Lady Hornets overwhelm competition on the way to District title
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Photos courtesy of Angela Rhode
Libby Thompson (Photo courtesy of Angela Rhode)
Jessica Butler won two events and contributed to two more as the Bryant Lady Hornets dominated the 2016 South District Championship swimming and diving meet at Bishop Park’s Aquatic Center on Friday.
The Lady Hornets amassed 555 points to swamp a field of nine teams. Magnolia was second with 284, Benton third with 238.
Bryant won nine of the 12 events including all three relays, had four swimmers score in seven of the nine individual events and three score in another.
Katie Higgs, Libby Thompson, Taylor Wilson and Paris Works each had individual first-place finishes.
Erin Vaughn (Photo courtesy of Angela Rhode)
Butler won the 50-yard freestyle in 26.28 and the 100 free in 57.46. Both were events in which Bryant had four scoring finishes. In the 50, Thompson was fourth in 27.73 with Lara Kockaya fifth in 28.12 and Erica Legate 15th in 32.96. In the 100, Reagan Smith was seventh in 1:07.08, Taylor Vaught 10th in 1:14.78 and Lauren Nalley 13th in 1:17.52.
Higgs won the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:09.63 with Kockaya fifth in 1:15.29, Ellie Hooten eighth (1:25.46) and Legate 10th (1:35.13).
Thompson’s win came in the 100 breast stroke, clocking in at 1:18.66. Kassy Huey was seventh in 1:33.60 with Works eighth (1:35.23) and Elizabeth Milam 11th (1:41.07).
Katie Higgs (Photo courtesy of Angela Rhode)
Wilson won the 500 free, turning in a 6:00.32. Jamie Hammers was fifth in 7:07.70 and Milam was seventh in 8:23.82.
Works won the one-meter dive competition with a score of 210.75.
“Paris managed to do both reverse dives in warm-up right before the meet,” mentioned Bryant coach Angel Dale. “She made State by completing all 11 dives. She rose to the occasion for the District meet.”
In the relays, Higgs, Thompson and Wilson combined on a 2:02.81 to win the 200 medley relay. In the 200 free, Higgs, Thompson, Kockaya and Butler won in 1:50.60. It was Smith, Erin Vaughn, Kockaya and Wilson in the 400 free relay. Their winning time was 4:24.15.
Wilson added a second-place finish in the 200 free with a time of 2:18.54 and Higgs was second in the 100 butterfly in 1:11.63. Both were beaten out by Benton’s Lydia Huthmaker who won the 200 free in 2:05.45 and the 100 butterfly in 1:02.32.
But Bryant had three others score in each event. In the 200 free, it was Hooten (5th, 2:43.84), Nalley (7th, 2:53.13) and Huey (8th, 3:05.23). In the butterfly, it was Erin Vaughn (3rd, 1:13.82), Hammers (4th, 1:23.21) and Hailey Addison (5th, 1:24.24).
Bryant also had four finish in the scoring in the 200 individual medley led by Erin Vaughn’s third-place time of 2:47.47 followed in succession by Addison (4th, 2:52.48), Smith (5th, 2:57.65) and Taylor Vaughn (6th, 3:15.12).
The season will conclude for Bryant at the State meet. Diving will be held on Feb. 26 and swimming on Feb. 27.
