Bryant High School hosted the annual Bryant Hornet Relays Tuesday, March 12. Races and other events started at 3:30 p.m. at Hornet Stadium and concluded at the scheduled time of 8:00 p.m. The meet ended with an overall win for Bryant, with both boys and girls track teams taking first place. The girls track team received an overall score of 149 points while the boys track team scored 201.50 points.
Each time the track team places in an event, they receive points which contribute to their overall score. Points are awarded to the first eight places, ten points are given to first place, eight points to second place and then six points to third after that points go five, four, three, two, one. Whichever team gets the most points wins the meet. For most meets, each school can only receive a score for two team members per event, however at conference meets the first four athletes per school score.
“That’s the goal: to have multiple people scoring in every event,” boys track Coach Steve Oury said.
The Bryant Hornet Relays are an event with a long history.
“[it’s been happening] longer than I’ve been here,” Oury said. “This is my 21st year and I know that the hornet relays were going on probably back into the seventies.”
This year, as always, the event contained 18 different track and field events. The previous day, Bryant hosted the Bryant Junior High track meet, making preparing for the Hornet Relays easier; however, Coach Oury still considers setting up the meet an all-day affair.
“All that set up will take several hours along with getting the equipment ready, the areas for field events, taking the sand pits, putting the lines out on the shot put discus area or getting ribbons ready in the press box,” Oury said. “ It’s a very time consuming thing.”
Bryant managed to come in first in several events. In the boys 400 Meter Dash, sophomore Jeremiah Fields came in first place with a time of 52.06 seconds. In the boys 800 Meter Run, junior Ian Cunningham took first place with a time of 2:03.92 minutes. For the 3200 Meter Run, junior Angel Vargas Maya scored first with a time of 9:58.60 minutes. In the relay events, Bryant boys track won the 4×100 race.
For the field events the Bryant boys track team snagged first place four times, with sophomore Landon Gaston placing first in high jump, junior Tristen Knox in long jump and senior Devin Steingisser in both discus and shot put.
The girls track team also achieved several wins that night that contributed to their overall win. Sophomore Dakota Mcnab achieved first place in the 300 meter hurdles event with a time of 48.56 seconds. The Bryant girls track team placed first in the 4×100 meter relay as well as the 4×400 meter relay.
So far the both Bryant track teams have a track record of having multiple scoring athletes per event, which is what led to Tuesday’s victory.
