Lady Hornets second only to host team at Cabot meet
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).
By Rob Patrick
CABOT — It looks like the 7A-Central Conference girls track championship may come down to whether or not anyone can stop the Cabot Lady Panthers. And, based on the results of the Panther Relays, for instance, which were held on Thursday, the biggest threat will come from the Bryant Lady Hornets.
Cabot amassed 134 points in winning its home meet but the Lady Hornets eclipsed the 100-point mark as well with 107, finishing second. Bryant was sparked by juniors Brianna White and Stacy Emmerling with sophomores Alexis Royal and Hannah Raney, a quartet accounted for 79 points.
The meet featured all of the teams that will be representing the 7A-Central except for Little Rock Hall. The field included West Memphis. Behind Cabot and Bryant in the 14-team field, Conway finished a distant third with 69 points with North Little Rock fourth with 53.
“Anytime you score over a 100 points in a track meet you feel like you have a chance to win, but Cabot is just so strong in so many events,” commented Lady Hornets coach Danny Westbrook. “I think we realize from the results of this meet that, before conference, we are going to have to find a way to score several more points to have a shot at the conference title.
“I am really proud of the girls’ efforts tonight,” he added. “They competed hard, but we just didn’t have enough to overcome Cabot. Before conference, Coach (Roger) Dale, our sprint coach, and I are going to have to put our heads together and see where we can score more points. We are not going to hand the conference title to Cabot. We are going to scratch out every possible point we can. They are going to have to run extremely well at conference to take the championship.”
White, who scored 25 points, took second in the long jump (16’10”), 100 meter dash (12.5), and the 200 meter dash (25.9). She was also a member of the 4×100 meter relay.
Royal added 20 points with her second place in the triple jump (35’4”), fifth place in the long jump (15’9”), fourth place in the 100 meter hurdles (15.7), and eighth place in the 100 meter dash (13.1). She was also a member of the two sprint relay teams.
Running distance events, Emmerling scored 18 points while Raney accumulated 16 points.
Emmerling took first place in the 800 meter run (2:33.7) and fourth in the 1600 meter run (6:09). She was also a member of the 4×400 and 4 x 800 meter relay teams.
Raney captured a second place in the 3200 meter run (13:01) and a third place in the 1600 meter run (5:59). She was also a member of the 4×800 meter relay team.In the high jump, junior Lauren Magneson took second with a personal best jump of 5 feet.
Bryant got a second-place performance from the 4×800 with Lauren Stiles and Stacie Waite joining Raney and Emmerling on a time of 10:54.
Along with Royal and White, Sarah Evans and Bailee Seelinger teamed up on a time of 52.0 to take fourth in the 4×100 while, the 4×400, Seelinger, Royal, Emmerling and Candice Ball turned in a 4:28 to take sixth.
Sarah Holt and Savannah Reep contributed points in the pole vault. Holt cleared 7 feet to place fifth while Reep finished seventh by getting over 6 feet.
In the 1600, Skylar Combs was sixth in 6:18. In the 3200, Grace Finley was seventh in 14:44 and Skylar Oswalt was eighth in 14:48.
The Lady Hornets are scheduled to compete again at the Wampus Cat Relays in Conway on Thursday, April 14.
