ARKADELPHIA -- Lake Hamilton's boys' swim team captured the 5A-South conference championship in a joint meet Saturday with the 1A-4A South conference at Henderson State.
The Wolves took third overall and first in the 5A-South, which included Benton, El Dorado, Hot Springs and Lakeside. Magnolia and Arkadelphia took the top two spots in the overall scores. The other 1A-4A teams were Bauxite and Camden Fairview.
The boys' team for Magnolia earned 426 points, while Arkadelphia was second at 372. Lake Hamilton took third at 334 and El Dorado had 260. The rest of the scores were Benton with 198, Lakeside with 193, Hot Springs with 185, Bauxite with 127 and Fairview with 53.
Junior Noah Smith earned first-place points in four different events and two of his teammates also won events on their own. They also swam together on winning relay teams.
Noah Smith swam a first-place time of 57.06 in the 100-yard butterfly. Magnolia senior Carwin Edwards was more than nine seconds back in second at 1:06.49, while Arkadelphia freshman Colin Conroy finished third in 1:08.95.
His second individual win came in the 200-yard freestyle. He took first place at 1:50.84 as El Dorado senior Hudson McDiarmid was second at 1:52.54. Edwards finished third almost 15 seconds later at 2:07.31.
Freshman Ethan Smith earned his individual win at 2:11.92 in the 200-yard individual medley ahead of senior teammate Hunter Speas, 2:15.90. Magnolia freshman Isaiah Williams placed third at 2:27.03.
Ethan Smith was third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:18.08, narrowly behind Benton's Bryan Byrd, 5:17.49, and McDiarmid, 5:17.94. Another Lake Hamilton freshman, Zeke McCain, was fourth at 6:10.45.
Speas picked up his win in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.68. Magnolia junior Bailey McCook and Benton's Brenden Robnett dueled it out for second and third, respectively, at 1:12.33 and 1:12.75.
Arkadelphia senior Nick LeVar and junior Patrick Hayes followed in fourth and fifth, respectively, at 1:16.06 and 1:19.18. Hot Springs senior Anthony Reiter was close behind in sixth at 1:19.29.
Lucas Amerson earned third place in two individual events behind several local opponents. He was third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:04.93.
Lakeside junior Mason Vondenstein earned a seven-second victory in the event with a time of 56.26. El Dorado junior Everett Gati was second at 1:03.89.
Hot Springs freshman Eben Sanders gave the Trojans their best individual result of the day with a second-place time of 55.25 in the 100-yard freestyle. El Dorado freshman Payton Allman won the event at 53.67 and Amerson took third at 55.84.
Noah Smith, Ethan Smith, Speas and Amerson swam together on the winning 200-yard medley relay. They posted a time of 1:50.08, while second-place El Dorado finished in 1:53.48.
The same relay team won the 400-meter freestyle in 3:38.43. El Dorado placed second at 3:43.43.
Vondenstein also won the 50-yard freestyle event with a time of 22.41. He had a two-second cushion on the rest of the field, but the rest of the spots were closely contested.
Allman, Sanders, McCook, Hot Springs junior Aaron Navarro, Gati, Hot Springs sophomore Samuel Steven-Assheuer and Conroy placed 2-8 with times of 24.06, 24.79, 24.88, 25.01, 25.26, 25.52 and 26.17, respectively. Reiter was 10th at 26.41.
The next-best results for the Rams were a pair of seventh-place finishes. Lakeside's Gideon Drake and Caleb Ellis took seventh and eighth at 1:16.48 and 1:16.51, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke won by Vondenstein. Ellis also swam a seventh-place time of 2:30.24 in the 200-yard freestyle won by Noah Smith.
The Trojans also won a relay event and sophomore Ryan Nieman earned fourth place in the 100-yard backstroke behind Amerson. His time was 1:11.29.
Hot Springs won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:39.40. Benton was second at 1:41.04 and Lakeside took third at 1:42.83.
The Hot Springs and Lakeside teams were fifth and sixth in the 200-yard medley relay won by Lake Hamilton. They finished with times of 1:58.45 and 2:00.20, respectively.
Senior Owen Phillips gave the Badgers fifth-place points in two different events. He and McCain were fifth and sixth in the 200-yard freestyle won by Noah Smith with times of 2:12.13 and 2:28.50, respectively.
Phillips was two places behind Amerson in the 100-yard freestyle. He finished with a fifth-place time of 59.72.
Hayes and LeVar also finished fifth and sixth in the 200-yard individual medley won by Ethan Smith. Their times were 2:38.33 and 2:45.43, respectively.
The Arkansas Activities Association is in the fourth-year of a five-year contract with Bentonville High School to hold the 1A-4A and Class 6A state meets in Bentonville. They will be held Feb. 22-23.
Russellville won a bid last month to host the swimming and diving meet for Class 5A this year. The 5A state meet is also scheduled for Feb. 22-23.
Sports on 02/15/2019