Taylor Pike was not afraid to take on some uncharted waters in her high school swimming career, and she earned a state record because of it.
The Bentonville sophomore stepped out of her comfort zone this season and added a new event to her list when she decided to do the 200-yard freestyle. Pike then made the most of it at the state swim meet last month when she won the 200 freestyle with a record time of 1 minute, 51.45 seconds, nipping the previous mark of 1:51.49 set by Alma’s Brittany Massengale in 2003.
“I wasn’t even looking at the record,” Pike said. “I was just wanting to win the event and help my team, so the record was a bonus.”
The 200 freestyle record was just the beginning of what Pike set out to do that day as she also won the 500 freestyle for the second straight year, beating her closest competitor by more than 15 seconds. She then teamed with Nicole Dougherty, Alexis Abernathy and Eunsol Chon to give Bentonville’s girls a win in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:39.46, missing a state record by about one-third of a second For her efforts, Pike was named the All-NWADG Co-Swimmer of the Year. She then capped the meet when she teamed with Emiley Horton, Loren Hedgecock and Chon and helped the Lady Tigers reset the state record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:36.16. It broke the previous mark of 3:37.33 that Pike, Chon, Horton and Abernathy set last year. “My goal this year was to go to a state meet and win a different event,” Pike said. “I wanted to win one new event and one old event, and I was excited that I was able to do that.”