Photos courtesy of Cynthia Austin
FAYETTEVILLE — The Bryant Junior Hornets traveled to Fayetteville Saturday to compete in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival, placing eighth out of 48 teams in the 5k (3.1 mile) race. A total of 787 runners completed the race. Bresner Austin was the top finisher for the Junior Hornets, placing 13th in a time of 17:57.
The rest of the Bryant finishers were Hagan Austin (36th in 18:43), Chris Herrera (48th in 18:59), Taj Van Tassel (112th in 19:54), Johnny Chicas (115th in 19:56), Alex Skelley (151st in 20:25), George Terry (176th in 20:37), Ammon Henderson (209th in 20:58), Aaron Spangler (215th in 21:03), Jessie Ibarra (238th in 21:20), Luis Martinez (266th in 21:36), and Jackson Meshell (273rd in 21:41).
“I thought we did a good job of stepping up in distance and handling the extra mile,” said Bryant coach Steve Oury. “We didn’t get off to the best start, but as usual we had several runners really step it up in the second half of the race. Bresner Austin was in 33rd place at the mile mark and passed 20 runners to end up 13th.
“This experience should help the boys when they step back down to the 2-mile distance next week,” he added.
Bryant hosts the annual Bryant Invitational at Bishop Park this Saturday.
