Isabella Cothern
SENIOR / JONESBORO HIGH SCHOOL
17 OUTSTANDING PLAYER: GIRLS SWIMMING ......
>> WHY SHE WON
Jonesboro swimmer Isabella Cothern finished her senior year by breaking records, including her own. Her dominance in the pool this season has earned Cothern the title of All-Arkansas Preps Outstanding Player of the Year for Girls Swimming. This year, she won the Class 5A 50-yard freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle races and set a state record in the 50-yard freestyle with a 23.18. “The better the competition, the better she swam,” said James Locke, girls swimming coach at Jonesboro High School. Cothern said she’s always been a natural in the pool ever since she started swimming when she was 5 years old. She also said she’s been fortunate to have great coaches and support from family and friends. “We’re just tremendously proud of her,” said Leslie Cothern, Isabella’s mother. In school, Cothern said she enjoys studying English and science. She’s also the swim-team representative on the Student Council. Through the Student Council and the Crown Club Junior Auxiliary of Jonesboro, she also gets to mentor younger students. Cothern said she enjoys mentoring because she remembers how cool it was when she would get to interact with older kids. She is also an animal lover and spends time volunteering at the Northeast Arkansas Humane Society in Jonesboro. Next year, Cothern will swim at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She said she chose Arkansas because she was really impressed with the facilities and coach Neil Harper and that her oldest sibling, Caitlin Cothern, graduated from the school in 2019.
I’M JUST REALLY EXCITED and really grateful.” — Isabella Cothern, OUTSTANDING PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR GIRLS SWIMMING