Two swimmers from Russellville High School won three regional championships this weekend, despite their long-time coach directing the competition.
Corey Hall won both the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 butterfly. Fellow junior Jonathan Hindman was first in the 100 breaststroke. All
races are measured in yards rather than meters.
They will compete at the state meet at the Ralph Wright Natatorium in Louisville this Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile their old coach, Dee Wilkins, was named Region I Coach of the Year in leading the Bowling Green High girls and boys teams to the team
championships in their divisions and the combined championship. The Purples and Lady Purples have lost only one match all year.
Coach Toni Hall’s Panthers finished fifth among 21 boys team. They were only four points out of third place. BGH had 284 points, and Daviess County
was a clear second at 161. Then RHS was in a crowd with Heath third at 119, Greenwood fourth at 118, and RHS fifth at 116. Owensboro was a distant
sixth at 79.
The girls were the strength of RHS swimming for many years, but the graduation of the outstanding class of 2007 left Chelsea Hall has the only
experienced Lady Panther. With her scores added in, RHS had 124 points and finished seventh as a school. Murray was sixth at 130 and Owensboro Apollo
eighth with 102.
They did all of this with just five swimmers, all juniors.
Corey Hall won the 200 intermediate medley with a 1:30.51, 1.09 seconds ahead of second place finisher of Trevor Ehrenheim of Daviess County. He
won the 100 Yard Butterfly with a 53.27, 3.12 second better than second place finisher Ryan Metzger of Barren County.
Hindman placed first among 48 competitors in the 100 Yard Breaststroke and second among 40 swimmers in the 200 Yard Freestyle. His 1:02.75
in the win was 1.29 seconds faster than runner-up Daniel Wood of Heath
.
In addition to their firsts, Hall and Hindman were joined in placing fourth in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay andfifth in the 200 Medley Relay
by classmates Cooper Ray and Max Howard.
Ray had an excellent showing, too, placing fourth in the 50 Freestyle and sixth in the 100 Freestyle.
Chelsea Hall was seventh of 42 in the 100 Butterfly and eleventh of 30 in the 200 IM.
Logan shows young depth
A new coach and several inexperienced swimmers combined to make a good showing for the Logan County teams.
Martha Elrod, the founding coach of LCHS swimming, retired after the first semester this year. Her successor is Marriah Hammons, a Western Kentucky
University student.
Junior Jordan Chick led the way, finishing 13th of 71 in one event and 15th of 80 in another.
Also placing in the top half of the competitors in an event were the team’s only senior, Jesse Pawley, junior Cullen Pittman, sophomore Ethan
White, freshmen London Kutzman and Emily Chambers, and eighth graders Clay Fulcher and Troy Fulcher.
Seventh grader Loren King swam three events. Hammons’ regional entrants included seven athletes in grades 7-9, and they combined for 21 events.
Individual performances follow:
Senior
Jesse Pawley:
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle (37th of 80); 200 Yard Freestyle Relay; 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Juniors
Jordon Chick
: Boys 100 Yard Freestyle (13th of 71); 50 Yard Freestyle (15th of 80); 200 Yard Freestyle Relay; 400 Yard
Freestyle Relay
Cullen Pittman:
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle (34th of 80)
Paige Taylor:
Girls 100 Yard Freestyle; 200 Yard Freestyle Relay; 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Taylor Johnson:
Girls 100 Yard Freestyle; 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Dustin Skipworth:
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay; 100 Yard Freestyle
Logan Fugate:
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay
Kelsey Hinton;
Girls 50 Yard Freestyle
Chelsea Cartas:
Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Melissa Miles:
Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Jonathan Strickland:
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke
Jeremy Ragers:
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay
Sophomores
Ethan White:
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle (21st of 71); 100 Yard Breaststroke; 200 Yard Medley Relay
Elizabeth Hardin:
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay; 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
Matt Porter:
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle
Hunter Boswell:
Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke
Freshmen
London Kutzman:
Girls 50 Yard Freestyle (34th of 79); 200 Yard Medley Relay; 100 Yard Butterfly; 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
Emily Chambers:
Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke (28th of 63); 200 Yard Medley Relay; 50 Yard Freestyle; 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
Sydney Anderson:
Girls 100 Yard Freestyle; 100 Yard Breaststroke
Hunter Bevil:
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
Eighth Graders
Clay Fulcher:
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke (16th of 50); 200 Yard Freestyle Relay; 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Troy Fulcher:
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle (36th of 80); 200 Yard Freestyle; 200 Yard Freestyle Relay; 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Seventh grader
Loren King:
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay; 50 Yard Freestyle; 100 Yard Backstroke