Bryant High School swim team turns in landmark performance for program at El Dorado
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
EL DORADO — Friday, Nov. 6, was a big day for the Bryant High School swim program. At a meet in El Dorado, both the girls and boys squads won team titles with the defending conference championship teams competing.
The Lady Hornets defeated El Dorado for the first time in the history of the program.
“El Dorado’s girls have been conference champs every year since 2001,” noted Bryant coach Angel Dale. “And the boys beat Magnolia which won the conference last year.
“I am very proud of our team and what we have accomplished already in the first two meets this season,” she asserted.[more]
In addition to the team honors, Lady Hornets swimmers beat State qualifying times in four events and the Hornets in another.
Freshman Jinson Kang qualified in two individual events and contributed to a third as a member of the 400 freestyle relay team, joining Jordan Martin, Amanda Butler and Whitney Meyer. Senior Justin Tazelaar qualified in the 100 backstroke.
For the boys, junior Dylan Machycek qualified in the 100 backstroke.
In addition, all of those individual qualifying times set new pool records at HealthWorks Fitness Center. Kang accomplished that in the 50 free in a time of 26.61 and the 100 butterfly in 102.94. Tazelaar’s record time was 1:06.56 and Machycek’s was 1:04.82.
Martin set a pool record in the girls 500 free at 6:25.80 while Jordan Combs set a boys 500 free mark with a time of 5:58.80.
The Lady Hornets finished with 138 points to El Dorado’s 119. Magnolia was third with 86 followed by Arkansas Baptist (56) and Little Rock Lutheran (30).
The Hornets compiled a team score of 130 to Magnolia’s 117. El Dorado finished third at 103 followed by Arkansas Baptist at 49 and Lutheran with 3 points.
Along with her win in the 100 back, Tazelaar finished second in the 200 individual medley (2:30.40). Martin also added a second place finish to go with her win. She finished the 200 free in 2:20.61.
For the girls, senior Megan Matthew was third in the 200 IM (3:04.76) and fifth in the 100 back (1:25.29). Freshman Mollie Robinson was third in the 500 free (7:15.72) and fifth in the 200 free (2:43.48). Meyer, another freshman, added fourth-place finishes in both the 200 IM (3:06.38) and the 100 back (1:21.81).
Butler, also a freshman, contributed to the scoring with a sixth in the 100 free (1:10.66) and a seventh in the 50 free (30.34) while junior Skylar Combs finished seventh in the 100 breast stroke (1:42.62) and eighth in the 200 free (3:33.82). Sophomore Heather Hughes was 17th in the 50 free with a time of 48.12.
For the boys, Jordan Combs, a junior, added a fifth place finish in the 50 free (26.25) to go with his win in the 500 free. Also, Machycek was third in the 100 butterfly (1:06.11) to go with his victory in the 100 back.
Sophomore Andrew Dull contributed a second-place finish in the 200 IM (2:29.42) and a third in the 100 back (1:07.12). Sophomore Dylan Rogers was second in the 200 free (2:20.15) and fourth in the 100 fly (1:09.37).
In addition, Ronald Matt Evans, a junior, contributed a pair of fourth-place finishes. In the 200 free, he clocked in at 2:33.40 and, in the 500 free, he turned in a 7:09.86. Kyle Douglas was also fourth in the 100 free (59.94) in addition to finishing sixth in the 100 breast (1:19.19).
Freshman Hayden Stewart pitched in with a fifth-place finish in the 100 fly (1:14.92) and an eighth in the 50 free (27.18). Frosh Nick Hoffpauir’s 1:02.30 in the 100 free was also good for fifth place. His 1:29.23 earned an eighth-place finish in the 100 breast.
Sophomore Cory Campbell took sixth in the 200 free (3:13.90) and finished 10th in the 100 back (1:30.65). Casey Ball, another freshman, was seventh in both the 100 free (1:04.97) and the 100 back (1:20.52).
In the relays, the Lady Hornets’ qualifying time in the 400 was 4:25.17. The boys also won the 400 free with Dull, Hoffpauir, Douglas and Jordan Combs combining on a 4:15.44 clocking.
In the girls 200, the Lady Hornets quartet of Matthew, Butler, Martin and Tazelaar won with a time of 2:01.87. In the boys version, Bryant was third with Dull, Rogers, Stewart and Machycek combining on a 1:48.07.
In the 200 medley relay, El Dorado edged the Lady Hornets. Tazelaar, Matthew, Kang and Meyer combined on a 2:16.20. The Hornets were third in their version of the event as Machycek, Douglas, Rogers and Combs finished in 2:00.16.