By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
The Sherwood Sharks ensured their advantage again at this weekend’s Meet of Champs with a dominating victory over Cabot at the Harmon Recreation Center in Sherwood on Saturday.
The Sharks, who will be going for their ninth-consecutive Central Arkansas Swim League title this Saturday, already had a majority of swimmers qualified for the Meet of Champs, and added several more to that list by outscoring their closest rival 1,046.5 to 379.5.
In the boys 6-under division, Sherwood’s Michael Potts dominated the gold division by winning all four events. He was ensured a win in the freestyle event as the only competitor in the gold division with a finals time of 21.91. Sharks teammate Kaden Patterson won the bronze division over Cabot’s Connor Hayre and Sherwood’s Caleb Harper. Potts was also the only competitor in the backstroke gold division while Grant Goodnightsecured five points for the Piranhas with a win in the silver division with a time of 35.31. Shark swimmers swept the points in the bronze division, led by Patterson’s silver-qualifying time of 37.13.
Potts still did not have any competition in the gold breaststroke, but he broke the Harmon pool record in the event with a time of 25.22, surpassing Thomas Heye’s 2005 time of 26.97. Goodnight once again won in the bronze division with a time of 41.41 over teammate Salmi Hutch.
Potts finished his clean sweep, and was once again the only gold-level swimmer in the butterfly event with a time of 30.69. Fellow Shark Kaden Patterson won the bronze event with a time of 42.60.
In the girls 6-under group, Sherwood’s Madelynn Morrow dominated the gold division by winning three events, including the freestyle event with a time of 21.00 over teammate Lorien McCulloch.
Cabot’s Emmalee Crow won the silver division and qualified for gold competition with a time of 25.09. Piranhas teammate Grace Esteban won the bronze event and also qualified for gold with a time of 25.00.
McCulloch prevented Morrow from capturing a clean sweep by winning the gold backstroke event with a time of 25.10 to Morrow’s second-place time of 25.44. Crow once again won the silver division and improved to gold time with a 28.25 while Sherwood’s Skylee Hartley won the bronze event.
Morrow was the only competitor in the gold breaststroke event with a time of 30.50 while Cabot’s Kendal LeQuieu won the silver event with a time of 45.69. Crow made gold for her third-straight stroke by winning the bronze event with a time of 31.72.
Morrow won the gold butterfly event with a time of 25.50 over McCulloch and LeQuieu and teammate Olivia Dunn won the silver event with a time of 39.35. Miya Lamont made it a clean sweep for Sherwood swimmers by winning the bronze event with a time of 40.69.
The boys 7-8 age group was all about Dillon Wood, as the young Sherwood swimmer dominated in four of the five gold events for the bracket. Wood won the freestyle event with a time of 17.15 while Cabot’s J.J. Hayre won the silver event with a time of 20.72. Dylan Harper won the bronze event for the Sharks with a time of 22.60.
Wood also won the backstroke event with a time of 20.25, but it was a close call as teammate Blane Godbee was right behind him with a 20.28. Shark swimmer Jake Hale won the silver event with a time of 23.65. Andrew Deese completed the sweep for Sherwood in the backstroke by winning the bronze division with a time of 25.28.
In the breaststroke event, Wood finished with a more comfortable cushion over Godbee with a time of 22.87 to Godbee’s 23.59, while teammate Joshua Robinson took the silver event with a time of 29.66. Sherwood once again swept all three divisions as James Cureton took first place in the bronze event with a time of 36.27.
Wood made it four straight wins with a dominating time in the gold butterfly event. Wood finished the event in 18.77, with second-place Godbee well behind him with a 23.13. Hayre took the silver event for Cabot with a time of 25.50 while Eric Watkins claimed the bronze event for the Sharks with a time of 28.87 to qualify for silver.
Wood did not compete in the individual-medley event, leaving Godbee to take top time in the gold event with a 1:48.85. Hale won the silver event and qualified for gold with a time of 1:57.06. There was more disparity in the girls 7-8 bracket, though the top spots all went to Sherwood swimmers. Alyssa Riley won the gold butterfly event with a time of 17.72 while Michaela Wood won the silver event with a time of 21.43. Peyton Stafford won the bronze event with a time of 21.97.
Pierson Richart won the gold backstroke event with a time of 21.37 while teammates Michele Potts and Stafford won the silver and bronze events respectively. Richart also won the gold division for the breaststroke with a time of 23.91, and Wood was tops again the silver division with a time of 29.94. Emma Turner completed the sweep for Sherwood with a time of 29.21 in the bronze event, good enough to move up to silver.
Morrow and Riley finished in a dead heat to lead the way in the gold division of the butterfly event with a time of 20.94. Sherwood swimmers also won the silver and bronze events with Faith Wallace scoring a 27.57 in silver and Jessica Sanders with a 28.87 in bronze, improving to silver.
Riley won the gold IM with a time of 1:45.34 while Wood won the silver event with a time of 2:05.41. Potts won the bronze event with a time of 1:49.50, qualifying her to compete in the gold division.
Joseph Potts also came close to sweeping all of the gold events in the boys 9-10 age group by winning the freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and IM events. He broke his own record at Harmon pool in the gold butterfly event with a time of 33.37. Potts did not compete in the breaststroke, but teammate Nicholas Heye secured the top spot for the Sharks in the gold event with a time of 44.19 while Philip Stanley won the silver event and Aiden made it another Sharks sweep with a win the bronze division.
The Piranhas made up ground in the girls 9-10 age bracket and even swept the IM events with Rachel Montanaro winning the gold-level medley with a time of 1:27.65. Jessica Bongfeldt won the silver event for Cabot and Olivia Atkinson completed the sweep with a win in the bronze division. Atkinson’s time of 1:50.65 improved her to silver.
Anna Jaworski helped the Sharks with gold-level wins in the freestyle and backstroke events, while Montanaro won the gold-division breaststroke for Cabot. Dena Hallum took the silver event for the sharks while teammate Kayla White improved to gold with a bronze-winning time of 46.19.
Charlotte Ball won the gold-division butterfly event for Cabot while Sherwood swimmers Maycee Broadway and Madison Curl won the silver and bronze events.
Brendan Daugherty and Jeff Oakley dominated the boys 11-12 age bracket for Sherwood as Daugherty took the top spots in four gold events while Oakley won bronze in three events and silver in the breaststroke.
Teammate Ian Heye won the gold backstroke event while Daugherty won the gold-division freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and IM.
Camryn Jenkins won the girls’ 11-12 freestyle event in the gold division while Cabot’s Melanie Abbott won the silver division. Jordan Godbee claimed the bronze event for the Sharks.
Brianna Hanley won the gold backstroke event, and teammates Regan Riley and Godbee claimed the silver and bronze events. Shea Copland took first place in the gold breaststroke event for Sherwood during a sweep of the event that included a silver win for Brianna Ushery and a bronze victory for Katie Richardson. Hanley also won the gold division butterfly event while Cabot’s Rachel Sweeney won the gold IM.
The Shark duo of Josh Hale and Jayson Simmons led the way in the boys 13-14 age bracket as Hale won the gold events in the freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly while Simmons was tops for the gold division in the backstroke and IM. Other top performances in the 13-14 group included Sherwood’s Matthew Stinnett and Cabot’s Ben Cameron.
Sherwood’s Erin Wood-ward and Cabot’s Catyee Wright battled for gold supremacy in the girls 13-14 bracket with Woodard taking first place in the backstroke, butterfly and IM while Wright won the freestyle and breaststroke events. Avery Godbee won the silver events in the backstroke and butterfly for Sherwood, and took the bronze-division IM event. Teammate Izzy Franks won the bronze backstroke and silver IM.
The 15-18 age bracket proved to be the most competitive on the boys side with Quanderrius Doss winning the gold-division backstroke for Sherwood while teammate Ian Kerr won the silver event and Cabot’s Blake Thomas taking the bronze division. Sherwood’s Austin Clay won the gold backstroke, with fellow Shark Chris Croson winning silver and Piranha Dylan Speir winning the bronze event. Cabot’s John Santiago won the gold breaststroke and IM events, and teammate Brent Brockel won the gold butterfly event. Kyle Beckley helped the Piranhas out some more by taking bronze-division wins in the breaststroke and IM.
The Piranhas made up ground in the girls 15-18 age group with Emily Grigsby taking gold-division wins in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and IM. Teammate Riley Young took the only other gold victory in the breaststroke with a Harmon-Pool record time of 36.84. Top performances for Sherwood in the 15-18 bracket included Daniela Filippi and Holly Joseph.
The CASL season comes to a close Saturday at the UALR Donaghey Student Center with the Meet of Champs with competitors from all eight teams participating.
