BHS swimmers dive into first home meet

The Bryant High School swimming and diving team opened the 2015-16 season with a home meet featuring 16 other girls teams and 13 other boys teams. The Lady Hornets, behind a pair of second-place relay efforts, finished third with 313 points, while the Hornets, with second-place efforts from Kyle Henry in the 500 yard freestyle and the 200 freestyle relay team, accumulated 296 points to finish fourth.

Conway took the team titles in both divisions. The girls had 361 points with Cabot second with 334. The boys totaled 360 points with Cabot second at 337 and Magnolia third with 320.

“We have only had about two weeks of practice,” noted Bryant coach Angel Dale. “I saw some good things tonight, however, I also saw room for improvement.”

The Lady Hornets’ 200-medley relay team of Katie Higgs, Libby Thompson, Jessica Butler and Taylor Wilson turned in a second-place performance with a time of 2:01.15. Cabot’s 1:58.81 was the only time better.

In the 400 freestyle relay, Lara Kockaya, Reagan Smith, Hailey Addison and Ellie Hooten clocked in at 4:34.52 to finish second only to Conway (4:26.82).

Higgs, Thompson, Wilson and Butler also teamed up on the 200 free relay, turning in a 1:51.17 to take third.

Individually, Higgs was third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.33 and Paris Works took third in the one-meter dive with a rating of 69.40.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Thompson finished fourth in 27.92. Kockaya finished ninth in 28.79 followed by Smith (13^th, 29.69) and Addison (15^th, 31.78).

Butler added fifth-place points in the 100 free and was seventh in the 200 individual medley. Her time in the 100 free was 59.64 with Smith 11^th in 1:09.75 and Taylor Vaughn 15^th in 1:14.46.

Butler turned in a 2:30.90 clocking in the 200 IM with Higgs ninth (2:38.27), Wilson 10^th (2:41.20) and Erin Vaughn 14^th (3:02.54).

The Lady Hornets picked up points from four swimmers in the 500 free and the 100 butterfly, respectively.

In the former, Wilson led the way, finishing sixth in 6:30.41. Helen Woodham was eighth in 6:58.59 followed by Jamie Hammers (10^th, 7:16.46) and Elizabeth Milam (13^th, 8:03.78).

In the latter, Erin Vaughn led the Bryant contingent with a time of 1:20.85, good for eighth. Hammers was ninth in 1:25.63 and Hooten 10^th in 1:25.91. Lauren Nalley also got in on the scoring finishing 15^th in 1:48.22.

In the 100-yard breast stroke, Thompson’s 1:19.50 was good for sixth. Kockaya was eighth in 1:23.05 with Addison 16^th in 1:31.84. Woodham took 10^th in the 200 free, clocking in at 2:34.56. Nalley was 17^th in 2:49.16.

For the boys, Henry’s 5:33.02 was second only to Cabot’s Jordan Woodson (5:26.07) in the 500 free. Trace Rhode was third for the Hornets with a time of 5:41.89 followed by Jacob Rhode in fifth at 6:10.31 and Zachary Milam ninth in 7:55.99.

In the 200 free relay, Chandler Reep, Fonzee Bittle and Michael Higgs combined with Henry on a 1:37.79, which was barely short of Magnolia’s winning time of 1:37.40.

The Hornets were third in four other events. In the one-meter dive, Caivon Crosby accounted for one of those, earning a rating of 150. Jared McGraw finished fifth at 117.75.

In the 100 butterfly, Michael Higgs was third in 56.44 with Reep sixth (1:03.31) and Bittle 10^th (1:07.22).

Reep had an individual third-place finish in the 100-yard breast stroke, turning in a 1:07.29 clocking. Tristan Hoerschelmann was 11^th in 1:21.01.

Hoerschelmann was also part of the 400 freestyle relay team that earned a third-place finish. He joined Trace Rhode, Jacob Rhode and Henry on a 3:54.44.

Rhode, Reep, Higgs and Bittle combined on a 1:49.61 to take fourth in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:49.61. In the 200 individual medley, Higgs was fourth in 2:11.37 and Bittle was eighth in 2:27.21.

Rhode picked up individual points in the 200 free, taking eighth in 2:16.90. Zachary Milam was 12^th in 2:43.57.

In the 100 free, Trevor Ball was 10^th in 1:05.07 followed by Dylan Althen (14^th, 1:06.26) and Alex Ball (15^th, 1:08.14). Trevor Ball and Althen picked up points in the 100 backstroke as well. Ball was 13^th in 1:22.52 and Althen was 14^th in 1:24.73.

Bryant returns to competition on Thursday, Nov. 19, at a meet hosted by Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.