Jonesboro High’s girls won Arkansas’ 5A state title behind four wins from Isabella Cothern. Meanwhile Little Rock Christian’s boys won by 34 points over Lake Hamilton.
Boys Meet
John Isaac Majors and Jordan Jones each won three events to push Little Rock Christian Academy to the Arkansas boys 5A state title.
The two helped Little Rock Christian win both 200-yard relays. The 200 medley opened the meet, with Jones, Jake McDonald, Majors and Matthew Ware going 1:46.86 for the win. Late in the meet, the same foursome went 1:35.47 to win the 200 free relay by two and a half seconds.
Individually, Jones won the 100 fly in 56.60, while Majors topped the 100 free in 50.21.
Lake Hamilton’s Noah Smith won a pair of individual titles to go with one relay win. Smith was 1:59.66 to dominate the 200 IM, besting the field by more than 11 seconds. He also won by almost 11 in the 500 free, going 5:00.64.
Smith anchored the winning 400 free relay, joining Ethan Smith, Hunter Speas and Lucas Amerson to win in 3:33.24.
The other dual individual winner was Lakeside’s Mason Vandenstein, who won the 100 back (55.19) and 50 free (22.07).
Other event winners:
- Benton’s Harrison Hunter won the 200 free, going 1:51.97.
- Russellville entered the meet’s only diver: Dylan Deavours, who won the title with 252.60 points.
- Mountain Home’s Hudson Pace took the 100 breast in 1:04.93.
Top 5 Teams:
- Little Rock Christian – 248
- Lake Hamilton – 214
- Siloam Springs – 206
- Mountain Home – 201
- Jonesboro – 180
Girls Meet
On the girls side, Jonesboro High dominated behind a 4-for-4 performance from Isabella Cothern. Cothern won both of her individual races and also helped Jonesboro to two relay titles.
In the individual races, Cothern won the 50 free (23.23) and 100 fly (56.11), both by wide margins. She also swam fly on a winning 200 medley relay (along with Sophie Trevathan, Isabelle Jones and Abigail Avery in 1:55.60) and anchored the winning 200 free relay (1:43.94 with Jones, Alexis Simkins and Trevathan).
The meet was dominated by a trio of double-individual winners. Along with Cothern were Little Rock Christian’s Angel Ke and Lakeside’s Nicole Burek. Ke won the 200 free (1:55.14) in a dominant effort, then added the 100 free in 53.21. Burek took home the 200 IM title in 2:18.35, plus the 100 breast in 1:10.98.
Other event winners:
- Once again, Russellville had the meet’s only divers, getting a win from Brayli Roberson in 246.60 points.
- Benton’s Samantha West won the 500 free in 5:33.01.
- She also swam on the winning 400 free relay, joining Lydia Huthmaker, Janie Lee and Claire Avery to go 3:51.58.
- Little Rock Christian’s Hannah Hall won the 100 back in 1:00.07.
Top 5 Teams:
- Jonesboro – 340
- Mountain Home – 263
- Greene County – 257
- Russellville – 253.5
- Benton – 193
