WAR EAGLES RELAY EARNS STATE QUALIFYING TIME

The Rogers Heritage boys 400 yard freestyle relay team picked up its state qualifying time at the Conway Invitational on Saturday.

The foursome of Samuel Schaefer, Harry Cole, Ian Pusey and Peter Kim finished second in that relay and the 200 medley relay.

“Ian, Harry Cole and Peter Kim all really stepped up and swam fast,” Heritage coach Julie Sakalares said. “Samuel did what he does.”

Schaefer also had a good day individually, winning the 100 backstroke and finishing second in the 100 butterfly.

Pusey also finished third in the 100 breaststroke for Heritage, which finished sixth out of 18 teams.

Sophomore Carly Holland, who earned all-state honors as a freshman, won the 100 freestyle for the Lady War Eagles, who finished seventh in the team standings. Heritage finished just two points behind Little Rock Central.

— PAUL BOYD • @NWAPAULB

TIGERS WIN 
CONWAY INVITATIONAL

Bentonville’s swimmers were short in number but still came away with the team title Saturday during the Conway Invitational at Hendrix University.

Bentonville won the boys division by a 429-251 margin over second-place Fayetteville, while Bentonville’s girls nipped Conway by a 338-336 margin.

“We only had a skeleton crew go to the meet because of other things going on,” Bentonville coach Steve Duwel said. “Everything went great. We expected four to qualify for state, and we had five do it.”

Bentonville still had enough depth with its boys to take the team title despite winning only three events. The Tigers took the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 49.49 seconds and the 400 freestyle relay in 3:34.68, while Terrell Palmer took the 1-meter diving with 221.75 points, best in the state this year.

Three other Tigers earned qualifying times: Drew Lemna in the 50 freestyle (23.84), Dale Hagen in the 200 freestyle (1:58.17) and Bryan Thompson in the 200 individual medley (2:17.23).

In the girls division, Bentonville’s winners were Jessica Kjellberg in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:04.95, and the 200 freestyle relay in 1:45.92.

Those that reached state qualifying times included Allison Bush in the 100 backstroke (1:09.17) and McKenzie Springer in the 200 free (2:12.29).

— HENRY APPLE • @NWAHENRY

LUCAS QUALIFIES FOR STATE

Junior Mariah Lucas qualified for state in the 100-yard backstroke over the weekend as Springdale High competed in meets in Cabot and Conway.

Lucas joined teammate Lauren Lamaestra as the only Bulldog swimmers who have qualified individually for the March 1 state meet. “She’s really good,” Springdale coach Matt Hervey said. “She was a state qualifier in about three or four events last year.”

Springdale swimmers combined to set 37 personal bests in the two meets. Six swimmers, including Lucas and Lamaestra, have qualified for relays, but two more are on the brink of qualifying individually with four meets remaining until state. Junior Allee Staggs is six-tenths of a second away in the 100-yard breaststroke, while senior Alejandra Campos moved closer to qualifying in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles over the weekend.

“We’ve got several still flirting with it, but they’re just not there yet,” Hervey said.

— Jimmy Carter • @NWAJimmy

PURPLE'DOG SWIMMERS BACK IN ACTION

Fayetteville finally got back to some live competition after a long layoff with Saturday’s Conway Invitational. The Bulldogs finished second overall in Conway, scoring 251 team points, while the Lady Bulldogs finished third behind Bentonville and host Conway.

Saturday’s competition marked Fayetteville’s first meet since its own Fayetteville Holiday Invitational on Dec. 5.

Fayetteville’s top performers in Conway included: Matt Parisi with a time of 5:32.53 in the 500-yard freestyle, Sam Schach with a 1:07.58 in the 100-yard breaststroke and 400-yard relay team, which recorded a time of 3:44.07.

For the girls, Brooke Schultz, Erin Farrah and Lindsey Rissigner finished first, second and third in 1-meter diving, and senior Kaley Todd posted a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 0:59.92.

— VERNON TARVER • @NWAVernon