The Bryant Hornets opened up the 2010 cross country season with a fourth place finish at their lone home meet, The Hornet Invitational, on Tuesday at Mills Park.
Cabot won the meet with a total of 44 points, followed by LR Catholic (57), Russellville (66), Bryant (107), Little Rock Christian (156), DeQueen (163), North Little Rock (238), Marion (241), Magnolia (243), Lakeside (261), Sheridan (354), Benton (359), and Pine Bluff (376).[more]
Meanwhile, the Bryant Junior Hornets turned in a strong third-place finish in their division. The Hornets scored 64 points to finish behind Catholic (46) and Dequeen (52). Nine full teams and 182 runners completed the two-mile race.
Luke Lindsley gave a valiant effort in finishing second in the senior division individual race, only a half-second behind Noah Findlay of LR Catholic. Lindsley had a time of 16:11. The rest of the Hornets' top 7 were Rodrigo Rodarte (22nd in 17:44), Jesse Wolf (25th in 18:00), Michael Smith (32nd in 18:40), Kevin Nalley (44th in 19:01), Josh Pultro (62nd in 19:43), and Tyler Nelson (72nd in 20:04).
"Luke ran a very good race,” said Hornets coach Steve Oury. “Findlay is an exceptional talent who has very good sprint speed, and Luke pushed him all the way to the end.
“I was pleased with Rodrigo Rodarte's run,” he added. “He is going to keep improving. As a team, we finished about where I thought we would. Cabot has an outstanding team with very good depth. It's going to be hard for anyone to beat them this year."
Tyler Purtle was the top Junior Hornet, earning a fourth place finish in a time of 11:40. Spencer Adami (12th in 12:10), Clifton Hampton (15th in 12:19), Dru Wen (18th in 12:21), Austin Middleton (24th in 12:25), and Chance Levinson (26th in 12:33) rounded out the team’s top seven.
"The junior boys ran a strong race,” Oury said. “We had several kids make huge improvements since the intrasquad meet. Purtle ran super, and Spencer Adami was the surprise of the meet. He cut 56 seconds off of his time from the intrasquad meet and earned a 12th place finish. I like this group's attitude and I look for them to keep getting better."
The full result should be on arkansasrunner.com this evening.
The Hornets run again on Saturday at the Conway Invitational being held at Lake Beaverford Park.
Photos by Kevin Nagle 
