Austin, Herrera lead Bryant to third at league meet

Photos courtesy of Cynthia Austin

Bresner Austin and Chris Herrera earned all-conference honors by finishing among the top 10 at the 2020 6A-Central Conference cross country meet at Bishop Park in Tuesday.

Austin, the senior leader of the Bryant Hornets’ team turned in a 16:44.65 clocking to finish fourth overall. Herrera, a junior, ran a 16:55.82 to finish sixth.

The Hornets finished with 62 points as a team, finishing third behind Cabot (42) and Conway (54). Conway was led by individual medalist John Sutton (15:53.04).

“I’m really proud of the way Bresner Austin and Chris Herrera ran today,” said Hornets coach Steve Oury. “They really did a great job. 

“The boys are disappointed because they feel that we could have done better, but we did the best we could on this day,” he added. “Conway was the favorite coming in, but they were without one of their top four runners. Cabot ran a great team race to take the title. They had remarkable depth.”

Sophomore Brady Bingaman was Bryant’s third finisher. His time of 17:46.56 was good for 14^th. Senior Luis Martinez was 18^th in 17:57.83 and freshman Payton Brack completed the Hornets’ scoring quintet. His time of 18:03.91 was good for 20^th.

Junior Jaxon Holt (21^st, 18:04.55 and senior Ammon Henderson (23^rd, 18:21.24) were in the Hornets’ top seven.

“We had some young guys who struggled a little, but this was a great experience for them, and they will be back next year to try to bring a title back to Bryant,” Oury mentioned. “In the meantime, we will start preparing for the State meet, which is on Friday, Nov. 6, at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.”