CONWAY — The Bryant Junior Hornets placed five runners in the top 13 and seven in the top 20 to once again claim a dominating victory in their second meet of the season at the Wampus Cat Invitational on Saturday at Beaverfork Lake. Twenty-three teams and 283 runners completed the race.
Decatur Austin led the way for the Bryant squad with a fourth-place finish in a time of 10:49 over the 1.9-mile course. The rest of the Junior Hornets’ top seven were Dawson Oakley (5th in 10:59), Jhorman Cruz (9th in 11:15), Colby Harvey (12th in 11:19), Chris Barrientos (13th in 11:20), Edgar Tejada (16th in 11:25), and Henry Terry (20th in 11:35).
“This was a nice win for us in a really big field,” stated Bryant coach Steve Oury. “Our top guys got off to a slow start in the first 300 meters and were playing catch-up. We couldn’t quite close the gap on the leaders but Decatur Austin and Dawson Oakley passed a lot of runners in the second half of the race.
“We had a lot of guys step up and run well,” he added. “Coach Deanna Porter at Bryant Middle School and Coach Denise Smith at Bethel Middle School are doing a great job of getting their athletes ready. Coach Debbie Clark has been a great help with our freshmen group as has student intern Coach Caleb Parker. This meet was good preparation for next week in Russellville.”
