59). Brack was third in 2:14.40 and Quentin Johnson eighth in 2:21.16, both season bests.
James Martin won the 200-meter dash in 24.24 with Jaden Ashford second for the Hornets in 24.33 and Dylan Witcher fifth in 24.75.
In the 100, Martin’s 11.92 was second only to Jalen Carter of Lake Hamilton (11.86) with Witcher fifth (12.02) and Ashford sixth (12.06).
That trio, along with Isaiah Rivera, combined on a 45.62 to win the 4 x 100 over Cabot North (46.82).
Drake Fowler has been a big addition to the team, competing in several events and often winning them. He played a big role on Thursday too. He won the high jump, clearing 5’9” with teammate Lukas Barnett third at a season best 5’6”. Cox was second, getting over at 5’7”.
Fowler was second in the 110 hurdles (17.38) and the 300 hurdles (43.58), finished fourth in the triple jump (37’2.5”) and lent a leg to the third-place finish of the 4 x 400 relay team.
Bode Fryar, Colin Jones and Chase Bellaton joined Fowler in the relay for a time of 3:48.41.
In the 110 hurdles, Lake Hamilton’s Brayden Burris won in 16.27. Barnett was eighth in 19.11. Burris won the 300 hurdles too in a time of 43.37. Barnett was third (45.75).
Gavin Lewis picked up second-place points in the shot put with a throw of 45’1”. Cox won at 46’0” and Steingisser fifth in 42’7.5”.
The squad of Brack, Johnson, Daniel Barrientos and Grady Morris combined on a season-best time of 9:17.17 to finish second to Cabot South in the 4 x 800 relay. The winning time was 9:09.24.
Cason Trickey and Chelton Murdock joined Martin and Ashford on a 1:38.48 clocking in the 4 x 200 to take third.
Three Hornets scored in the 400-meter dash, all with season-best times. Witcher was third in 51.57 with Jones fourth in 52.16 and Fryar seventh in 54.58.
Bryant picked up fifth-place points from Andrew Karp and Jacob Jones in the pole vault, both cleared 9’4’, while Witcher’s season-best long jump of 18’7” was good for seventh with Martin eighth at 18’5”.
