McAdoo leads boys to second place finish
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).
LITTLE ROCK — Todd McAdoo turned in a top 10 performance as the Bryant Hornets finished second to the Lake Hamilton Wolves at the UALR Invitational cross country meet at Rebsamen Golf Course on Saturday, Sept. 22.
The Junior Hornets placed all five scoring runners in the top 19 but wound up fourth in a field of nine teams at the event.
A week before at the Bryant Invitational, the Hornets had finished runner-up to Conway. This time, Lake Hamilton took top honors with 31 points. Bryant finished with 63, ahead of Cabot (74), Russellville (95) and Greene County Tech (172) in the 18-team field that included 183 runners on a 5k course.
McAdoo ran a 17:34 to place seventh overall. Joey Fuoco was Bryant’s second runner, finishing in 18:03, good for 12th with Josh Harrison 13th in 18:08, Ben Higgs 15th in 18:14) and Cody Fiser 16th in 18:15, close behind. Preston Adami finished 27th in 18:37 and Jacob Clark 36th in 19:01.
“We ran a very solid race and showed signs of improvement over last week,” commented Hornets head coach Steve Oury. “McAdoo ran a super race, and there were several guys who improved over last week’s time even though the weather was not ideal. The heat was a big factor and I thought our guys handled it better than they have in the past.
“Our scoring five placed in the top 16, which is good enough to win in lots of meets,” he added. “This week, Lake Hamilton was just better. We will soon begin the speed phase of our training which should help us close the gap on teams like Lake Hamilton and Conway.”
In the junior boys race, Jacob Goff (9th, 10:03) and Luke Lindsley (10th, 10:04) earned awards for finishing in the top 10, leading the way for Bryant. Ashton Arnoldy just missed, finishing 11th in 10:04 with Lucas Castleberry (17th, 10:17) and Michael Smith (19th, 10:22) completing the Junior Hornets’ scoring group.
Bryant finished with 64 points edged out by Russellville (58 points), Little Rock Catholic (61) and Lake Hamilton (62). Nine teams and 154 runners completed the 2800 meter course.
“Despite the disappointment with where we placed, I thought we showed some real improvement this week,” Oury commented. “Both Catholic and Russellville had some new runners this week who greatly improved their teams, but Lake Hamilton had the same team that blew us away at the OBU meet two weeks before. We showed that we can compete with anybody, but we also learned how important each place is.
“Goff, Lindsley, Arnoldy, and Castleberry have really established themselves as a dependable top four and Michael Smith had a breakthrough race for us,” added the coach. “We just need to continue to work hard and hopefully by the end of the season we will come out on top when we face all of these teams again.”
Bryant was scheduled to race at the Russellville Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 29, before traveling to Lake Hamilton for a meet on Oct. 6.
