Personal best times help Hornets finish sixth at massive Russellville meet

Photos courtesy of Cynthia Austin

RUSSELLVILLE — In a huge meet that included teams from northwest Arkansas, the Bryant Hornets cross country team placed sixth with 134 points at the Cyclone Invitational on the campus of Arkansas Tech University on Saturday.

Conway won the meet with 53 points with Cabot second (78) and Fayetteville third (93). Lake Hamilton was fourth (99) and Bentonville fifth (106). There were 27 teams in the field.

Bryant was led by Bresner Austin, who was fourth overall with a time of 15:54. Greenbrier’s Dominic Ward was individual medalist at 15:38.6. A pair of Conway runners finished second and third, Cade Swindle (15:44.4) and Brady Pascoe (15:45.6).

Hagan Austin was 13^th as the Hornets’ second runner. He ran a 16:30. Chris Herrera finished 32^nd in 17:01.4 with Luis Martinez 44^th in 17:18.2 and Ammon Henderson 46^th in 17:19.4.

Finishing out Bryant’s top seven were Ethan Ives (62^nd, 17:36.9) and Jaxon Holt (65^th, 17:39.9).

“Other than Chile Pepper, this is probably the most competitive regular season meet in the state,” said Bryant head coach Steve Oury. “Several northwest Arkansas teams always compete each year. The course is blazing fast so lots of personal records are set. We were missing one of our top five, but I was pleased with our effort. I think our top nine runners all set personal records. Down the road, we will need to work on getting out to a better start as we approach the conference meet.”  

That top nine also included Ethan Saffle (69^th, 17:44) and Cam Apel (79^th, 17:56.1).

The Chile Pepper, held at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, is next Saturday, Oct. 5.

The Bryant Junior High team earned a fourth-place finish in its division at Tech. Their 115 points was only bettered by Fayetteville (50), Bentonville (77) and Lake Hamilton (115).

George Terry, Brady Bingaman and Alex Skelley each finished in the top 20. Terry was 14^th in a time of 11:49.5 over the two-mile course. Bingaman was 16^th in 11:52.3 and Skelley was 19^th in 11:57.3.

“Our junior high boys did a great job of packing together,” Oury noted. “There were 444 finishers in the junior boys race, so it is easy to get caught in the traffic. We just needed the pack to be a little farther up to have a chance to win. However, fourth is a solid finish considering the quality of the competition.” 

Rounding out the top seven for the Junior Hornets were Mason Lewis (27^th, 12:09.3), Layton Baugh (40^th, 12:24.3), Sam Herring (45^th, 12:30.0) and Payton Brack (55^th, 12:35.2.