Vaulters, relay team shine for BHS boys
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Jason Pelletier repeated as 7A-Central Conference champion and, along with Ben Griffin and Drew Persinger, the Bryant Hornets picked up 19 of their 55 points in the pole vault at the meet held at Bryant High School on Monday, May 5.
Conway won the team championship with 157 points. Bryant was seventh at the eight team meet.
Pelletier, who has signed to vault at Penn State next year, cleared 16 feet, his best height in the outdoor season. Griffin was third, clearing 13-6, and Persinger was sixth, going over at 12-0.
All three earned bids to the Class 7A State meet to be held Thursday, May 15, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The conference meet was also highlighted by a school record performance in the 4×100 meter relay. Pelletier, Daniel Hall, Homer Coleman and Chris Brooks teamed up to finish in 43.90 which was good for fourth which qualified them for State.
Hall helped the Bryant cause with a second-place finish in the 400, running a 50.60. He also lent a leg to the 4×400 meter relay team which finished fifth in 3:33.57, joining Brooks, Coleman and Ben Higgs.
Fourth-place finishes were turned in by Joey Fuoco in the 800 meter run (2:03.93), Zach Orick in the discus (126′ 9″), and the 4 x 800 meter relay team of Fuoco, Todd McAdoo, Logan Howard, and Higgs (8:37.09),
Griffin added a sixth-place finish in the 110 hurdles (16.46) and Higgs was eighth in the 1600 meter run (4:44.76).
“Our guys gave tremendous effort in this meet and competed,” noted Hornets coach Steve Oury. “We knew it would be difficult to score points in several events, but we came through with personal record performances in some of those events even though we didn’t score. As a coach, that’s all I can ask for.
“We will have a lot of our sprinters and jumpers returning next year who I think will break through and be a factor at next year’s meet,” he added. “Our vaulters did a great job as usual. Jason attempted to break Spencer McCorkel’s conference meet record and almost got it. The 4 x 100 relay team did a great job breaking the school record, and Daniel Hall had a big personal record in the 400 meter dash.”
Looking ahead, Oury said, “The guys who qualified for the state meet are going to keep working hard to make sure that they are ready to peak.”
