Hornets’ effort at State meet highlighted by Villareal-Hurst
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting 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).
Kaine Villareall-Hurst cleared a personal record 13’10” to finish second and earn All-State honors in the pole vault for the Bryant Hornets as they hosted the Class 7A track and field championship meet on Thursday.
Dodging rain and lightning strikes, that suspended action for a while, the athletes persevered with 7A-West Conference champion Bentonville sweeping the team titles. The Hornets, with a limited contingent, scored 25 points to finish 10thamong the 15 schools that competed.
“I thought the boys did a great job,” said Hornets coach Steve Oury. “Although we didn’t have as many athletes competing as we would have liked, the ones we had competed very well.
“Kaine set a six-inch personal record to place second and earn All-State honors on a day in which a lot of vaulters were struggling because of the rain.”
Ty Graser of Rogers Heritage won the pole vault by clearing 14’2”.
Other individual scorers for Bryant were Chris Barrientos and Bresner Austin in the 3200-meter run. Barrientos ran a 9:51.35 to place fourth, while Austin was eighth in 10:02.62.
The Hornets scored in all three relays highlighted by the work of the 4 x 800 team of Jake Dreher, Joshua Nelson, Hunter Ulmer and Logan Kretsch. Their 8:25.26 was a season best and earned fourth-place points.
“The 4 x 800 team did a great job,” Oury said. “Chris Barrientos and Bresner Austin both ran very well in the distance events.
“The 4 x 400 and 4 x 100 relay teams both stepped up and took care of business,” he added. “The 4 x 400 team was seeded last coming into the event but earned a 6th-place finish.”
The 4 x 400 team included Randy Thomas, J’Lun Herron, Mackenzie Martindale and Villareal-Hurst. They ran a season-best 3:30.90.
The 4 x 100 team also finished sixth with Dionte Collier, Braden Williams, Martindale and Thomas posting a 43.56
“We are hoping we will have several entries at the Meet of Champs on May 12th,” Oury mentioned.
He added, “The track coaches are very appreciative for all the hard work that so many people put in to make the meet a success. We had a lot of parent volunteers and coaches from throughout the district who came together to make the meet happen. We could not have done it without everyone’s help.”
