SPRINGDALE — The 200-yard freestyle is nothing new to Jared Crosby, but he hadn’t competed in that race during his first high school meet.
The Bentonville freshman had to swim in the event’s opening heat, but that didn’t matter to him. Crosby finished the event in 1 minute, 52.27 seconds and claimed a victory Wednesday during the Northwest Conference Swim Meet in The Jones Center.
“I think you just try to envision somebody ahead of you,” Crosby said of his strategy. “You just want to push yourself to beat that person. You want to keep pushing yourself, no matter what.”
Teammate Jason Hunt was more than two seconds back and provided Bentonville with a one-two finish — the first of four the Tigers enjoyed in the meet. Bentonville won nine of the 11 events and claimed the team title in convincing fashion.
Bentonville’s 538 points was more than the next two teams combined. Meanwhile, Fayetteville beat Fort Smith Southside for second place by a slim 257-256 margin.
“We had several kids that stepped it up again,” Bentonville assistant coach Nick Nersesian said. “That’s part of our profits at Bentonville. We work our kids hard, and we work through a lot of things.
“When you compete and win the district championship, it says a lot about your program. We’ve done it now for several years. We now have drive to go on to state, and we realize what we are up against when we get to state.”
Crosby and his older brother, Gage, helped Bentonville win two relay events. Gage Crosby, the senior and Arizona signee, was a double winner by taking the 100 butterfly (54.66) and the 100 breaststroke (1:01.01), as was Siloam Springs senior Alex Holyfield in the 50 freestyle (22.0) and 100 freestyle (48.3)
Bentonville girls also won their team title but by a closer margin. The Lady Tigers had seven first-place finishes and finished with 489 points, while Springdale High enjoyed its first runnerup finish with 323 to 294.5 for third-place Fayetteville.
Sophomore Eun Sol Chon led Bentonville with victories in the 200 freestyle (2:03.17) and 100 freestyle (56.65). She also played a role in two of the Lady Tigers’ wins in the three relay events.
The biggest splash may have belonged to Springdale High coach Matt Hervey, but it wasn’t his doing. The Lady Red’Dogs shoved him into the pool just moments after the team scores were announced.
“They had been planning on doing this for a while,” a soaked Hervey said. “We knew it was going to be close. We had been figuring up the points earlier in the week.
“I don’t even know what the score was. The girls had worked so hard and improved so much. It was a total team effort.”
Springdale didn’t win any events but did take second in four events. Lauren Lamaestra took second in the 50 freestyle, then teamed with Alee Staggs for a two-three finish in the 100 breaststroke.
At A Glance
Northwest Arkansas Conference Swim Meet
Wednesday at Jones Center, Springdale
Girls
Team scores: 1. Bentonville 489; 2. Springdale High 323; 3. Fayetteville 294.5; 4. Rogers Heritage 214; 5. Rogers High 206; 6. Siloam Springs 178; 7. Fort Smith Southside 174.5; 8. Springdale Har-Ber 109; 9. Clarksville 70; 10. Alma 40; 11. Waldron 11; 12. Van Buren 3.
200 Medley Relay: 1. Bentonville (Katelyn Hedgecock, Eun Sol Chon, Jessica Kjellberg, Alexa Tininenko), 2:00.01; 2 Heritage, 2:03.52; 3. FS Southside 2:06.40.
200 Freestyle: 1 Eun Sol Chon, Bentonville, 2:03.17; 2. Katelyn Hedgecock, Bentonville, 2:06.76; 3. Grace Ann Clayton, FS Southside 2:08.36.
200 IM: 1 Maddie Edwards, Alma, 2:16.76; 2. Haley Womack, Fayetteville, 2:34.84; 3. Logan Smith, Bentonville, 2:38.85.
50 Freestyle: 1. Alexa Tininenko, Bentonville, 26.18; 2. Lauren Lamaestra, Springdale, 26.75; 3. Kaley Todd, Fayetteville, 26.89.
100 Butterfly: 1. Carly Holland, Heritage, 1:01.59; 2. Grace Ann Clayton, FS Southside, 1:02.81; 3. Alexa Tininenko, Bentonville, 1:06.86.
100 Freestyle: 1 Eun Sol Chon, Bentonville, 56.65; 2. Katelyn Hedgecock, Bentonville, 1:00.09; 3, Kaley Todd, Fayetteville, 1:00.45.
500 Freestyle: 1 Jessica Kjellberg, Bentonville, 5:49.17; 2. Mariah Lucas, Springdale, 5:53.04; 3. Lisa Lauschke, Rogers, 5:56.05.
200 Freestyle Relay: 1 Bentonville (Alexa Tininenko, Jessica Kjellberg, Nicole Dougherty, Eun Sol Chon), 1:47.25; 2. Springdale, 1:53.56; 3. Fayetteville, 1:53.67.
100 Backstroke: 1 Carly Holland, Heritage, 1:01.72; 2. Megan Piotrowski, Rogers, 1:09.01; 3. Savannah Lawrence, FS Southside 1:09.12.
100 Breaststroke: 1 Maddie Edwards, Alma, 1:09.10; 2. Lauren Lamaestra, Springdale, 1:15.21; 3. Alee Staggs, Springdale, 1:21.19.
400 Freestyle Relay: 1 Bentonville (Katelyn Hedgecock, Jennifer Laman, Sydney Smith, Nicole Dougherty), 4:07.85; 2. Springdale, 4:09.92; 3. Heritage, 4:13.38.
BOYS
Team scores: 1. Bentonville 538; 2. Fayetteville 257; 3. Fort Smith Southside 256; 4. Rogers Heritage 218; 5. Springdale Har-Ber 200; 6. Siloam Springs 185; 7. Springdale High 172; 8. Rogers High 118; 9. Clarksville 74; 10. Mulberry 33.
200 Medley Relay: 1 Bentonville (Lane Bland, Gage Crosby, John Hedgecock, Jared Crosby), 1:44.23; 2. FS Southside, 1:47.84; 3. Heritage, 1:49.61.
200 Freestyle: 1. Jared Crosby, Bentonville, 1:52.27; 2. Jason Hunt, Bentonville, 1:54.46; 3. Colton Holland, Heritage, 1:55.40.
200 IM: 1. Brandon Haefner, Bentonville, 2:01.60; 2. John Hedgecock, Bentonville, 2:06.56; 3. Josh Parisi, Fayetteville, 2:15.91.
50 Freestyle: 1. Alex Holyfield, Siloam Springs, 22.00; 2. Caleb Murders, Mulberry, 22.91; 3. Riley Beneux, FS Southside, 23.27.
100 Butterfly: 1. Gage Crosby, Bentonville, 54.66; 2. John McGehee, FS Southside, 55.72; 3. Samuel Schaefer, Heritage, 55.79.
100 Freestyle: Alex Holyfield, Siloam Springs, 48.30; 2. Colton Holland, Heritage, 50.24; 3. Caleb Murders, Mulberry, 50.69.
500 Freestyle: 1. Jason Hunt, Bentonville, 5:02.58; 2. John Hedgecock, Bentonville, 3. John David Clayton, FS Southside, 5:20.14.
200 Freestyle Relay: 1 Bentonville (Land Bland; Brandon Haefner, Jared Crosby, Gage Crosby), 1:33.55; 2. Siloam Springs, 1:34.93; 3. Fayetteville, 1:41.80.
100 Backstroke: 1 Lane Bland, Bentonville, 56.88; 2. Samuel Schaefer, Heritage, 58.11; 3. John McGehee, FS Southside, 58.79.
100 Breaststroke: 1 Gage Crosby, Bentonville, 1:01.01; 2. Lucas Ros, Bentonville, 1:07.66; 3. Davis Nunneley, Fayetteville, 1:08.25.
400 Freestyle Relay: 1 Bentonville (Brandon Haefner, Geoff Webb, Austin Hunt, John Hedgecock), 3:32.06; 2. FS Southside, 3:32.84; 3. Heritage, 3:35.78