By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Sherwood Sharks swim team began its season with a dominant performance at Otter Creek last Saturday. The Sharks totaled 929 points at the two-team meet, easily outpointing the host Otters, who finished the meet with 254 team points.
Sherwood had its most dominant performances in the lower age groups. In the 7-8-year-old age group, Sharks’ swimmers Michael Potts and Madelyn Morrow won every event they competed in.
Dillon Wood and Avery Ballany also won every event they competed in. Those two competed in the 9-10-year-old age group. Joseph Potts and Alaya Smith won every event they competed in in the 11-12-year-old group, and Thomas Heye, 15, won every event he competed in in the 15-18-year-old age group.
Despite the early success, Sharks coach Mary Jo Heye is cautiously optimistic about the season ahead.
“We are not the biggest team anymore, and it has to hurt us that there have not been swim lessons at our Rec. Center in about a year, and none of our local high schools have a team like our competitors in Bryant, Conway and Cabot,” said Heye.
“However, this team has a lot of heart, works really hard, and knows this is going to be our toughest year in recent memory.”
Even though Sherwood may be facing some tougher competition down the road, the Sharks showed what they could do against the Otters. In the first set of races, Avery Godbee of Sherwood won the 50-meter freestyle in the 15-18-year-old age group with a time of 34.03, which was good for a gold finish.
For the 11-12-year-olds in that race, Sherwood’s Joseph Potts posted the best time for the boys at 31.09, and Smith had the best time for the girls, clocking in at 32.62 seconds. Both times were good for platinum finishes.
In the 9-10-year-old freestyle races, Wood had the best time for the boys at 36.39 seconds, but fellow Shark Ballany posted the best overall time for either group, finishing in 36.33 seconds.
Michael Potts clocked in the best time in the 7-8-year-old 25-meter freestyle race as he finished in 17.21 seconds. Sherwood’s Morrow had the best girls’ time with an 18.28 finish.
Jacob Dunn won the 6-under 25-meter freestyle race with a gold time of 27.79. Sophie Gaylord, another Shark swimmer in that age group, clocked in at 29.38 for the best time in the girls’ division.
Dunn also topped the other swimmers in the 25-meter backstroke for the lower age group. He finished in 34.02, while fellow Shark Sami Stafford posted a slightly better time in the girls’ division of that age group, finishing in 33.43. Both times were good for gold finishes.
Of course, Michael Potts and Morrow shined the brightest amongst the 7-8-year-olds. After posting the best overall times in the freestyle race, Michael Potts won the 25-meter backstroke, breaststroke and 100-meter individual medley, while Morrow posted best times in the breaststroke, butterfly and 100-meter IM.
Michael Potts finished the backstroke in 20.79, the breaststroke in 23.38, and the 100-meter IM in 1:35.45. Morrow finished the breaststroke in 24.38, the butterfly in 19.99, and the 100-meter IM in 1:47.85, which was good for a platinum finish.
Like Michael Potts and Morrow dominated the 7-8-year-old events, Wood and Ballany dominated the 9-10-year-old events. In addition to the freestyle race, Wood won the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 45.37, the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 48.25, and the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 39.99.
In addition to winning the freestyle race, Ballany posted best times for her age group in the 50-meter backstroke, 43.44 seconds, the 50-meter breaststroke, 52.97, and the 100-meter IM with a time of 1:37.62, which was good for a gold finish.
Joseph Potts and Smith each had best times in four individual events for the 11-12-year-olds. After winning the 50-meter freestyle, Joseph Potts won the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 36.87, the 50-meter butterfly with a time of 35.68, and the 100-meter IM with a platinum time of 1:18.63.
Smith posted best times in the same events. After getting the best time in the freestyle, she completed the backstroke in 38.30, the butterfly in 34.59, and the 100-meter IM in 1:18.34 – all good for platinum finishes.
Sherwood’s Jordan Woodson posted best times in two events in the 13-14-year-old age group. Woodson had the best time in the 100-meter IM, finishing in 1:10.87 – good for a platinum finish.
His 50-meter breaststroke time of 36.75 seconds was also a best for that age group.
Heye, competing in the 15-18-year-old events, posted the top times in the 100-meter IM, the 50-meter butterfly, and the 50-meter breaststroke. Heye finished the 100-meter IM in 1:02.08, the butterfly in 29.07 seconds, and the breaststroke in 32.91 seconds. All times were good for platinum finishes.
In that same age group, Godbee posted best times in the 50-meter butterfly and 50-meter backstroke in addition to her top time in the freestyle race.
She finished the butterfly in 37.28 seconds, good for a silver finish, and the backstroke in 41.71, which was also good for a silver finish.
In addition to all of the individual successes the Sharks had, they won every race in the 100-meter freestyle relay except for the 18-under age group.
The Sharks compete again today in a home meet against Bryant. The first race is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.