Lady Hornets capture second straight conference championship
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting 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).
CABOT — At the 7A-Central Conference cross country championship held at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Cabot Monday, the Bryant Lady Hornets won their second consecutive conference title.[more]
Bryant had to overcome a strong performance from the Cabot Lady Panthers who finished with the top two individuals. Despite Cabot’s strength up front, the Lady Hornets put four runners in the top 10 and had 10 runners finish in front of Cabot’s fourth runner to secure the victory.
Bryant had 38 points to 57 points for Cabot. Mount Saint Mary Academy of Little Rock took third with 75 points. Conway (83) and North Little Rock (102) finished out the team scoring.
“Anytime a team finishes a race with the top two finishers, it is very hard to overcome that in terms of team scoring,” noted Lady Hornets coach Danny Westbrook. “We knew going into the meet that Cabot would be strong up front, but we used our depth and set our sights on getting as many runners as possible ahead of their third, fourth and fifth scorers. I know it is a cliché, but this was definitely a total team effort. Everybody had to do their part and they all came through.”
Hannah Raney, as she has all season, led the charge for the Lady Hornets with her third-place finish in a time of 20:50. Lauren Rogers was Bryant’s second finisher at fifth place with a time of 21:42. Stacy Emmerling (6th, 21:47) and freshman Marley Adams (9th, 22:04) gave Bryant four athletes receiving top 10 medals as well as all-conference designation. Freshman Kat Bolton finished out Bryant’s scorers with her 15th place finish in 23:20.
Other top 20 finishers for Bryant were Ashlyn Lessenberry (16th, 23:25), Skylar Oswalt (17th, 23:39), Mikayla Douglas (18th, 23:41), Stacie Waite (19th, 23:41) and Rachael Newman (20th, 23:48).
“I’m really proud of the way the girls made our game plan come together,” Westbrook said. “Hannah ran her heart out trying to break up Cabot’s talented front two girls. Lauren Rogers just comes through week after week, just like you expect your senior leaders to do. It was also exciting to see two freshmen, Marley Adams and Kat Bolton, in our top 5.”
The Bryant teams will next compete at the Class 7A State Championship held at Rogers on Nov. 6.
