Shaw leads Lady Hornets to team title at home meet
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Deborah Shaw won two events and the Bryant Lady Hornets scored in 15 of the 17 for the day as they captured the team championship of the annual Hornet Relays at Bryant Stadium on Tuesday.
The Lady Hornets accumulated 109.5 points to beat out Conway (103.5) and Cabot (75.5), two 6A-Central Conference rivals, and the 24-team meet.
It was the first outdoor meet for Bryant, the first competition since the State Indoor in early February.
Shaw won the long jump with a leap of 16’6.5”. Bryant’s Megan Lee was second at 16’4”.
Shaw also won the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.73. She scored in the triple jump and the high jump as well, plus the open 200.
“Deborah had a really good meet,” acknowledged Lady Hornets coach Keith Dale. “She’s back to her normal self as far as the hurdles and sprints go. We’ve been trying to work a little bit more technique on her. We’ve been working out on the long jump.
“We had Deborah and Megan Lee right behind her,” he added. “That gives us 18 points. In fact, we even had the fifth-place as well, which was Yonni Allen. The way we had the meet set up, we only scored two from each school so, given she was fifth place, in a regular meet, like in conference, it would’ve counted towards our points. But, since we wanted to be fair all the way across the board, we only scored the top two. Those points went to the next person down. So, Yonni’s going to be able to help us in the long jump as well.”
Lee scored in the triple jump and the 300 hurdles as well as helping out with the 4×400 relay team.
“I changed up a little bit what we had Megan doing last year when I had her focusing more on the open 400,” Dale related. “When Kayla Scott graduated, that kind of left a little slot open there for the 300 hurdles. So, we decided to make a transition to try to get Megan worked in there. That way it would help her with her multi-events when the Heptathlon rolls around. And also help the team out because it fills in that top-runner spot that we really need in those hurdles.”
Lee finished third in 48.83 in the hurdles. Jada Deaton was eighth in 51.57 for the Lady Hornets.
In the triple jump, Lee finished third, covering 34’4” with Shaw fourth at 33’4. Allen was fifth at 32’3.5”.
In the 4×400, Amya Smith, Zhania Hall, Madelyn Thomas and Lee took third in 4:19.02.
In the 200, Ella Reynolds finished fourth in a time of 27.45 with Shaw eighth in 28.19. Shaw was also seventh in the high jump, clearing 4’8”.
The Lady Hornets scored well in the pole vault with Kristen Garner clearing 9’4” to finish second only to Benton’s Payton Fleeman at 10’. Thomas was third for Bryant at 9’. Though, like Allen, her points didn’t count, Kailey Richardson finished fifth at 8’6”.
The Lady Hornets were third in the other two relays. In the 4×800, Aryn Stiles, Erin Key, Caroline Pelton and Zhania Hall combined on an 11:07.34. In the 4×100, Allen, Amya Smith, Jaylah Jackson and Erin Thompson turned in a 52.23.
Individually, Hall was fourth in the 400 with a time of 1:02.88 while Smith finished fourth in the 100 in 13.23.
Bailey Brazil scored in two events. She was fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:35.90, and seventh in the 1600 with a time of 5:57.58.
Henriette Bochmann added fifth-place points in the discus. Her throw went 85’5”. In the 100 hurdles, Deaton was sixth in 17.45.
“This time of year, the first meet, it’s like taking a pulse,” Dale said. “You’ve just got to figure out how we’re doing and seeing that everything’s working in the right direction.
“That’s what I told a lot of girls because, for example, Ella Reynolds. She hasn’t been out for track for that long because she was in swimming, which ran into February,” he continued. “We went ahead and put her in the long jump. I told her, ‘What I’m wanting to do is see where you’re at. I know you don’t have your steps. I know you haven’t worked on it. These are things I know. But you can’t worry about that. Just get out and try your best and see what happens. That way, we know where you’re at currently and we can work to make that improvement, make that better.’”
Bryant returns to competition on Thursday, March 28, at the Ram Relays at Hot Springs Lakeside.
Stephanie
Yay! Deborah Shaw was high point of the whole meet!!!!! Way to go Deborah!