CONWAY — Sophomore Caleb Thomas became the first diver competing for the Bryant High School swim team to earn a bid to the State championship meet with his performance at the 47th Hendrix High School Invitational held Saturday, Jan. 23, at Hendrix College.
There were 24 girls teams and 21 boys teams that competed at the huge meet. Bryant finished 9th in the combined standings with the Lady Hornets seventh among the girls and the Hornets 12th among the boys teams.[more]
“I felt that we swam well,” stated Bryant coach Angel Dale. “We were missing a few people this meet. We have had some injuries that we are trying to get well before the Conference meet.”
That event will be Tuesday, Feb. 16, at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia. The State dive meet is Feb. 26 in Fayetteville with the State swim meet the next day.
Conway won the girls competition with 364.5 points, edging out Fayetteville (312.5). Mount St. Mary’s (175) was third, Pulaski Academy (149) fourth and Arkansas Baptist fifth (142). Lake Hamilton, with 127 points, edged Bryant with 117 for sixth.
Little Rock Catholic won the boys competition with 335 points to Conway’s 310. Memphis University High School was a close third (303) followed by Fayetteville (195) and Mountain Home (124). Bryant finished with 81 points.
Thomas was second in the one-meter dive, earning a score of 143.60 to earn his trip to State.
Dylan Machycek grabbed the next highest finish for the Hornets by finishing fifth in the 100 yard backstroke in a time of 1:03.33. Kyle Douglass earned individual points for the team in two events. His 1.12.74 clocking in the 100 breast stroke was good for 10th and his 56.53 in the 100 free garnered a 12th place finish.
Jordan Combs was 13th in the 500 free with a time of 5:59.21 and Andrew Dull was 15th in the 100 back (1:08.11) to add to the Bryant point total.
In the relays, Douglas, Machycek, Dull and Combs combined on a time of 4:00.42 to take 10th in the 400 free. In the 200 medley, Machycek, Douglas, Dylan Rogers and Combs finished 11th in 1:57.42. In addition, the quartet of Ross Grant, Blake Heil, Brent Heil and Rogers clocked in at 1:49.48 to finish 14th in the 200 free.
The girls were paced by Jinson Kang’s 32-point performance. Kang was second in the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:05.86. She finished fourth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:22.33.
Katelyn Prewitt contributed 14 points to the team total with a fifth-place finish in the one-meter dive with a score of 91.35. And both Jordan Martin and Whitney Meyer contributed points in two events each. Martin was 11th in the 200 free (2:25.37) and 12th in the 500 free (6:32.98). Meyer finished 13th in the 100 butterfly (1:22.44) and 15th in the 200 free (2:38.74).
In the relays, Martin, Megan Matthew, Amanda Butler and Kang combined on a 4:41.41 clocking to place sixth in the 400 free. Meyer, Martin, Kang and Butler teamed up for a 2:17.55 in the 200 medley, placing eighth; and, in the 200 free, Alyx Ramsey, Matthew, Mollie Robinson and Meyer placed 14th with a time of 2:13.54.
dg
good job..