Swimming: Bentonville sweeps titles at Har-Ber meet

SPRINGDALE -- Same pool, same results, different event.

That was the scenario Thursday for Bentonville, which swept the boys and girls titles in the Har-Ber Invitational at The Jones Center pool. Bentonville piled up 684 points on the boys side to outdistance Fayetteville, which finished second with 373 points. The finish was the same on the girls side, where Bentonville scored 478 points to 281 points for the second-place Lady Bulldogs.

Har-Ber Invitational

at Jones Center, Springdale

Boys

Team scores — Bentonville 648, Fayetteville 373, Springdale Har-Ber 301, Siloam Springs 209, Rogers Heritage 166, Fort Smith Southside 156, Springdale High 92, Mulberry 34.

200 Medley Relay — Bentonville (Haefner, Harlow, Ros, Crosby), 1:43.55

200 Freestyle — Jared Crosby, Bentonville, 1:50.21

200 IM — Hayden Harlow, Bentonville, 2:01.45

50 Freestyle — Gavin Vann, Bentonville, 23.21

100 Butterfly — Hayden Harlow, Bentonville, 54.20

100 Freestyle — Jared Crosby, Bentonville, 51.13

500 Freestyle — Brandon Haefner, Bentonville, 15:08.99

200 Freestyle Relay — Bentonville (Haefner, Vann, Lemme, Hedgecock), 1:33.64

100 Backstroke — Gavin Vann, Bentonville, 55:25

100 Breaststroke — Sam Schach, Fayetteville, 1:04.07

400 Freestyle Relay — Bentonville (Harlow, Vann, Hedgecock, Crosby), 3:28.74

Girls

Team scores — Bentonville 478, Fayetteville 281, Siloam Springs 250, Springdale Har-Ber 184, Fort Smith Southside 157, Springdale High 148, Alma 145, Mountain Home 120, Rogers Heritage 117.

200 Medley Relay — Fayetteville (Martin, Rubinelli, Hudec, Valentine), 2:08.91

200 Freestyle — Eunsol Chon, Bentonville, 2:02.27

200 IM — Amanda Abernathy, Bentonville, 2:30.19

50 Freestyle — Carly Holland, Rogers Heritage, 25.38

100 Freestyle — Carly Holland, Rogers Heritage, 56.39

200 Relay — Bentonville (Hacala, Hedgecock, Jones, Chon), 1:40.67

100 Butterfly — Grace Clayton, Fort Smith Southside, 1:04.38

500 Freestyle — Eunsol Chon, Bentonville, 5:26.17

100 Backstroke — Clare Hamilton, Springdale Har-Ber, 1:08.16

100 Breaststroke — Makcenzie Mohler, 1:20.86

400 Freestyle Relay — Bentonville (Hacala, Hedgecock, Abernathy, Chon), 3:59.72

Bentonville also swept the boys and girls titles at the Bentonville Invitational a week ago at the Jones Center pool. Teams from Northwest Arkansas competed Thursday along with teams from Fort Smith, Mountain Home, and Mulberry.

"The goal of this meet was to get a few more (state) qualifiers, which we did," Bentonville coach Nick Nersesian said. "We also mixed up some relays and got good results. We scored a lot today and the kids came ready to race."

The Bentonville boys displayed their domination by sweeping the top three places in the 50-yard freestyle. Gavin Vann finished first (23.21), followed by teammates Brandon Haefner (23.25) and Drew Lemme (23.73). Between the three, the Tigers piled up 63 points after finishing second, third, and fourth in the Bentonville Invitational last week.

"We talk a lot of smack with each other, but it's friendly (competition)," said Haefner, a senior. "It helps when we race close together because we can feel the draft off each other."

On the girls side, Carly Holland was one of the standout swimmer with two wins for Rogers Heritage. Holland said she was sore when she took the pool after a hard workout Wednesday with her club team, the AquaHawgs. But she overcame the pain to win the 50-yard freestyle in 25.38 and the 100-yard freestyle in 56.39.

"I was pretty sore and my body was hurting from practice, but I didn't let it get to me," said Holland, who finished second in both events at the state meet as a junior. "I just let it go and went out and competed."

Area teams will return to The Jones Center for the district meet on Feb. 18. Teams will then head to Little Rock for the state meet on Feb. 28.

"We've got some fine-tuning to do, but we looked good today," Nersesian said.

Rick Fires can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at NWARick

Sports on 02/06/2015

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