AAA Boys and Girls 6A Swimming & Diving Championships
- February 26-27, 2021
- Bentonville Community Center, Bentonville, Arkansas
- Short Course Yards (25y)
- Results
Girls 6A
- Bentonville — 441
- Central (Little Rock) — 360
- Fayetteville — 287
- Bentonville West — 250
- Cabot — 177
Bentonville swept the team titles at the AAA 6A (large school) Girls & Boys State Swimming Championships. This was the girls fourth title in a row while the boys captured their first title since 2017.
The Bentonville girls won six events to win the meet by a commanding 81 points over Little Rock Central. The Bentonville quartet of Emma On-the-Hill (28.46), Lienfang Yu (28.76), Grace Robbins (26.90), and Avery Spencer (24.43) started off the meet by coming within .33 of the Arkansas 6A record to win the 200 medley relay in 1:48.55
Yu was Bentonville’s only event winner as she defended her state titles from 2020 in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. She won the 200 IM in 2:04.21, winning the event by over five-seconds and setting a new 6A state record. Not to be done, Yu set her second state record of the meet, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.85 and dropping over three seconds from her time from last year (1:06.26).
Bentonville’s final first-place finish would come in the meet’s last event, the 400 free relay. On-the-Hill (55.00), Robbins (54.74), Katherine Thomas (54.04), and Yu (52.21) would clear the field by over four seconds, winning in 3:35.99.
Chloe Thompson of Bentonville West, the 2020 champion in the 200 free, would repeat as champion, winning in 1:52.88. Thompson, who finished runner-up in the 500 in 2020, would take home the title this year, winning in 5:00.00.
Little Rock Central was paced by Lindsey Haman as she took home a pair of state titles. Haman won the 50 free in 24.07 and the 100 free in 52.50. Haman joined teammates Kathleen Claycomb (26.10 lead-off), Mia Patella (26.33), Anne Zhan (25.18) as she anchored in 23.69 to win the 200 free relay in 1:41.30.
The girls 100 butterfly was a close race as the top three finishers were separated by 0.20 seconds. Addison Wicklund of Rogers would claim victory in 58.17, out-touching Spencer (58.18) and Brooklyn Anderson of Conway (58.37).
Anderson would win the 100 backstroke for the second year in a row, taking the event in 56.87, just off her state record time of 56.69 from 2020.
Mackenzie Ferguson, who finished 15th in 2020, would capture the 6A title in diving with a score of 333.30
Boys 5A
- Bentonville — 370
- Central (Little Rock) — 359
- Conway — 297
- Bentonville West — 213
- Cabot — 205
Photo Courtesy of Bentonville High School
The boys meet was a tight race between Bentonville and Little Rock Central. Central won five events to Bentonville’s two but Bentonville used their depth, particularly in the 100 backstroke, to win the meet.
The Bentonville team of Steven Dean (24.27), Gavin Husband (26.64), Jake Noble (24.14), and Caleb Tong (21.74) would start off the meet by winning the 200 medley relay by almost three seconds in 1:36.79.
Jack Henry Forrest of Central would help pick-up four of their five event wins as he was the only swimmer on the boys side of the meet two win two individual events. Forrest, who finished third in 2020, would pick up his first win in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:41.16. Forrest, who won the 500 free last year, opted for the 50 free for his second individual event. This proved fortuitous as he won with a time of 21.56.
Forrest would help Central to a pair of relay wins. Youssef Bahgat (21.72), Logan Wilson (22.58), Layth Aladhami (22.00), and Forrest (20.98) took home the 200 free relay in 1:27.28. Central would win the final event as Mathew Nguyen (50.71), Joshua Reynolds (50.25), Wilson (49.45), and Forrest (45.37) would combine to finish in 3:15.78.
Central’s fifth win would come in the 100 freestyle. Bahgat, the runner-up in this event last year, captured his first individual state title with a time of 46.84, over a second ahead of the second place finisher.
Dean of Bentonville would win his first state title in the 100 backstroke, with a time of 51.68. He led a trio of Bentonville swimmers to a 1-2-3 finish with Gage Johnson (52.05) in second, and Noble (53.19) in third, resulting in a 53-point pick-up for Bentonville.
Phillip Stanley of Little Rock North would capture his first individual state title in the 200 IM. Stanley, who finished third in 2020 and fourth in 2019, would use a 26.69 freestyle split to pull ahead and finish first in 1:53.06.
Kevin Brumfield of Springdale, the third place finisher in the 200 IM, would win his first state title, taking home the 100 butterfly in 51.16.
Conner Boatright of Har-Ber had a dominant win in the 500 free. Boatright, the runner-up in the 200 free, led the field from the start to finish in 4:33.26, more than 10 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
The 100 Breaststroke was won for the second year in a row by Duncan Troup of Conway. His winning time of 57.10 was 0.30 slower than his winning time from 2020.
Aiden Bird of Conway would jump up from his sixth place finish in 2020 to win the boys diving title with 395.30 points.