On Dec. 1, the RHS Swimming Panthers saw action in their home chlorine against crosstown rivals/friends the Logan County Cougars. For those wondering, yes, these two teams are friendly. They are friends in the truest sense of the word, training side by side day in and day out.

Joining the ranks of individuals required to pull off a swim meet was the fearless leader of RJSHS, Principal Kim McDaniel. She happily agreed to be an official timer that evening and a huge thank you goes out to her for that show of support!

Coach Toni Hall reports that she was very pleased with everyone’s performance Tuesday evening, “The boys did a great job in all of their events. I’m very happy with Dillon’s (Porter) times from the first meet to this one. He improved his time in both of his events.”  Kate Bouldin shaved time as well from the 500 free.

Other swimmers added slight amounts of time to their events, or they swam new events. Getting faster in the water and improving those times will be the focus from here on out.  The newly formed girls’relay team added an event this week, the 200 medley relay, with Morgan Bryant swimming backstroke, Katie Ray Holloman breaststroke, Bouldin fly, and Katie Paul freestyle.

Probably, the highlight of the meet was the girls’ 200 freestyle relay. This is the first event that the girl’s team swam together last week in Hopkinsville. Even though they added .9 of a second to their maiden time, they came through in the clutch to beat the LCHS team by three hundredths of a second. Members of each high school team cheering on both relay teams in the water was probably the most exciting thing any of us there had seen in a while.

Results for each event are as follows:

·Girls’ Relay Team – 200 Medley Relay – second place with a time of 2:43.44 and 200 Freestyle Relay – first place with a time of 2:14.94 (LCHS’ time was 2:14.97)

·Morgan Bryant –  50 Free 5^th place (35.15) and 100 Free 3^rd place (1:23.82)

·Ben Slack – 200 Individual Medley 1^st place (2:44.02) and 100 Fly 1^st place (1:12.63)

·Katie Ray Holloman – 50 Free 1^st place (31.78) and 100 Breast 2^nd place (1:41.92)

·Dillon Porter – 50 Free 5^th place (31.87) and 100 Breast 3^rd place (1:24.63)

·Cole Celsor – 50 Free 2^nd place (29.02) and 100 Free 4^th place (1:08.69)

·Katie Paul – 50 Free 8^th place (37.57) and 100 Free 5^th place (1:27.87)

·Kate Bouldin – 100 Fly 1^st place (1:17.34) and 500 Free 1^st place (6:20.53)

The Swimming Panthers will take to the lanes again on Tuesday at the Carpenter Center. Russellville, Logan County, and Hopkinsville High School will be competing.

Editor’s Note: The LoJo would be happy to report Logan County swim results, but the program never submits information.