The senior is six races into his senior season and reasonably confident about his team’s odds to take a bite out of 6A’s best next month at state.

On Wednesday, Bryant outpaced runner-up Daxton Coombs of West Field and Beau Jenkins of Fremont two-thirds through the regimagined City-County course at the Weber County Fairgrounds en route to a first-place individual title and a subsequent team victory.

As a junior, Bryant battled through a literal railroad spike to finish the race with a bloodied knee and a first-place finish. This time around, Bryant entered the field both as a favorite and with the number of a chiropractor in his back pocket — metaphorically speaking, of course.

Managing back tightness and a disciplined posture are two elements that’ve changed his race for the better, Bryant told the Standard-Examiner on Wednesday. Bryant, who finished 44th at the 6A state championships last year, has finished top-10 or better in five of his six regular-season races this season, including wins at August’s Freber Invitational in Plain City and Wednesday’s victory at City-County.

Bryant plans to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after high school, but recently phoned over to Weber State.

“After Timpanogos and before Border Wars (meets), I’ve just been figuring out my body and understanding how to best take care of it so I feel ready for races,” Bryant said. “I’m doing my best, and I’m feeling good.”

Lower back pain and tightness affect adolescent runners as young as 13, according to the National Library of Medicine, and it’s a challenge Bryant is up to navigating as he chases big dreams in his final season running high school cross country.

“I just learned it starts to dip a little bit and tighten up in your lower back,” Bryant said. “I’ve just focused on starting races and making sure my posture’s good; I’m straight up and not leaning forward on my pelvis. That’s just allowed my legs to float back instead of using my quads to drive my knees forward. I’ve been able to put my body in a neutral position, and it feels good.”

“… That’s been a huge opener for me. I think that can help unlock my potential.”

Weber landed six runners inside the top 25 on Wednesday. Joining Bryant inside the top 10, fellow senior Coen Beus (7th, 16:44.68) and sophomore James Booth (10th, 16:55.67) bolstered the team victory over rival Fremont.

“Our team’s looking strong,” Bryant said. “We’re going to go for top five at state. We’ve got a strong team. I think we have a lot of guys who have the potential, and we just need to break that mental barrier, and we can go the distance and hit some incredible marks that we haven’t hit at Weber for a long time.”

Weber High last hung a boys cross-country state title banner in 1986. Next month’s state cross-country championships are slated for Oct. 27-28 at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City.

BOYS CITY-COUNTY INDIVIDUAL TOP 25

1. Erik Bryant, Weber, 15:49.54

2. Daxton Coombs, West Field, 15:56.70

3. Beau Jenkins, Fremont, 16:10.27

4. Duncan Judkins, Fremont, 16:21.01

5. Caleb Lewis, Morgan, 16:34.19

6. Daniel Ekstrom, Ogden, 16:34.23

7. Coen Beus, Weber, 16:44.68

8. Connor Newton, Fremont, 16:48.56

9. True Ferrier, Ben Lomond, 16:51.54

10. James Booth, Weber, 16:55.67

11. Boone Burton, Ogden, 16:57.83

12. Kaiden Adamson, Weber, 16:58.08

13. Josh Nielson, Ogden, 17:00.12

14. Noah Malan, Fremont, 17:10.60

15. Braxton Aschliman, West Field, 17:15.43

16. Maisen Johnson, Weber, 17:19.21

17. Tate Browning, Ogden, 17:21.04

18. Andrew Francis, Ogden, 17:25.23

19. Kael Jenkins, Fremont, 17:27.11

20. Ryker Nicholas, Ogden, 17:27.40

21. Alex McDaniel, Fremont, 17:31.14

22. Beckett Wilkinson, Weber, 17:35.72

23. Dallin Francis, Ogden, 17:43.32

24. Crew Syme, Fremont, 17:49.65

25. Sterling Wilde, Morgan, 17:59.74

Connect with Standard-Examiner sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net, X @ctbecker and Instagram @standardexaminersports.