Lady Hornets 3rd at conference meet
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).
CABOT — Sophomore Dylan Vail turned in a personal best time of 20:51 to earn all-conference honors at the 7A-Central cross country championship at Rolling Hills Golf Club on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
Vail finished 10th overall to earn a medal as she led the Bryant Lady Hornets to a third place finish in the team competition. Host Cabot won the league title with 53 points with Russellville second with 63. Bryant finished with 83 edging Mount St. Mary’s Academy of Little Rock (85). Conway was fifth with 96 points and Van Buren sixth with 137.
Vail will lead the Bryant contingent to the Class 7A championship meet in Hot Springs on Saturday, Nov. 8.
That group will include three freshmen who all scored at the league meet, finishing behind Vail. Kaitlyn Nickels was 13th in 21:17, Stacy Emmerling 19th in 21:49 and Ashlyn Lessenberry 21st in 21:52. Senior Lola Fleming completed the scoring five by finishing right behind Lessenberry in 22nd with a time of 21:57.
The next four runners for the Lady Hornets will also join in at State, Stacie Waite (26th, 22:10), Mikayla Speake (29th, 22:35), Kaytlyn Stracener (30th, 22:36), and Katherine Thompson (31st, 22:41). Jordan Chadwick (36th, 23:16) will serve as the alternate.
“This last week leading up to the conference meet we have been focused on going out hard and racing aggressively,” noted Lady Hornets coach Danny Westbrook. “I thought we did that today and I was really proud of all our team. Dylan Vail really showed a lot of guts today and had to outkick a Cabot girl to earn her medal.
I thought the freshmen that we moved up from junior high last week really ran strong,” he added.
