BENTONVILLE -- As his team pushed him into the pool after Bentonville High won the Class 6A state swim title, coach Nick Nersesian knew the celebration was long overdue.
"One of the freshmen wanted to do it at conference, but I told her, 'I'm sorry we have a tradition here. We don't throw coaches in at conference championships. We throw them in at state," Nersesian said.
NOTE: Complete agate results from the state swim meets will be published in the Monday edition of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The Tigers reclaimed the state title Saturday after they had a four-year run come to an end when Fayetteville broke the streak in 2018 to win its first state title in 16 years. The team scored 388 points to win by a 60-point margin over second place Central.
"Finishing third last year gave us a new perspective," Nersesian said. "We kind of lost our way. We got a little complacent in the things that we do. We went back and looked at a few things."
Two swimmers who know Bentonville's swimming tradition and were major contributors to the team's turnaround were Madeline Marks and Lainey Quandt. The duo were parts of the Tigers' 200 freestyle relay that finished second in the meet.
"Madeline has an attitude all of her own. Her and Lainey Quandt are two seniors who are going to go out as championship kids," Nersesian said. "That's what you need. You need those kids to bring up the younger kids. That's the tradition we have at Bentonville High School."
Marks, an Ohio University commit, finished first in the 200 and 500 freestyle, and Quandt, an Arkansas commit for track, took second in the 100 butterfly to help Bentonville to the win.
Little Rock Central's boys second-straight state title embodied what it means to win as a team as the Tigers did not finish first in a single event but placed in the top three of 10 events. Central took the title by a 437-402 margin over Conway to repeat as champs.
"Second year in a row where we are truly a team where everybody makes a difference," Central coach Mary Heye said. "We didn't win a single individual event and yet scored this many points."
Central's Carson Traylor and Vincent Jaworksi were two of the team's main point earners. Jaworski finished second in the 200 and 500 freestyle, an event the Tigers took four of the top five spots in, and was part of the Tigers' 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays that finished second.
Traylor was also a part of that 200 medley and the team's 200 freestyle relay. He also placed second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 100 butterfly.
Bentonville's Ryan Husband broke the 200 freestyle state record with a time of 1:39.03, which beat the previous record that had been in place for a decade by Ellis Miller of Siloam Springs. Husband also picked up a win in the 100 butterfly for the Tigers.
He and Zane Sutton, who took first in the 100 freestyle and backstroke, were the lone individual winners on a difficult day for the Tigers, which missed out on the state title for the second straight year. Bentonville had won a record 12 straight titles before Central took the crown in 2018.
During the Class 4A-1A earlier in the day, Magnolia's boys scored 246.5 points, edging out Batesville and its 234 points, to take home the state title. Clarksville's girls won the title with a score of 265 points, beating out Magnolia by 19 points.
Magnolia did not win a single event, but the Panthers scored in 11 of 12 contests to win its first title since 2016. Bailey McCook finished second in 100 freestyle and breaststroke for the team's highest placer.
Clarksville was led by a trio of swimmers in Chloe Weathers, Hannah Melton and Rosemond Wade who were instrumental in helping the Panthers to the state title. The three were a part of Clarksville's relay teams that won the 200 medley and freestyle events. Melton also took first in the 100 freestyle while Weathers and Wade finished in the top three of three events combined.
Hayley Pike of Haas Hall-Bentonville set a state record in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4 minutes and 51.51 seconds, breaking her own previous record of 4:52.42 she set in 2018.
Pike's record-setting win was just one of three events the junior dominated on her way to helping Haas Hall to a top-four finish. The Purdue commit also won the 200 freestyle and was a part of Haas Hall's relay teams that took first in the 400 freestyle and second in the 200 freestyle.
Sports on 02/24/2019