Hornets second at league meet behind Barrientos, relay team
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Photos courtesy of Cynthia Austin
LITTLE ROCK — Chris Barrientos ran to a double conference championship in the 1600- and 3200-meter runs and the 4×800 relay team of Jake Dreher, Hagan Austin, Hunter Ulmer and Ammon Henderson captured a championship as the Bryant Hornets earned a second place at the 2019 6A-Central Conference meet at Scott Field on Friday.
The Hornets accumulated 98 points, second only to a deep Conway team’s 176.
North Little Rock was third with 92.5 points followed by Little Rock Central (82), Cabot (79.5), Fort Smith Southside (71), Fort Smith Southside (51) and Little Rock Catholic (13).
“We did a great job of rallying late in the meet to earn second,” said Hornets head coach Steve Oury. “Conway is very strong in each event area, so we knew they would be out of reach. We had some adversity early in the meet, including Josh Robinson not clearing a height in the high jump. To his credit, he came back and ran a great race in the 400-meter dash to place second, and then ran a strong anchor in the 4 x 400 relay. He had prequalified for the State meet, so he will still get to high jump next week.
“Chris Barrientos had a very good day and took care of business in the distance races,” he continued. “Our 800-meter runners ran very strong in the 4 x 800 to pick up the victory, then earned big points in the 800 that helped propel us in the team standings.
Barrientos won the 1600 in a time of 4:31.35 beating out Conway’s Brady Pascoe at 4:31.95). In the 3200, Barrientos ran a 10:03.89. Conway’s Cade Swindle was second in 10:11.85 with Bryant’s Bresner Austin finishing eighth in 10:38.81.
Individually, in the 800, Henderson (2:03.14), Logan Kretsch (2:04.46) and Ulmer (2:05.38) ran second, third and fourth behind only Conway’s Ethan Kelley (2:02.86).
In the 4×800, the Bryant quartet ran an 8:21.73 to beat out Conway’s 8:30.10.
Robinson, the school record holder in the high jump, ran a 51.29 to finish behind only Little Rock Central’s Woyn Chatman at 50.54 in the 400. Bryant’s Darrick Rose was sixth in 52.77.
Traditionally strong in the 4×400, the Hornets placed second with J’Lun Herron, Rose, River Gregory and Robinson clocking in a 3:26.90, edged out by North Little Rock at 3:26.53.
In the 4×100, it was Joseph Young Braden Williams, Braylon Butler and Robinson turning in a 43.76 to place fifth.
“Michael Chatmon earned some nice points in both throwing events, with Darius Daniels getting a big personal record in the discus to earn fourth,” Oury mentioned.
Chatman was third in the discus with a throw of 126’. Daniels was fourth at 124’1”. In the shot, Chatman finished fourth with a toss of 44’10. Luke Blacklaw took eighth for the Hornets with a throw of 39’7”.
“We also had some unexpected points, with Kaleb Shorter getting a huge personal record in the 300 hurdles to place seventh, and Josh Mellor clearing 9-6 in the pole vault to place eighth,” said the coach.
Shorter ran a 43.18 in the 300 hurdles while Butler cleared 5’10” to pick up sixth in the high jump and Williams ran 11.36 to place seventh in the 100.
The 6A State meet will be held Friday, May 3 at Lake Hamilton with the Meet of Champs on May 11, also at Lake Hamilton.
