Winter weather forced the cancellation or postponement of two swim meets in the local area over the past month. And for Fayetteville, that has meant more time preparing for the next competition — whenever that might be.
The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs lost out on meets when both the Siloam Springs Invitational was cancelled and the Bentonville Tiger Invitational was postponed. Fayetteville is scheduled to travel to Conway for its next meet on Jan. 25.
“It looks like the weather will be fine for us then,” Fayetteville swim coach Mike Kaminski said. “There’s a lot of Little Rock area teams that we don’t usually see that will be there, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Fayetteville has gotten in three meets this season, a dual meet with Siloam Springs on Nov. 14, the Springdale Bulldog Invitational on Nov. 21 and its own Fayetteville Holiday Invitational on Dec. 5. Despite so few meets, Fayetteville has already automatically qualified several for the state meet.
In boys swimming, Ben Heil (200 IM, 500 freestyle), Matt Parisi (200 IM), Sam Schach (100 breaststroke, 200 IM, 500 freestyle) and Davis Nunneley (200 IM) have qualified. And in girls’ swimming, Kaley Todd (50 freestyle) and Haley Womack (200 IM, 100 butterfly, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke) are state qualifiers.
“We have a lot of guys who are really close to qualifying,” Kaminski said. “So we’re hoping to get those guys qualified at the next meet.”
Fayetteville also has four qualifiers in girls diving, Brooke Schultz, Erin Farrah, Lindsey Rissinger and Grace Mitchell.
“Our divers have a chance to be the best in school history,” Kaminski said. “They are really the strength of our team.”
FLIPPER IS A DIVER, TOO
Springdale Har-Ber coach Samantha Brown found a top athlete for Wildcats’ Swimming and Diving team while attending a pep rally at school.
Brown approached junior Ryan Reed after watching him perform a routine with the Har-Ber cheerleaders during a pep rally. Brown invited Reed to join the Wildcats swimming and diving team and he accepted.
“I thought ‘If he can do flips like that, imagine what he can do off the diving board?,’” Brown said. “This is only Ryan’s first year in diving, but he’s leading the district and is training hard for the district and state championships.”
Har-Ber has also benefitted from a new rule by the Arkansas Activities Association that allows students who are home-schooled to participate in high school athletics.
“We have a really cool team this year,” Brown said. “Ben and John Parmer are both home-schooled boys who are really doing a good job with our swim team. We also have a ninth-grader, Matthew Cunningham, who has qualified for state in the 500 free style.”
Brown will take the Har-Ber boys and girls teams to Conway on Saturday to compete in the Hendrix Invitational.
RICK FIRES • @NWARICK
HERITAGE SWIMMERS QUALIFY FOR STATE
The long trip to Bryant on Thursday definitely paid dividends for the Rogers Heritage swim team.
The War Eagles and Lady War Eagles each finished fifth in the team race. There were 19 girls teams and 14 boys teams at the event.
But Tina Nguyen earned her state qualifying time in the 100-yard backstroke, while Samuel Schaefer added to his growing list of events he’s qualified in by winning the 50 freestyle.
Heritage swimming coach Julie Sakalares said the recent winter weather has caused problems with practice. One local meet was even rescheduled because of the snow and ice.
But it’s also something that almost every school has been forced to deal with in some fashion, Sakalares said.
Nguyen, a sophomore, continued her fast start to the season as she’s also already made the cut in the 100 breaststroke as well.
“She got her cut in the breaststroke in her first swim,” Sakalares said. “That was awesome. Getting her cut in the backstroke was a big surprise.”
In addition, Ian Pusey won the 100 breaststroke. Heritage also notched a pair of second-place finishes in the boys’ 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay with the same group of Schaefer, Pusey, Peter Kim and Harry Cole.
The Lady War Eagles 200 medley relay team of Nguyen, Brooke Huston, Bethany Craft and Taylor Umbarger finished third.
Individually, Scheafer also finished second in the 100 freestyle and Cole was second in the 100 butterfly.
— PAUL BOYD • @NWAPAULB
LAUSCHKE QUALIFIES FOR STATE
Rogers High sophomore Lisa Lauschke is off to a fast start for the Lady Mounties swim team.
Lauschke qualified for the state in the 500 free earlier this season and she turned in a solid performance at the Bryant Invitational recently by qualifying in the 100-yard free (59:49) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:06.57). Lauschke also qualified for the state meet as a freshman.
“Lisa is a solid swimmer, she could probably qualify in just about anything,” Rogers swim coach Rob Bray said. “You can only swim in two events at state, and backstroke is her strongest right now.”
Bray also expects that Kimi Davis, Sarah Blanchard and Kylie Kern to reach state qualifying times over the next few weeks. Mounties Paul Hescott, Brandon Lithalancy, Jacob Carroll, Evan Campbell and Nick Cordero are also working hard towards qualfying for the state meet.
Winter weather cut into practice time but both teams have been practicing hard, Bray said.
“It’s going good,” Bray said. “We are getting some of our relay teams, boys and girls, close to qualifying. We need to be able to practice more. This was our first good week to practice since December.”
— PAUL NIELSEN • @NWAPAUL