OUTSTANDING PLAYER: BOYS SWIMMING........
WHY HE WON:
Breaking records that have stood for decades and being the No. 1 swimmer in the state of Arkansas, Bentonville High School senior Hayden Harlow has earned himself the title of the inaugural 2017 All-Arkansas Preps Player of the Year in Boys Swimming. At Bentonville, Harlow broke the state record in the 200-meter individual medley with 1 minute, 50.44 seconds, the 200-meter medley relay with 1:34.19, the 200-meter freestyle relay with 1:27.00 and the 400-meter freestyle relay with 3:08.24. This year, he helped the team to its 13th consecutive state championship. He is a National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association High School All-American in the 200-meter individual medley — his second year to receive this recognition — the 100-meter breaststroke, the 200-meter medley relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay. Along with these achievements, Harlow has been a part of 14 state titles during his time at Bentonville, including six individual titles and eight relay titles. He finished his past two seasons undefeated in every race of every meet. Harlow is ranked as the No. 1 high school swimmer in the state and 174th in the nation. He has also been recognized as Swimmer of the Year by Arkansas Swimming for seven seasons. Harlow said his favorite event is the individual medley because he gets to use all of his strokes in one race. His father, Scot, said Hayden has always put in the hard work to set the records he has during his time swimming. “I’ve watched him spend endless hours practicing at 5:30 in the morning and then again at 4 in the afternoon,” Scot said. “I’ve watched him put in the extra time on his own to work out during holidays or school breaks. He is self-driven and dedicated. He works harder than anyone I know, and I’m incredibly proud of him.” Hayden added that he strives to be the best swimmer he can be every time he steps onto the platform, and that some of the record-breaking times even came as a surprise to him. “I think the most exciting part of this year’s season was not only breaking the relay records at state, but shattering them,” Hayden said. Hayden’s swimming career hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Just before moving to Arkansas in 2011, when he was 12 years old, his family discovered Hayden had a heart condition called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, or PSVT. Scot said this caused Hayden’s heart to essentially short-circuit when he worked out hard, and it would stay at a high rate until corrected. During Hayden’s freshman year, his parents took him to Mott Children’s Hospital at Michigan University to have doctors perform an ablation to correct the condition permanently. After the three-hour operation, Hayden had his issue corrected and has not experienced the problem again. Hayden has decided to continue his swimming career at Penn State University. Hayden plans to study communications/media studies at Penn State with the goal of working in media management at the corporate level.
People underestimate swimming in this state. There is some outstanding talent throughout high school swimming in Arkansas, so it means a lot to me to have been selected for this award.”