Bentonville sweeps 6A state swim and dive meet
BENTONVILLE — The trophy room at Bentonville High School has two additions coming.
The Bentonville girls won their sixth consecutive Class 6A state title Saturday in the state swim and dive championships at the Bentonville Community Center. It is the 24th state championship for the Lady Tigers, who totaled 482 points. Bentonville West finished second with 349 points and Little Rock Central was third with 247 points.
On the boys side, Bentonville dominated the competition to win its second consecutive state title and 20th overall. The Tigers totaled 557 points, well ahead of second-place Little Rock Central with 319 points and Bentonville West with 235.5 points. The Tigers capped the day by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:13.49) over Bentonville West (3:22.51) and Little Rock Central (3:26.89).
Bentonville Coach Liz Taylor then celebrated the sweep by jumping into the pool, which has become a tradition at Bentonville after winning state titles.
“It’s an exciting time for our team, for sure,” Taylor said. “We have a young team and, when you have a young team, you don’t really know what to expect when you get to championship season. It’s all new to them, but our leaders led the way.”
Little Rock Central made a strong showing by taking a small team to Bentonville and finishing second in the boys and third in the girls competition.
“I could not be more proud of them” said Joseph Potts, who coaches the Central teams along with Barbara McDonald. “We only had 19 swimmers combined. So, to take second place in the boys and third in the girls is one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had.”
The Bentonville girls claimed the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle with Susie Lee (1:51.38) in first place and Emma On-The-Hill (1:54.07) taking second. OnThe-Hill won the 500-yard freestyle (5:02.86).
Springdale’s Sophia McAfee turned in an impressive performance as a freshman when she finished second (59.06) in the 100-yard butterfly and third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.31). Addison Wicklund of Rogers won the butterfly event (56.28) while Jenna Gogel of Bentonville West took first (1:05.86) in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Even halfway through the event, the Bentonville boys were on a title path with a 159-point lead over Central.
Bentonville West got off to a fast Saturday morning when Valeria Hernandez won the girls one-meter dive and Charlie Miller took the boys, resulting in 20 points apiece for their teams.
Bentonville West continued its momentum early Saturday afternoon when the girls 200-yard medley relay team finished first in a time of 1:45.40. But Bentonville’s skill and depth began to take over and the Tigers ended a long day with another celebration after sweeping the boys and girls state championships for the second consecutive year.