Lady Hornets wrap up regular season with dominant performance
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Photos courtesy of Jason Majors and Julie Shelby
Melinda Murdock (Photo courtesy of Jason Majors)
BEEBE — The Bryant Lady Hornet track dominated a field of 27 teams at the Beebe Badger Relays Thursday. The Lady Hornets took first place in nine events and went on to win the team championship with 127 points. Beebe was runner-up with 62 points, followed by Mills (53), Nettelton (39), Batesville (37) and Vilonia (35).
Bryant was led by seniors Leah Ward and Melinda Murdock.
Ward scored 25 points by taking first in the long jump (16’11”) and the triple jump (35’2”). She was also on both sprint relay teams that finished first.
Murdock scored 23 points. She won the 800-meter run in a time of 2:23 and took third in the 1600-meter run in a time of 5:28. She added a fifth place in the long jump (16’0”) and was a member of the 4×400-meter relay that finished first.
Junior Jayla Anderson added 20 points by taking first in both of the hurdle events. She won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.7 and took first in the 300-meter hurdles in 48.7.
Junior Rachael Owens and sophomore Haley Hood both scored 16 points.
Owens was third in the high jump (4’10”), fourth in the 400-meter dash (1:05.4), and ran on both sprint relays that finished first.
Hood was a member of all three relay teams that took first place. She also added a third place in the 400-meter dash (1:03.4) and sixth place in the high jump (4’8”).
Junior Caitlyn Bell took the top spot in the 3200-meter run with a winning time of 12:16.
Photo courtesy of Jason Majors
The Lady Hornets won all three relay events. The 4×100-meter team of Reagan Smith, Ward, Hood, and Owens took the win with a time of 51.6. The 4×400-meter team of Ward, Hood, Murdock, and Owens won in 4:14. The 4×800-meter relay team of Talyn Billins, Bell, Hannah Shelby, and Hood took first in 10:22.
Other scorers for the Lady Hornets:
800-meter run – Talyn Billins – 5th – 2:35
1600-meter run – Hannah Shelby – 6th – 5:59
3200-meter run – Gabby Crabtree – 6th – 12:56
Pole Vault – 6th place tie – Randie Owens, Sky Young
Discus – Myah Thompson – 6th – 94’2”; Jenna Freeman – 7th – 93’1”
“This was our last regular season meet of the year and it was great to go into our conference and state meets on the heels of such a great team performance,” said Lady Hornets coach Danny Westbrook. “Leah Ward and Melinda Murdock just continue to do an outstanding job of leading this team. I could not ask for any better senior leaders. I thought Jayla Anderson really had some breakthrough performances in her hurdle events tonight.”
Bryant will next compete in the 7A-West Conference Championship to be held at Springdale Har-Ber on May 1.
Photo courtesy of Jason Majors
Photo courtesy of Julie Shelby
Photo courtesy of Jason Majors
Photo courtesy of Julie Shelby
