HOT SPRINGS — The Bryant Lady Hornets competed Saturday with a split team in the Lake Hamilton Invitational at Oaklawn Park to take a third place in the junior varsity division.
A large number of girls were taking the ACT exam.
“With the season coming to an end soon, I split the team in order to allow them to have a variation of off time,” said Lady Hornets coach Keith Dale. “So the girls who raced this weekend did not race last weekend. That allows them to race every other Saturday and retain their race legs.”
Esmeralda Limon came across the finish line in 10th place with a time of 24:31.60, followed by Katherine Goins and Darcie Dunbar in 26th and 27th place with times of 26:57.69 and 27:06.77, respectively. Kaleigh Thomas followed the group placing 29th with a time of 27:12.85. Kylie Queen ran 27:26.87 for 31st place.
“We were going to have 10 girls race to keep them all as a collective group,” Dale mentioned. “The only division we would be allowed to enter that many people was the JV division.
“All in all, I believe they did pretty well,” he added. “This is a very deceiving course. There are a lot of variations in terrain that really pays a toll on their legs. I was proud of all of the girls. Darcie Dunbar even set a new PR on this tough course.”
Bryant’s varsity competes for the 7A-Central Conference championship on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Rolling Hills Country Club in Cabot.
Junior Lady Hornets
The junior girls finished the day in eighth place with a total of 21 teams.
“There was a very large field of 291 athletes running in this division and we saw a several great performances,” Dale said.
“Maddie Gallagher had a good race,” he noted. “Maddie ended up finishing in the top five seventh graders in the junior high division. She has a bright future and I can’t wait to see how much she improves.”
Gallagher finished 38th in 14:49.98. Sydney Dettmer was Bryant’s second runner, finishing 45th in a time of 15:04.11. She was followed by Caroline Pelton (50th, 15:12.23), Jilliam Colclasure (54th, 15:20.84 and Ellie O’Gary (60th, 15:29.70) to complete the scoring quintet.
Rachel Buck was 68th in 15:34.15 and Madison Moore was 76th in 15:45.72 to complete the Junior Lady Hornets’ top seven.
This Saturday, the Bryant’s junior teams will compete in the annual Walmart Junior High Championship at Cabot.
