By Rob Patrick
The Bryant High School swim team will host a meet for the first time at the[more] Bishop Park Acquatic Center this evening at 5. Competing at the meet will be teams from Benton, Little Rock Catholic, Mount St. Mary Academy, Lonoke, El Dorado, Hot Springs Lakeside, Magnolia, Carlisle, Arkadelphia, Arkansas Baptist and Camden Fairview.
“We’re so excited about hosting a meet at our pool,” stated Bryant head coach Angel Dale.
Among those returning for the team is junior Jinson Kang who won an individual medals at the State meet last year for her fourth-place finishes in the 200 individual medley and the 100 free style. She also contributed to pair of medal-winning relays. Along with Kang, Emily Dabbs and Jordan Martin return to the 200 free relay team that finished five at State. Kang, Dabbs and Amanda Butler formed three-fourths of the medal-winning 200 medley relay team.
Though the boys will be without top swimmer Dylan Machycek, who now swims at Henderson State University, they’ll return several members who scored at meets last season including Dylan Rogers, Casey Ball, Hayden Stewart and Ross Grant who all competed at State.
“All of our juniors and seniors will be key leaders in our success,” Dale said. “I always like to see who is going to step up and be a leader.
“Our freshman class has some hard workers that show a lot of potential,” she added.
The seniors on the team include Rogers and Jake Tipton for the boys with Martin, Alise Heavrin and Morganne Gillespie for the girls.
Along with Kang, Dabbs, Butler, Ball, Steward and Grant, the juniors include Catarena Falco, Mollie Robinson, Nick Hoffpauir and Austin Sanchez.
Sophomores on the team are Courtney Bulthuis, Shelby Burchfield, Mikayla Douglas, Kaitlin Howey, Deidra Reeves, Taylor Rhea, Courtney Wells, Lauren Wood, Scott Mead and Spencer Qualls.
The freshman group is made up of Lindsey Butler, Devin Hester, Tiffany Robinson, Jordan Tarvin, Sarah White, Andrew Ball, Justin Combs, Jim Dellorto, Ryan West and Lucas Reitenger.
To view the 2011-12 swimming and diving schedule for Bryant, go here.
