Lady Hornets bring home a trophy
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting 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).
Along with the streamers, balloons and other decorations adorning the office of Bryant cross country coach Dan Westbrook, there hangs a small bottle of orange juice. The decorations are in celebration of the Lady Hornets’ runner-up finish at the Class AAAAA State Championship meet last Saturday at Agri Park in Fayetteville. And, in a way, the bottle of orange juice is too.
The Lady Hornets put three runners in the top 10, each earning all-State honors by doing so, in a gutsy performance that didn’t go at all as Westbrook nor the girls anticipated on an unusually hot, humid, windy day.
As expected, Bentonville repeated as State champions led by individual winner Kelly Bryson. The Lady Tigers finished with just 38 points. Bryant was second with 105, edging Russellville (110) and Rogers (119) in the 15-team competition.
In the boys competition, Rogers claimed the team title with 59 points with Mountain Home second with 70, led by individual medalist Eric Gross. Bryant finished ninth, a place better than last year, yet still not as high as the Hornets had hoped.
As for the girls, Bryant might’ve pressured Bentonville a bit more, if not for that orange juice (and some apple juice).
“When you take kids overnight,” Westbrook explained, “you worry about getting them out of their pre-race routine, what they eat, how they sleep and this and that.
“Come to find out, right before we got on the bus (in Fayetteville), my top three girls drank about a gallon of orange juice,” he continued. “And orange juice is acidic. You just don’t do that. It’s something they’d never done before. Gina (Messina) just said, we were at the restaurant, there was orange juice and it was all you want and, you know, orange juice ought to be good for you. So, they drank a ton of orange juice.
“Well, I knew they weren’t feeling well before we ran, but I just thought it was nerves,” Westbrook continued. “So, I just kind of passed it off (saying), ‘You’ll be all right when the race starts.’
“Well, the race starts and they weren’t okay. I mean, they were struggling. You could tell right away. It was extremely hot, high humidity, the wind’s blowing like crazy — not a normal day that you would think for November.
“Anyway, the race starts and they go to the front like they’re supposed to. And the girls that are normally my fourth and fifth runners, they’re tagging right in there where they’re supposed to be and everything’s looking good.
“Well, after the first mile, everything wasn’t looking good. Everybody started backing up. Mandy (Medlin) came by Gina. They were both sick but apparently Mandy was a little less sick than Gina was. Then Candice (James) and Gina just barely hung on for the ninth and 10th spots — the top 10 get medals (and all-State) — and Mandy got up and got sixth.”
Medlin ran a 16:11, Messina a 16:24 and James a 16:24. But as soon as each crossed the line, each stumbled to one side and threw up.
“Further back in the pack, Melanie Steele, who’s been my fourth, she was having all kinds of problems,” Westbrook recalled. “And she hadn’t had any orange juice. Her situation was something different.”
Actually, Steele was later taken to the hospital and treated for dehydration. She was released that afternoon.
“Mandy became our last runner, then Johnna (Harrison) was struggling for some reason and Angela (Garner) and Brooke (Sutton) just went by them and really held off some Russellville girls that probably made a difference in the score because we only beat Russellville by five.”
Sutton was Bryant’s fourth runner finishing 39th overall in a time of 17:49. Garner finished 41st in 17:51. Denise Whitworth followed in 46th with a time of 17:58 followed by Harrison (47th, 18:03) and Sarah Smith (54th, 18:21). Steele finished the race, finishing with Smith in 18:22 for 55th place.
“Melanie crossed the line and collapsed,” Westbrook said.
Despite it all, the Lady Hornets had their trophy (only the top two teams earn trophies) and they put an early scare into Bentonville. Actually, had the Lady Hornets all run their usual races, it would’ve been close, Westbrook acknowledged. “I’m not sure if we’d have beaten them,” he added, “but if they’d slipped up at all, we’d have been right there.”
If not for the orange juice — apple juice in James’ case.
“I would’ve liked to run against them again,” said the coach, “without the orange juice.
“One of the things I said before we went up there was that anything can happen in State competition,” Westbrook noted. “And I said, ‘It probably will.’ But I didn’t plan on something happening to us. That was something we were hoping would happen to Bentonville.
“But, actually, we still achieved our goals. We brought home a trophy, we put three in the top 10 and we had three make all-State. But it’s not what I thought would happen at all even though it turned out okay. It was a nerve-wracking day.
“It was a lesson learned,” Westbrook concluded, noting that all three of the juice-addled runners will return next year. “We definitely will not drink orange juice next year.”
As for the Hornets, junior Chris Brewer was the top finisher. His time of 18:35 was good for 40th overall. Four sophomores completing the five scoring slots with Joe Holland running an 18:59 (57th), David Stafford a 19:27 (73rd), Casey Jacuzzi a 19:28 (74th) and Graham Linder a 19:32 (78th).
Stephen Heasley ran a 20:06 with Nick Taylor at 20:26, Jonathan Hensley 20:50 and Jason Mazurek a 21:04.
“I don’t think it was what they hoped for,” Westbrook commented.
“All year, the guys haven’t been very good at running when it’s hot,” he noted. “I don’t want to use that as an excuse but it’s just when it’s cool and the humidity’s low, these guys ran good. But it wasn’t a good day for running. I know everybody had to run in it, but our guys just don’t run well when it’s hot.”
But almost all of the Hornets return next year.
“And I saw a big difference in attitude and work ethic in that group this year, so if they’ll work hard in the off-season, I think we can be back up there where we need to be next year.”
