Bryant relay team adds Meet of Champs victory
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PEARCY — In a runaway, again, the Bryant Lady Hornets 3200 meter relay team of Jessica Sowell, Mary Edwards, Kim Bergen and Brooke Higgs — all underclassmen — captured yet another championship. On the heels of their state meet record performance at the Class AAAAA track championships, the quartet dominated their event at the prestigious Meet of Champions at Lake Hamilton High School on Wednesday, May 19.
In fact, the team improved their state meet record time by three seconds, finishing in 9:44.6. That was a full 15 seconds faster than second-place Bentonville.
But they fell just two seconds short of their goal: the overall state mark set by Rogers (9:42.6) set in 1998.
“From our state meet of 9:47.4, we knew we needed to find five seconds to get the overall record,” said head coach Danny Westbrook, “and we only came up with three seconds. Still, it was an amazing effort by all four girls because we ran just about the entire race out by ourselves.”
Though short of the record, the Lady Hornets’ time in the event still ranks as the second fastest time ever in the history of Arkansas high school track.
“These four ladies have had an amazing track season,” a proud Westbrook emphasized. “They won a state championship, won the Meet of Champions, set a state record, lowered the school record by eight seconds, and ran the second fastest time in Arkansas history. That’s a great season in my book, and the best thing is they will all be back next year.”
Bryant also had entries in other events Wednesday. Higgs finished second in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:20.6 with Edwards finishing fifth in 2:28.1.
For the boys, Steven Bright finished third in the 800 with a time of 1:59.0 while Bryan Ballew took eighth in the 1600 with a time of 4:56.5.
