Bryant cross country runs at Chile Pepper
Martin Couch Sports editor

LEADING RUNNER HOLLY HIGGS PHOTO Bryant's senior runner Ben Higgs was one of the leaders for the Hornets in the annual Chile Pepper Invitational race in Fayetteville on Saturday.

LADY HORNETS

In a field of 288 runners and 51 teams the Bryant Lady Hornets finished as the 20th place team at the Chile Pepper Invitational Meet in Fayetteville.

Sara Coker led Bryant finishing 85th in 21:27. Lennon Bates was second for the Lady Hornets at 113th in 21:55. Brittany Hairston, running her first race in three weeks coming back from injury finished 140th place in 22:22. Sam Wirzfeld (156th, 22:41) and Nicole Darland (166th, 22:55) finished out Bryant's scorers. Other Lady Hornet finishers were M'Kenna Moore (193rd, 23:31), Lola Fleming (208th, 23:54), and Mikayla Speake (236th, 24:37.

In the senior girls open division, Karlee Porter was 60th place in 22:52, Courtney Hodge (156th, 25:14), Jesscia Shepard (171st, 25:47) and Sarah Brooks (213th, 27:39).

"I thought our senior girls were lacking intensity today," said Bryant head coach Danny Westbrook. "It's a big race and it can be a little intimidating, but we just did not run well. Cabot and Russellville who are both in our conference beat us today. We host our conference meet at Longhills in two weeks, and we are going to have get ourselves focused and healthy if we plan on defending our conference title."

RUNNING IN FAYETTEVILLE HOLLY HIGGS PHOTO The Bryant senior boys ran against 44 teams in the high school division. The Open Division consisted of 508 runners and 70 teams represented.

In the junior girls race, the Lady Hornets ran in a field of 32 teams and 243 runners and finished as the 12th place team. Freshman Dylan Vail led the team with her 16th place finish in a time of 22:23. Stacie Waite was 51st in 23:43. Stephanie Cyz (81st, 24:37) and Callie Smith (82nd, 24:38) packed close together. Lauren Reed finished out the scoring five at 87th place in 24:44.

Other Bryant junior girl finishers were Natalie Graham (97th, 25:12), Kari Henderson (98th, 25:12), Bailey Freyaldenhoven (99th, 25:13), Kaytlyn Stracener (101st, 25:22) and Mary Nance (106th, 25:35).

"Our junior girls had to step up in distance today and run 5K (3.1 miles) rather than the usual 2 mile," Westbrook said. "I thought they responded to the extra distance very well."

HORNETS

The Bryant Hornets and junior Hornets competed Saturday in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival at the University of Arkansas' Agri Park cross country course, with several notable performances.

The Hornets placed 18th in both the boys invitational (limited to each teams top 8 runners) and boys open (unlimited entries) divisions.

The invitational division field consisted of 348 runners, 44 complete teams with a total of 60 teams represented. The open division featured 508 runners, 46 complete teams with a total of 70 teams represented.

Todd McAdoo led the way for the Hornets in the invitational division with an 81st place finish in a time of 17:20. Joey Fuoco (91st in 17:27), Ben Higgs (103rd in 17:43), Cody Fiser (134th in 18:06), and Josh Harrison (147th in 18:15) rounded out the Hornets scoring five. Other Bryant finishers were Preston Adami (165th in 18:27), Jacob Clark (182nd in 18:41), and Nick Pultro (18:55).

In the open division Daniel Hall paced the Hornets with a 50th place finish in 18:24. Other Hornets finishers were Jona- than Chapman (105th in 19:19), Devon Norris (108th in 19:26), Colton Klaus (158th in 20:10), Jeremey Cox (164th in 20:13), Logan Howard (175th in 20:25), Levi Lindsley (189th in 20:51), and Daniel Tucker (21:14).

"We ran a decent race today," said Bryant head coach Steve Oury. "I was very pleased with our top three. I would have liked to have seen our fourth and fifth runners a little closer to our third runner. Josh Harrison hurt his leg, which may have cost him a few places, but overall it was a solid, but not spectacular race for us. Ben Higgs broke through and ran a very nice race, and I thought Todd McAdoo and Joey Fuoco also ran well. We have to keep working hard to peak at conference in two weeks and then state the week after."

The junior high race featured 366 runners, 25 complete teams and a total of 43 teams represented.

The junior Hornets, led by an outstanding 12th place finish by Ashton Arnoldy, placed 5th. Arnoldy's time over the 5k course was 18:35. Other Hornet finishers included Luke Lindsley (16th in 19:18), Jacob Goff (26th in 19:48), Lucas Castleberry (33rd in 19:58), Michael Smith (40th in 20:11), Ben Ackley (58th in 20:38), and Kevin Nalley (60th in 20:38).

"The junior high team did a great job," Oury said. "It's always interesting to see how they will handle the longer distance, and I thought they did very well. Ashton just continues to run great, and Luke Lindsley wasn't too far behind him. The junior high race was held in conjuntion with the open high school race, so there were over 850 total finishers in that race, which made it very difficult to find running room.

"Hopefully the junior boys will continue to progress and finish the year off well at Conway next week and then at the season ending Cabot meet."