By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Sherwood Sharks dominated the competition at last Saturday’s swim meet in Sherwood while the Cabot Piranhas took a close second in their meet at Bryant, which also took place last Saturday.
The Maumelle Marlins were the only team to make the trip to last Saturday’s event in Sherwood and the Sharks made them pay for it as they routed the visitors in the final points standings.
Sherwood finished the meet with an impressive 1,181 points. Maumelle totaled just 298.
At Bryant, the home team took first place in that event as the Saline County Swim team finished with 683 points. Cabot finished with 533 points, while the Conway Crocodiles finished a distant third with 255 points.
Sharks swimmer Brianna Hanley of the 11-12-year-old age group, had the best overall time in four different individual races for her division.
She finished the 100-yard Individual Medley in 1:10.87, the 50-yard butterfly in 31.41 seconds, the 50-yard breaststroke in 39.72 seconds, and the 50-yard backstroke in 31.50 seconds.
Hanley was also a member of the 100-yard freestyle relay team that also finished first with a time of 59.28. Other members of that team include Adrienne Robinson, Savannah Scott and Alison Allgood.
Seven different Sharks swimmers finished with best overall times in three different individual events for their respective age groups.
Michael Potts took first overall in the 25-yard freestyle with a 16.82 time, the 25-yard backstroke with a 20.50 time, and the 25-yard breaststroke with a 25.34 time in the boys’ 7-8-year-old division.
Mikey Hathaway had the best times in the 50-yard butterfly with a 37.65 time, the 100-yard IM with a time of 1:26.88, and the 50-yard backstroke with a 39.78 time in the boys’ 9-10-year-old division.
Joseph Potts, of the 11-12-year-old age group, finished first overall in the 50-yard freestyle with a 29.91 time, the 50-yard backstroke with a 35.21 time, and the 50-yard butterfly with a 32.72 time.
Josh Hale, of the 13-14-year-old age group, took first in the 50-yard butterfly with a 29.09 time, the 50-yard breaststroke with a 34.38 time, and the 50-yard freestyle with a 25.72 time.
In the girls division, Olivia Dunn, Carly Morrow and Camryn Jenkins each finished first overall in three different events for the Sharks.
Dunn and Morrow both dominated their 25-yard events. Dunn, of the 6-under age group, took first overall in the freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly races.
Morrow, of the 7-8-year-old age group, won the backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Jenkins had the best time in three 50-yard events. She finished first in the freestyle, backstroke and butterfly.
For Cabot, Jessie Baldwin had the most impressive showing for the Piranhas. Like Sherwood’s Hanley, she had the best overall time in four different individual events and was part of the winning 100-yard freestyle relay girls’ team that represented the 15-18-year-old age group.
Piranhas coach Debbie Skidmore had nothing but positive things to say about Baldwin’s performance as well as her teammates in that age group.
“She’s been a real good swimmer and this year she’s really doing excellent,” Skidmore said of Baldwin. “The older kids are always our best workers and best swimmers. They’ve been swimming in high school and all year-round. So they don’t even really take a vacation.”
When describing how much time her veteran swimmers spend in the pool, Skidmore jokingly said, “They eat chlorine for breakfast.”
Baldwin’s best performances came in the 50-yard backstroke, where she finished with a time of 30 seconds flat, the 50-yard breaststroke, where she finished in 34.19 seconds, the 50-yard butterfly, where she finished in 29.78 seconds, and the 100-yard IM, where she finished in 1:07.69.
The winning relay team that featured Baldwin, Katie Frederick, Aeriel Lane and Catyee Wright finished with a 52.12 time.
In that same event and age group in the boys division, the Piranhas team of Payton Jones, Brent Brockel, John Santiago and Seth Fox posted the best overall time as they finished in 47.46 seconds.
Cabot had one other relay team finish first in the boys 12-under division. The relay team of Tristen Bowen, Coleman Manley, Jason Bongfeldt and Tyce Wright took first overall with a time of 1:01.69.
Bowen also finished with the best overall time in three different events for his age group (11-12-year-old). He took first in the 50-yard breaststroke with a 37.16 time, the 50-yard butterfly with a 33.06 time, and the 100-yard IM with a time of 1:11.91.
Jessica Bongfeldt also had the best time in three individual events. She finished the 50-yard backstroke with a 40.07 time, the 50-yard breaststroke with a 41.05 time, and the 100-yard IM in 1:31.19.
Grant Goodnight was the only other Cabot swimmer to post the best time in three individual events. Goodnight, of the 6-under division, finished first in the 25-yard freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke events.