Lady Hornets move up to No. 1 after Chile Pepper
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).
FAYETTEVILLE — Number two no more.
The defending Class AAAAA State cross country champion Bryant Lady Hornets are once again ranked No. 1 in the state after defeating previous No. 1 Rogers and the rest of the Arkansas teams that competed in the annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival at the University of Arkansas Saturday, Oct. 18.
The Lady Hornets have not been defeated by an Arkansas team since the state meet of 2001, a two-year streak that encompasses 10 meet championships including the 2002 AAAAA-Central Conference meet and their 2002 State crown.
“If you factor in that all those meets were multi-team events, the Lady Hornets have a combined in-state record of 108 wins and 0 losses,” explained the team’s justifiably proud head coach Danny Westbrook.
“I’m really proud of our girls for hanging in there today, considering the caliber of competition,” Westbrook said of the Chile Pepper meet. “One of our goals for this meet was to be the top Arkansas team and to bring home one of the top three trophies. We accomplished those two goals but we didn’t meet several of the individual goals we had set for ourselves.”
In a field of 35 teams that included several from surrounding states, the Lady Hornets finished second to Oklahoma power Broken Arrow. Rogers, which had held the top ranking in Arkansas all season, actually finished third among Arkansas schools. Third-ranked Lake Hamilton finished fourth overall with 185 points. (Broken Arrow had 98 and Bryant 157) while Rogers finished fifth with 190 points.
And the Lady Hornets thrived despite the fact that lead runner, junior Brooke Higgs, was ailing, though she gamely still competed and finished in Bryant’s scoring quintet. Sophomore Mary Edwards, who usually finishes on Higgs’ heels, took over the lead role and finished 18th overall with a time of 16:05. Freshman Chelsea Mansfield made a strong showing in just her second high school meet, running a 16:20 to place 25th.
Higgs finished right behind Mansfield in 26th with a time of 16:21 followed by Jessica Sowell (39th, 16:40) and Jessica Finley (49th, 16:53). Nicole Sample (57th in 16:58) and Cari Odle (66th in 17:08) also contributed with their placement as the Lady Hornets’ sixth and seventh runners.
Westbrook, though pleased with the performance, issued a note of caution for his team, “We beat all our in-state AAAAA competitors in the overall scoring, but when you take out all the out-of-state schools and score just Arkansas team, it is very close between Rogers, Lake Hamilton and us. I was not happy with our intensity and aggressiveness today. We did not run well as a team. We will definitely have to run better at the state meet if we want a chance to win.”
In the high school open division, Bryant’s junior varsity team also brought home a trophy with their second-place finish out of 12 teams. Nicole Snyder finished second individually in 17:37, Teresa Alverio fifth in 17:56, Lindsay Miller was 11th in 18:19, Michelle Ford was 15th in 18:36, and rounding out the scoring was Amy Whitworth at 29th in 19:46.
The Bryant Junior Lady Hornets had five girls that made the trip and they finished ninth in the 19-team field. Freshman Sarah James broke into the top 10 with her 10th place finish at 17:21. Eighth-grader Lennon Bates also had a good race at the 4K distance with her 26th place at 18:28. Finishing out the scoring were Amber Westbrook (62nd, 19:47), Sarah Finley (72nd, 20:05), and Cecily Davis (79th, 20:26).
The Lady Hornets varsity will try to repeat as AAAAA-Central Conference champions in their next outing. The conference meet is Oct. 30 in Conway. The State meet will be the following week, Nov. 8, at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.
