Hines breaks school record as Tiger swim team has successful week in pool

Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Nevada High School swimmers Tyler Armstrong (left) and Kalen Morris compete in the 100 yard freestyle at Thursday’s Red Bird Invitational, hosted by Webb City High School.
Submitted photo

The Nevada Tiger swim team was busy last week, placing runner-up at Tuesday’s Seymour meet; followed by a fourth-place finish at Thursday’s Webb City-hosted Red Bird Invitational.

Seymour meet

Held at the Seymour YMCA, Nevada freshman Ben Hines collected a pair of first-place finishes. Hines’ gold medal finish in the 100-yard backstroke, was his third state-qualifying time of the season. Hines’ time in the event (57.76) was also a new NHS record, shattering Thomas Prewitt’s school record set in 2014 (1:01.29). Hines then netted a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley, clocking a time of 2:21.47.

Nevada’s Grant Miller joined Hines with a pair of gold medals, as the sophomore qualified for state in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.46. Miller also won the 100 breaststroke (1:15.26). Fellow sophomore Kalen Morris locked up first place in the 100 freestyle (58.68) and runner-up in the 100 backstroke (1:12.53).

Continuing Nevada’s trend of top finishes, sophomore Braden Russell zoomed to first in the 200 freestyle (2:15.87) and second in the 50 freestyle (26.25). In addition, sophomore Tyler Armstrong placed runner-up in the 50 freestyle (27.05) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (1:01.28). Nevada’s Jack Niestrath collected a bronze in the 100 breaststroke (1:37.01) and sixth in the 100 freestyle (1:08.43); while freshman Pierce Dennison swam to a fifth place finish in the 200 freestyle (3:01.18) and seventh in the 100 freestyle (1:17.91).

Nevada nailed down a pair of top relay finishes, with the Tigers setting state consideration marks in both the 200 medley relay (1:55.27) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:53.13). The Tigers also placed runner-up in the 400 freestyle relay (4:29.41). Nevada’s 200 medley relay team is comprised of Morris, Armstrong, Miller and Hines; while the 200 freestyle team is comprised of Russell, Dennison, Armstrong and Miller.

West Plains edged Nevada for first place, finishing with 423 points, while Nevada tallied 417. Host Seymour slotted into third with 53 points.

“We had a great meet at Seymour,” said NHS head coach Clayton Wheeler. “We had three new swimmers: Austin Pursley, Gage Rubin and Dalton Barker. For their first meet they did a great job. We were very close with West Plains the whole meet.”

Red Bird Invitational

Held Thursday at the Buck Minor Natatorium, Nevada placed sixth at the 11-team Red Bird Invitational. Freshman Hines continued his season of dominance in the pool. Hines’ school record in the 100 backstroke held up only two days, as he bested his previous time by nearly a full second (56.78) en route to another gold medal finish. Hines also captured a gold in the 50 freestyle (22.58). Both of Hines’ official times qualified him for state.

Miller had another solid showing, placing sixth in the 100 butterfly and (1:04.63) and 10th in the 50 freestyle (25.61). Morris finished eighth in the 100 backstroke (1:13.06) and 12th in the 100 freestyle (1:02.35).

Russell sped to a top 10 finish in the 200 freestyle, placing ninth (2:09.23) and 14th in the 50 freestyle (26.05). Another Nevada top 10 finish was achieved by Armstrong, who placed 10th in the 100 freestyle (59.83) and 16th in the 50 freestyle (27.41).

Niestrath concluded the invitational 15th in the 100 freestyle (1:06.16) and 16th in the 100 breaststroke (1:36.41); while Dennison placed 25th in the 200 freestyle (2:55.39) and 26th in the 100 freestyle (1:17.51).

Nevada also notched quality showings in its relay events, with fourth place finishes in the 200 medley relay (1:58.72) and 400 freestyle relay (3:51.00); and seventh place in the 200 freestyle relay (2:04.92).

Wheeler said he was pleased with his squad’s performance, especially in the relay events.

“We had a pretty good showing tonight at Webb City,” he said. “The 400 Yard freestyle relay team of Ben Hines, Kalen Morris, Tyler Armstrong, and Grant Miller set a state consideration time. With that time, we now have a state consideration time in all three relay events.”

Team results

• Glendale, 324; Kickapoo, 247; Ozark, 160; Joplin, 143; Nixa, 129; Nevada, 111; Webb City, 92; Marshfield, 54; Hillcrest, 47; Lamar, 28; and Greenwood, 8.

— Up next —

Nevada returns to the pool on Thursday for the Glendale Swim Meet, held at Foster Natatorium in Springfield

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