Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bentonville sweeps 6A-West swimming meet
FAYETTEVILLE — Finishing third in the state last year hasn’t set well with Bentonville High, which took another step Saturday toward restoring its dominance.
Bentonville swept both the boys and girls division of the 6A-West District swimming and diving championships at the HYPER building at the University of Arkansas campus. Bentonville won the boys division with 567 points and the girls division with 538 points. Fayetteville finished second in both divisions.
The next step for Bentonville is the Class 6A state meet at the Bentonville Community Center from Feb. 2223. Bentonville had won 13 consecutive state championships until last season, when the Tigers finished third behind Little Rock Central and Conway.
“We lost our edge and started getting complacent last year,” Bentonville coach Nick Nersesian said. “So, we had to go back to work, and we did. Mark Gole came in and worked with our swimmers with our training and gave fresh light to what we were doing. The kids are buying into the system, and it’s
paying dividends right now.”
Bentonville had several first-place winners, and the Tigers finished with a flurry by winning the 400-yard freestyle (3:22.41) over second-place Bentonville West (3:35.76).
Zane Sutton was among the standouts for the Tigers on Saturday. He won 100-yard freestyle (48.05.) ahead of his teammate, Brigham Hill, who finished second (51.00)
“It’s great to win an event I’ve been training for the whole season,” Sutton said. “Especially being a senior, this is my year to show out because I’ve got nothing left to lose. I didn’t swim the 100-free last year at state. So, I’m looking forward to winning that in two weeks.”
Fayetteville, the defending state champions in the girls’ division, finished second behind Bentonville. The Lady Bulldogs were led by Audrey McKinnon who continued her dominance by winning the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.41).
McKinnon, who’ll swim next season for the University of Houston, said she was particularly motivated to swim Saturday at the University of Arkansas swimming and diving pool.
“It was a great opportunity to swim here,” McKinnon said. “It’s the best water in the state, in my opinion, and it was so much fun competing here with a lot of my friends.”
Saturday was a good day for Kexin Meng, a senior who won the 100-yard freestyle (55.51) and the 50-yard freestyle (25.07) and swam a leg on the winning 200-yard medley relay team for Fayetteville. She was especially pleased with her performance because she’s involved in plenty of activities besides swimming.
“I’m a senior, and I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to swimming as in the past,” Meng said. “I take six AP classes, and I’m with the FHS orchestra, where I can have nine-hours of rehearsals every day. But this is the closest I’ve been to my best time (54.75 in the 100), so I’m very pleased.”
Bentonville also swept the boys and girls diving competition on Friday, again over second-place Fayetteville. Addison Trunick of Springdale (367.05) won first place in the girls’ division while Jason Huckaby of Bentonville (341.05) took first place in the boys’ division.