Messina sets new mark at UALR
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).
By ROB PATRICK
BRYANT TIMES
LITTLE ROCK — Bryant freshman Gina Messina has run in just five cross country meets ever (including an intrasquad event at the start of the season) and she’s won every one. On Saturday, she did so in record time.
Setting a new course standard at the UALR Invitational, Messina ran a 15:54 to lead the Lady Hornets, recently ranked second in the state, to victory at the UALR meet.
The Bryant boys finished fourth while the Bryant junior high squads wound up second (girls) and third (boys).
The meet pitted the top three runners from each team against each other then the next three from each team against each other. The rest of the field then ran as a group. Team results were figured from the top five times from each team’s combined results.
Messina was pressed for the top spot by Russellville’s Bethany Bauman who ran a 16:02.
In the team standings, Conway was second followed by Cabot, Russellville, North Little Rock, Mount St. Mary’s and Arkadelphia.
Freshman Mandy Medlin was Bryant’s second runner as she has been all season. She was ninth overall in 17:11.
Senior Ashley Leonard ran in the first group and finished 13th in 17:43. Denise Whitworth actually finished with a better time, finishing first in the second group with a 17:33 clocking which actually placed her ahead of Leonard in the overall results.
Angela Garner’s 18:26 was good for third in the second group and 19th overall. Johnna Harrison ran an 18:53 to take eighth and 24th.
In the third group, Jill Glenn’s 19:20 was third best with Whitney Hall (19:30), Andrea Anders (19:52), Carrie Jackson (20:08) and Jennifer Smith (20:09) finishing fourth through seventh within the grouping for Bryant. Candace Fletcher ran a 23:13 and Jessica Adams a 26:35 for the Lady Hornets.
For the Hornets, Tim McCall’s 18:44 was good for ninth in the top group. Chris Brewer ran a 19:19 and Travis Bull a 20:21. Brewer was 14th in the first group and 17th overall. Bull was 21st and 40th.
Josh Williams’ 20:09 earned an 11th place finish in the second group. He was 33rd overall. Jason Mazurek was 15th and 43rd with a time of 20:30 and Tim Dennis was 17th and 47th in 20:38.
Nick Taylor, who was awarded the team’s outstanding performance award, ran a 20:21 to finish sixth in the third group which placed him fifth among the Hornets’ runners overall and 41st in the complete results.
Cory Everett ran a 20:26 to finish seventh and 42nd followed by Matt Standfill (21:50) who was 16th and 62nd; Wade Tollett (22:18), Andrew Jones (22:40), Zach Martin (23:20) and David Glenn (29:06).
Conway won the boys team competition with Russellville second and Cabot third. Eleven teams competed in the event.
In the junior high competition, Bryant placed three girls in the top 10 led by Melanie Steele whose 9:45 was good for fifth. Candice James ran a 10:11 to place eighth and Audrey Manna ran a 10:14 to place ninth.
The next grouping included Megan Moss (10:27), Ashleigh McCorkel (10:28) and Judy Manna (10:30) ranking 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.
Robin thompson ran an 11:02 to finish 22nd. Brooke Sutton’s 11:05 was good for 24th and Amy Griffin’s 11:27 took 29th.
Also for Bryant, Amanda Young ran an 11:28 (30th), Amanda Freeman an 11:42 (35th), Stephanie Farish an 11:45 (36th), Michelle Lewis a 12:06, and Courtney Alexander a 12:08 (39th).
The Lady Hornets’ Jennifer Pierce ran a 12:22. She was followed by Alicia Wallace (12:29), Melissa Robinson (13:00), Ginger Spencer (13:14), Amy Hanson (13:20), Megan Sanchez (13:32), Heather Toopes (13:34), Lizelle Hattingh (13:34), Amanda Williams (13:39), Meghan Quinn (14:28), Amanda Baumbeck (14:33) and Mary Knetzer (15:14).
McCorkle earned the outstanding performance award for the team.
For the junior boys, Graham Linder led Bryant with a seventh-place finish overall. Linder ran an 11:03. Casey Jacuzzi also finished in the top 10. His 11:08 was good for 10th.
The Mustangs’ top five runners were rounded out by Ryan Witherspoon, David Stafford and Joe Holland. Witherspoon’s 11:27 was good for 14th, Stafford’s 11:30 took 15th and Holland’s 11:42 notched 17th.
Stephen Heasley ran a 12:06 to finish 22nd. Ethan Thomason earned the team’s outstanding performance award, finishing 24th with a time of 12:09.
Allan Stanford and Jonathan Hensley each ran 12:29 to finish 27th and 28th. Chris Moore was 29th in 12:34 followed by Justin Cochran 30th (12:37), Cody Walker 31st (12:38), and Geoffrey Edwards 32nd (12:38).
Aaron Watkins ran a 13:17 to finish 41st with Greg Prewett 42nd (13:19), Rusty Hobbs 43rd (13:21), Matt Burbank 44th (13:25), Cody Burton 45th (13:29) and Jacob Carson 48th (13:42).
The Mustangs’ contingent also included Zeke Bryant (13:44), Bryan Smith (14:18), Chris Donovan (14:25), Scott Johnson (14:35), Brad Denman (14:51), Brad Burnette (14:55), Jonathan Tebbetts (15:37), Kyle Johnson (15:47), Chris Claypool (15:49), Nathan Jones (15:55), Michael Parker (15:58), Hunter Morrow (16:28), Chris Wyse (16:41), Anthony Richter (16:51) and Troy Vaughn (17:27).
Russellville was tops in both junior high events.
This Saturday, the Bryant junior high teams will run in Russellville while the high school teams take a weekend off.
