Hornets finish fourth in 20-team meet at Conway

Photos courtesy of Jamie Hester and Julia Combs

Scott Mead (Photo courtesy of Julia Combs)

CONWAY — In a field of 20 teams that 7A schools Bentonville, Fayetteville, Springdale Har-Ber, Rogers Heritage, Little Rock Central, Rogers, North Little Rock and Springdale, the Bryant Hornets turned in a fourth-place performance with 172 points on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Hendrix College.

Scheduled to be the 57^th Hendrix Invitational, new coaches at the college decided not to carry on the tradition but Conway High School rented the school’s pool and hosted the first Conway Invitational.

Bentonville took top honors with 429 points far out-distancing second-place Fayetteville (251) and third-place Conway (244). Bryant edged out Har-Ber (169) for fourth.

The Hornets’ effort was highlighted by two first-place finishes for Minki Kang. In the 200 yard freestyle, he won in 1:51.23. In the 500 free, he touched in 4:52.12 for the victory.

He also added a leg to the eighth-place performance of the 400 free relay, joining Andrew Ball, Fonzee Bittle and Ray Weldon on a 4:03.32 clocking.

Three divers contributed to Bryant’s total. Justin Combs was fourth (183.80), Scott Mead sixth (149.40) and Lucas Reitenger ninth (125.00) in the one-meter dive.

Weldon, Trace Rhode and Chandler Reep each scored in three events for Bryant. Weldon and Reep joined Jim Dellorto and Ball in a 1:52.73 in the 200 medley relay, finishing in 1:52.73. Reep and Rhode along with Dellorto and Fonzee Bittle finished 14^th in the 200 free relay, combining on a 1:48.00.

Individually, Weldon earned sixth-place points in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:03.81. He was seventh in the 200 individual medley, clocking in at 2:18.00. Rhode was 11^th in 2:27.66.

Dru Wen (Photo courtesy of Jamie Hester)

Reep’s 1:10.00 was good for ninth in the 100 breast stroke while Rhode’s 1:05.60 garnered 16^th place points in the 100 butterfly.

Bryant is set to host a final regular-season home meet on Tuesday, Jan. 28. After a meet at UALR on Saturday, Feb. 1, the Hornets will host the South District meet on Feb. 14.