FAYETTEVILLE — The Bryant Hornets cross country team ventured to Northwest Arkansas to run in the biggest cross country meet in the region Saturday as they competed at the Chile Pepper Invitational at the University of Arkansas. Teams from all over the country took part in the massive meet, which includes college, high school, and junior high races. Luke Lindsley produced a new personal record time of 16:09 to place 18th in the field of 410. The Hornets placed 35th out of 54 teams, and were 13th among Arkansas teams finishing.[more]
Also running for the Hornets were Rodrigo Rodarte (128th in 17:19), Jesse Wolf (185th in 17:46), Kevin Nalley (300th in 18:53), Michael Smith (322nd in 19:17), Tyler Nelson (326th in 19:19), Josh Pultro (329th in 19:28), and Dylan Ball (341st in 19:41).
"I was proud of Luke for battling through what was actually an off day for him,” said Hornets coach Steve Oury. “He was struggling early in the race and he managed to gut out a very good effort. Rodarte got off to a poor start but finished strong, while Wolf got off to a good start and managed to hold on pretty well. We just had too big of a gap back to our next runners, which is something that we will work on for the conference meet."
The Bryant Junior Hornets stepped up in distance to race their first and only 5k of the season and placed a very solid 5th place out of 32 teams. Nick Ballew led the way for the Junior Hornets with a time of 19:00 to place 26th.
The rest of the Junior Hornets were Clifton Hampton (27th in 19:07), Dru Wen (38th in 19:26), Charlie Terry (39th in 19:27), Cesar Rodarte (59th in 19:54), Spencer Adami (62nd in 19:55), Chance Levinson (103rd in 20:45), Alex Hunt (133rd in 21:10), and Austin Middleton (208th in 22:34). A total of 452 runners completed the race.
"The junior high team did a super job,” Oury commented. “It's always interesting to see how they will handle running a 5k, and they did great. Ballew and Hampton may have a chance to move up and help the senior high team. Also, Charlie Terry was the first seventh grader to finish in the race, which is awesome. I hope these guys will stick with it and continue to work hard."
The Hornets are next in action at the 7A Central Conference Meet in Cabot on Monday, Oct. 25. The Junior Hornets will next compete at the Wal-Mart Invitational in Cabot on Saturday, Oct. 30.
