Haas Hall Girls Impressive At Fayetteville Invtational

 Staff Photo Michael Woods • @NWAMICHAELW Trevor Walker, Fayetteville swimmer, competes in the boys 200-yard freestyle Wednesday at the Fayetteville Holiday Invitational swim meet at The Jones Center in Springdale.
Staff Photo Michael Woods • @NWAMICHAELW Trevor Walker, Fayetteville swimmer, competes in the boys 200-yard freestyle Wednesday at the Fayetteville Holiday Invitational swim meet at The Jones Center in Springdale.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Haas Hall Academy was small in numbers but mighty in results Wednesday at the Fayetteville Invitational swim meet.

Caroline Stelte, Corrine Despain and Martina Thomas combined for six individual race victories for Haas Hall on Wednesday, leading their team to a second-place finish to Conway in the girls' division at the Fayetteville Invitational. Haas Hall, which also won relay races in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley, scored 281 team points to outpace Class 7A schools Bentonville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith Southside and others in an impressive day for the Class 3A school.

Fayetteville Invitational

Team Results

Boys

Bentonville 419

Fayetteville 290

Springdale Har-Ber 236

Fort Smith Southside 199

Conway 164

Girls

Conway 352

Haas Hall 281

Bentonville 247

Fayetteville 229

Fort Smith Southside 157

Individual Results

Girls 200-Yard Medley Relay: Haas Hall Academy (Luciana Thomas, Corinne Despain, Caroline Stelte, Martina Thomas), 1:51.88

Boys 200-Yard Medley Relay: Bentonville (Gavin Vann, Lucas Ros, Hayden Harlow, Brandon Haefner), 1:43.76

Girls 200-Yard Freestyle: Casey Ragsdale, Conway, 2:07.36

Boys 200-Yard Freestyle: Caleb Murders, Mulberry, 1:53.49

Girls 200-Yard IM: Caroline Stelte, Haas Hall, 2:17.41

Boys 200-Yard IM: Antonio Thomas, Haas Hall, 2:03.65

Girls 50-Yard Freestyle: Kaylee Ohare, Siloam Springs, 26.16

Boys 50-Yard Freestyle: Hayden Harlow, Bentonville, 23:06

Girls 100-Yard Butterfly: Caroline Stelte, Haas Hall, 59.67

Boys 100-Yard Butterfly: Curlin Ray, Fort Smith Southside, 59.10

Girls 100-Yard Freestyle: Martina Thomas, Haas Hall, 55:54

Boys 100-Yard Freestyle: Caleb Murders, Mulberry, 49.76

Girls 500-Yard Freestyle: Corrine Despain, Haas Hall, 5:34.89

Boys 500-Yard Freestyle: Jason Hunt, Bentonville, 4:57.67

Girls 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Haas Hall (Caroline Stelte, Corrine Despain, Luciana Thomas, Martina Thomas), 1:43.93

Boys 200-Yard Freestyle Relay: Bentonville (Hayden Harlow, Gavin Vann, Lucas Ros, Brandon Haefner), 1:33.67

Girls 100-Yard Backstroke: Martina Thomas, Haas Hall, 1:00.93

Boys 100-Yard Backstroke: Gavin Vann, Bentonville, 56.43

Girls 100-Yard Breaststroke: Corrine Despain, Haas Hall, 1:10.53

Boys 100-Yard Breaststroke: Hayden Harlow, Bentonville, 1:02.51

Girls 400-Yard Freestyle Relay: Conway (Sarah Grace Meek, Sydney Mulhearn, Heidi Courtway, Erin McShane), 4:13.69

Boys 400-Yard Freestyle Relay: Fayetteville (Sam Schach, Caden Blaschke, Jack Norys, Matt Parisi), 3:34.14

"The team was formed for the purpose of giving these scholars the opportunity to compete at these high school swim meets," Haas Hall swimming coach Courtney Horn said. "The purpose wasn't to win. However, this school has a lot of great talent and a lot of good swimmers, both boys and girls. So it would be a waste not to take advantage of that opportunity and they're having a lot of fun. But they're also doing a great job at the same time."

Stelte won the 200-yard IM in a time of 2 minutes, 17.41 seconds and the 100 butterfly with a mark of 59.67. Despain took first in the 500 freestyle (5:34.89) and the 100 breaststroke (1:10.53) and Thomas won for Haas Hall in the 100 freestyle (55.54) and 100 backstroke (1:00.93).

The three Haas Hall swimmers were also a part of the two relay wins, joining Luciana Thomas to give the school eight race wins in all Wednesday.

"Those four girls have been swimming for over six years," Horn said. "They came to this school with a lot of talent. We have boys and girls who swim on local club teams and then we have others who do not, but they're all doing a great job."

In the boys' meet Bentonville continued to flex its muscles over all other competitors. The Tigers scored 419 points for an easy victory over runner up Fayetteville, which finished with 290.

Sophomore Hayden Harlow led the way for Bentonville, winning individual races in the 50 freestyle (23.06) and 100 breaststroke (1:02.51).

"It's all about doing your race as best you can, as fast as you can to help the team," Harlow said. "It's all about the teamwork and we work together and train together and everything is about the team."

Harlow, who scored 40 points for the Tigers, had a part in victories for Bentonville in the 200-medley relay (1:43.76) and the 200-yard free relay (1:33.67).

"I'm really liking where I am right now," Harlow said. "This meet is a smaller meet, but I like where I am with my time and it's good training against other teams in the region."

Meet host Fayetteville picked up a win on the boys' side in the 400 freestyle relay, with the foursome of Sam Schach, Caden Blaschke, Jack Norys and Matt Parisi producing a time of 3:34.14. Fayetteville coach Mike Kaminski was also pleased to pick up a few more state qualifying times Wednesday in both boys and girls' divisions.

"We got the last of our relays qualified in girls, and then in boys we made the state cuts in the 200 freestyle with Caden Blaschke and Sam Schach, and Matt Parisi in the 100 freestyle.

"You never know about the weather around here in January, so the early we can qualify the better."

Sports on 12/04/2014

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