BENTONVILLE -- Bentonville High swim coach Liz Braun and her girls' team concluded a long day Saturday afternoon by jumping into the pool and holding up a championship trophy.
It's become routine for Bentonville, which won its third consecutive state title in the Arkansas High School Swimming and Diving Championships at the Bentonville Community Center.
Bentonville finished first with 441 points, well ahead of second-place Little Rock Central with 360. Fayetteville was third with 287 points.
"I'm really proud of the girls, especially this year with Covid," Braun said. "We had a lot of ups and downs and my girls are the epitome in being able to deal with adversity. Our divers showed up big (Friday) and our girls swam out of their minds knowing winning state was a big thing and it's a huge deal for the town of Bentonville."
The competition was much closer in the boys' division, where Bentonville edged Little Rock Central to complete the sweep. Bentonville finished first with 370 points to 359 points for Central. Conway was third with 297 points.
Little Rock Central had a slim lead through eight events after the Tigers edged Bentonville in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay. But Bentonville took charge in the ninth event when Steven Dean (51.68), Gage Johnson (52.05), and Jake Noble (53.19) took first, second, and third in the 100 Yard Backstroke.
"We knew it was a big risk to clear out some of our boys to compete in the 500 and 200 Free," Braun said. "We took the risk knowing with our top three we could score 50 points-plus points. It paid off big-time."
Jack Henry Forrest of Little Rock Central took first place in the 50 Yard Freestyle (21.56) and 200 Yard Freestyle (1:41.16).
The Bentonville girls were again led by Lien-fang Yu, a sophomore who broke state records while winning two individual events and she also swim a leg on two relay teams that won. Yu won the 200 Yard Individual Medley in a time of 2:04.21 and the 100 yard Breaststroke in a time of 1:02.85.
"Lien was a huge part of our team last year and she showed up again big as a sophomore," Braun said. "We're really pumped because her individual events are a state record. That was really huge to see those get broken because those were kind of old records."
Yu surpassed expectations after she introduced herself to state competition last year when she won two individual titles and swam a leg on Bentonville's winning 400-yard relay team.
"I felt a little bit of pressure, but I think that's normal," Yu said. "I wanted to be there for my team and just get us some points. The whole team jumped in the pool and it was super exciting."
Avery Spencer (58.18) finished a close second to Addison Wicklund (58.17) of Rogers in the 100 Yard Butterfly and Grace Robbins (2:09.59) was second behind Yu for Bentonville in the 200 Yard IM.
Bentonville got off to a good start Friday by taking four of the top eight positions in the diving competition. The Lady Tigers continued the momentum in the pool Saturday to win its third consecutive state title and the second for Braun, a former University of Arkansas swimmer.
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ARKANSAS HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
CLASS 6A
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES 1. Bentonville 441. 2. Little Rock Central 360. 3. Fayetteville 287. 4. Bentonville West 250. 5. Cabot 177. 6. Conway 136. 7. Bryant 130. 8. Springdale Har-Ber 113. 9. Rogers 112. 10. Mount St. Mary 94. 11. North Little Rock 85. 12. Springdale 45. 13. Rogers Heritage 20. 14. Fort Smith Southside 5.
ONE-METER DIVING 1. Ferguson, Little Rock Central, 333.30. 2. Alberson, Fayetteville, 325.65, 3. Wolff, Bentonville, 289.15.
200 YARD MEDLEY 1. Yu, Bentonville, 1:48.55. 2. Zhan, Little Rock Central, 1:48.70. 3. Schrank, Bentonville West, 1:52.43
200 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Thompson, Bentonville West, 1:52.88. 2. Jenkins, Little Rock Central, 1:54.40. 3. One-The-Hill, Bentonville, 1:58.10
100 YARD BREASTSTROKE 1. Yu, Bentonville, 1:02.85 2. Bongfelt, Cabot, 1:05.27. 3. Wicklund, 1:09. 21
200 YARD IM 1. Yu, Bentonville, 2:04. 21. 2. Robbins, 2:09.59. 3. Bongfeldt, Cabot, 2:10.84. Chambers, Mount St. Mary, 2:11.58.
50 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Haman, Little Rock Central, 24.07. 2. Schrank, Bentonville West, 25.0. 3. Thomas, Bentonville, 25.13.
100 YARD BUTTERFLY 1. Wicklund, Rogers, 58.17. 2. Spencer, 58.18. Anderson, Conway, 58.37.
100 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Haman, Little Rock Central, 52.50. 2. Thomas, Bentonville, 54.13. Dresel, Fayetteville, 55.89.
500 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Thompson, Bentonville West, 5:00.00. 2. Allen, Fayetteville, 5:00.50. 3. Jenkins, Little Rock Central, 5:00.51
200 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY 1. Little Rock Central, 1:41.30 2. Bentonville, 1:43.66. 3. Fayetteville, 1:46.55
100 YARD BACKSTROKE 1. Anderson, Conway, 56.87. 2. Chambers, Mount St. Mary, 58.59. 3. On-The-Hill, Bentonville, 59.91.
400 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY 1. Bentonville, 3:35.99. 2. Little Rock Central, 3:40.63. 3. Fayetteville, 3:41.
BOYS
TEAM SCORES
- Bentonville 370. 2. Little Rock Central 359. 3. Conway 297. 4. Bentonville West 213. 5. Cabot 205. 6. North Little Rock 159. 7. Fayetteville 149. 8. Springdale 141. 9. Springdale Har-Ber 128. 10. Little Rock Catholic 101. 11. Bryant 50. 12. Rogers 32. 13. Rogers Heritage 30. Fort Smith Northside 20.
ONE-METER DIVING Bird, Conway, 395.30. 2. Chase, Bentonville, 356.70. 3. Robinson, Conway, 353.50
200 YARD MEDLEY RELAY 1. Bentonville, 1:39.00. 2. Conway, 1:42.73. 3. North Little Rock, 1:39.75
200 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Forrest, Little Rock Central, 1:41.16. 2. Boatright, Springdale Har-Ber, 1:42.35. 3. Aladhami, Little Rock Central, 1:47.50
200 YARD INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 1. Stanley, North Little Rock, 1:53.06. 2. Husband, Bentonville, 1:53.68. 3. Groom, Springdale, 1:54.36
50 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Forrest, Little Rock Central, 21.56. 3. Troup, Conway, 21.85. 3. Carter, Bentonville, 22:05
100 YARD BUTTERFLY 1. Brumfield, Springdale, 51.58. 2. Noble, Bentonville, 51.46. 3. Stanley, North Little Rock, 52.38
100 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Bahgat, Little Rock Central, 46.84. 2. Carter, Bentonville, 47.86. 3. Tong, Bentonville, 48.66
500 YARD FREESTYLE 1. Boatright, Springdale Har-Ber, 4:33.26. 2. Wicklund, Rogers 4:43.36. 3. Groom, Bentonville West, 4:43.82
200 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY 1. Little Rock Central, 1:27.55 2. Bentonville, 1:29.02. 3. North Little Rock, 1:30. 57.
100 YARD BACKSTROKE 1. Dean, Bentonville, 51.68. 2. Johnson, Bentonville, 52.05. 3. Noble, Bentonville, 53.19.
100 YARD BREASTSTROKE 1. Troup, Conway, 57.10. 2. Husband, Bentonville, 58.43. 3. Hill, Conway, 59.12.
400 YARD FREESTYLE RELAY 1. Little Rock Central, 3:15.78. 2. Bentonville, 3:16. 58. 3. Cabot, 3:21.56