Panthers swimmers compete at state meet in Russellville

Shimer repeats as Class 5A state champion in 500 freestyle; boys finish sixth overall; girls take ninth

The Siloam Springs swim teams competed in the Class 5A state meet at Russellville on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25.

BOYS

The SSHS boys finished with 188 points in sixth place overall, finishing behind state champion Batesville 319, Russellville 259, Lake Hamilton 238, Mountain Home 210 and Little Rock Christian 208. Greene County Tech was seventh at 163, followed by Maumelle 125, Hot Springs Lakeside 113, Sylvan Hills 102, El Dorado 80, Vilonia 45, Benton 42, Searcy 26, Van Buren 23 and Hot Springs 20.

Hayden Shimer won his second straight state championship in the 500yard freestyle with a time of 4 minutes, 57.31 seconds. Ben Wenger placed ninth in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:08.36.

Hayden Shimer placed second in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:50.06, while Jakin Matchell was ninth at 2:05.49 and Ben Wenger 10th at 2:06.47.

Gabe Fox was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle at 24.44.

Tony Wleklinski was eighth in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:07.39.

Matchell took 10th in the 100-yard freestyle at 55.86.

Wleklinski placed 11th in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:09.99

The 200-yard medley relay team of Shimer, D’Angelo Celis, Wleklinski and Fox placed seventh at 1:57.72.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Wenger, Wleklinski, Matchell and Fox finished fourth at 1:40.84.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Wenger, Matchell, Fox and Shimer took second place at 3:34.09.

GIRLS

The Siloam Springs girls scored 134 points and finished ninth overall.

Russellville won the state title with 333 points, followed by Hot Springs Lakeside 288, Little Rock Christian 248, Valley View 212, Mountain Home 201, Greene County Tech 179, Benton 147, Batesville 142, Siloam Springs 134, Searcy 123, El Dorado 60, Lake Hamilton 54, Vilonia 31, Alma 17 and Van Buren 2.

Addison Huebert finished fourth in the 100yard breaststroke at 1:18.84, while Anna Matchell was 13th at 1:29.56.

Emelyn Chavez placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:18.61.

Huebert placed seventh in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:18.40.

Chavez placed eighth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:15.30.

Luker finished 10th in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:53.10.

Luker also placed 14th in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:18.69.

Matchell placed 15th in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:16.31.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Luker, Huebert, Chavez and Matchell placed eighth at 2:16.59.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Chavez, Luker, Matchell and Huebert took sixth at 2:00.02.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Crystal Serrano, Autum Gonzales, Emily Corpeno and Abigail Green took ninth at 6:29.35.