Lady Hornets dominate 13-team field at home meet
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).
Photos courtesy of Jamie Hester and Marianne Shelton
The Bryant Lady Hornets won all three relays and three other individual events including two by Ploy Freebairn to capture top team honors at the 13-team swimming and diving meet at the Bishop Park Aquatic Center on Thursday.
Libby Thompson
Bryant finished with 465 points with El Dorado finishing a distant second with 223. The meet included teams from as far away as Fort Smith Southside, Van Buren and Alma as well. Hot Springs Lakeside was third (189), Benton fourth (149) and Arkadelphia fifth (141).
Freebairn won the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:30.20 and the 500 freestyle in 5:53.34. In addition, Lindsey Butler continued her dominance in the backstroke, winning in 1:01.74 with teammate Katie Higgs the closest finisher behind her with a time of 1;09.16.
That trio also helped supply the team with wins in two of the three relays. In the 200 medley relay, they were joined by Libby Thompson on a 2:02.19 clocking. In the 200 free, Jacey Bittle supplied the second leg on a 1:51.53 finish.
Rachel Vos
The Lady Hornets finished the meet in style when Bittle, Rachel Vos, Reagan Smith and Kalee Jackson won the 400 free relay in 4:29.17.
Bittle was also second in the 100 breast stroke, finishing in 1:21.29. Thompson was third in 1:22.90 with Jamie Hammers (10th, 1:29.72) and Tiffany Robinson (15th, 1:37.12) picking up points as well.
Kaitlin Howey contributed second-place points in the one-meter dive with a rating of 70.35.
Third-place points came from Butler in the 100 free (57.31) and Higgs in the 100 butterfly (1:09.21).
Butler was joined in the scoring on the 100 free by Jackson (eighth, 1:03.32), Bittle (10th, 1:04.95) and Smith (15th, 1:07.82). Higgs was followed with scoring efforts in the 100 butterfly by Julianna Shelton (sixth in 1:23.01), Robinson (seventh, 1:24.07) and Deidra Reeves (ninth, 2:20.28).
Deidra Reeves
Vos added fourth-place finishes in two events. She turned in a 2:19.12 in the 200 free and a 6:10.06 in the 500 free. In the former, Jackson was fifth n 2:19.95 with Devin Hester eighth in 2:34.50 and Mikayla Jackson 11th in 2:55.36. In the latter, Hester was seventh (7:00.16) and Jordan Tarvin eighth (7:35.05).
Along with Freebairn in the 200 IM, Tarvin took eighth in 3:08.98. Joining Butler in the backstroke were Paris Works (eighth, 1:40.87) and Reeves (10th, 1:47.70) with scoring efforts.
Thompson added 10th place points in the 50 free, finishing in 29.50, with Smith 13th in 29.69.
The Lady Hornets are scheduled to return to competition at Henderson State University on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
Jordan Tarvin
Ploy Freebairn
Reagan Smith and Katie Higgs
