Lady Mustangs dominant in winning at OBU 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).
ARKADELPHIA — The Bryant Lady Hornets’ immediate future took a hit last week but prospects down the road got a boost when the Junior High’s Lady Mustangs placed five runners in the top seven to cruise to the team junior girls championship at the Ouachita Baptist University cross country invitational meet on Saturday, Sept. 8.
The Lady Hornets, despite losing senior Gina Messina, a three-time all-state performer, finished second in the senior girls competition behind only a strong team from Houston, Tenn., which dominated the 12-team field scoring a miniscule 18 points. Bryant was a distant second with 79.
Messina, expected to be among the Lady Hornets’ top three runners and a candidate to become the first four-time all-state runner, is no longer a member of the team, a decision arrived at mutually by the senior and head coach Dan Westbrook, according to the coach. He would not comment further.
“The Lady Mustangs did a great job of pack running at the front of the race,” Westbrook said of Saturday’s competition. “They put on a clinic as to how to win a team championship in a cross country meet. They packed together, went to the front, and then came in to the finish together. I was extremely impressed with their effort. They came pretty close to a perfect score which is a team finish of first through fifth places.”
As it was, they finished with 25 points, 50 better than second-place Magnet Cove.
Mary Edwards led the Lady Mustangs with a third-place time of 10:22. Cari Odle was fourth in 10:31 with Nicole Snyder and Kim Bergen right with her at 10:32 and 10:33, respectively. Nicole Sample completed the scoring quintet, finishing seventh in a time of 10:51.
“They ran together the entire race and finished together,” Westbrook added. “There is so much talent in this group and that bodes well for the future of our girls cross country program.”
Jessica Sutton added a 15th place finish in a time of 11:16 followed by Laura Mackey (11:31, 25th), Mikki Eichenberg (12:05), Jennifer Long (12:18), Teresa Alverio (12:21), Kayli Watkins (13:47) and Diana Brewer (14:25).
Eleven teams competed in the junior girls meet.
For the Lady Hornets, junior Candice James came through with a fourth-place finish with a time of 16:05. Senior Mandy Medlin was the second Bryant runner. Her time of 17:29 was good for 21st with Jessica Graham 24th in 17:42. Melanie Butler and Jamie Waldron completed the top five for Bryant. Butler was 40th in 18:45 and Waldron 45th in 19:19.
Melanie Steele finished 48th in 19:25 followed by Amy Whitworth (20:05), Jessica Finley (22:19), Tonya Fowler (21:09), Stacy Hunt (21:12), Amy Griffin (23:21) and Amanda Young (23:42).
“Candice put on an awesome kick in the late state of the race, passing several runners to finish fourth,” Westbrook noted. “That Tennessee team is pretty good, but we can take solace in the fact that we were the lead Arkansas school in the race. I thought Candice’s finishing kick was a thing of beauty. We still need to work on decreasing the gaps between runners, but we are improving each week.”
The Lady Hornets travel to Joplin, Mo., on Saturday, Sept. 15, to compete in the annual Southern Missouri Stampede.
