Reynolds leads Bowling Green to eighteenth-straight region championship in swimming and diving
By Perry Swack
The medal stand at the 2nd Region Swimming and Diving Championships was littered with purple and gold as Bowling Green High School won its eighteenth-consecutive title last weekend at Owensboro Health Park. The Purples scored a combined 845 points to cruise to victory. South Warren finished in second place with 664 points, while Daviess County rounded out the top three with 500 points. Greenwood placed fourth with 347 points and Allen County-Scottsville took fifth with 319 points.
The depth of the Bowling Green Swim and Dive team was on full display at the event. The Purples won only six of the 24 events; however, BG placed multiple swimmers in the top three of seven individual events. The team earned points whenever possible, starting with the three region titles won by Cooper Reynolds. Leading up to the event, coach Dee Wilkins noted the outstanding season Reynolds was having in the pool. The region meet was a perfect display of his season as the senior won the 100-yard freestyle, the 100-yard backstroke, and led off in the 200-yard medley relay as the Purples placed first. Cooper Neal, Warren Woodall, and Alfonso Verduzco rounded out the quartet of that event with a time of 1:39.37, nearly one second faster than second-place South Warren.
Bowling Green also placed first in the 1-meter diving competition with Molly Morton final score of 269.30. The Purples won the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relay with Carlie Bowen, Paige Wierson, Sophie Morris, and Maggie Morris swimming both events and cruising to victory behind times of 1:43.04 in the 200 and 3:45.75 in the 400. Coach Wilkins also won the outstanding coach award for the 2nd Region.
Although they came up short in winning the combined region championship, the South Warren Spartans made their mark at the swim and dive meet, winning ten out of a possible 24 events. In a pre-meet interview with coach Andrew “Zig” Allan, there was general optimism about the Spartans’ chances at the meet. “With a wide range of ages, it will truly be a team effort and we are looking forward to them all contributing to see how it turns out. Both the boy’s and girl’s relay teams during the meet will have a shot at gold and look to secure their automatic bid to the State Meet at UK.” Prophetically spoken, South was ready for the challenge. The 200-yard medley relay group of Maddi Barbee, Siera Metcalfe, Sarah McGuinness, and Maddie Osmun swam a time of 1:52.72 to win the title – one season after Metcalfe, McGuinness, and Osmun set the regional record in the event. Barbee went on to win the 200-yard free and 100-yard back, while Osmun took the 100-yard free title. Barbee set the regional record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 59.16 seconds, breaking her teammate McGuinness’ record of 1:00.83 that was set last year. Junior Hannah Andrews won the 500-free with a time of 5:27.00.
On the boy’s side, South Warren also won five region titles led by Cody Ell. The senior eked out a win over Daviess County’s Trevor Church in the 50-free with a time of 21.31 seconds. Ell also won the 100-yard fly and the 400-yard freestyle relay with Lari Skeric, Eli Jones, and Brian Bosse. The freshman Bosse took first in the 200-IM with a time of 2:04.67. Jones, a Spartan junior, won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.51.
As a team, Greenwood placed first in five events, starting with the 200-free behind Landon Badstibner’s time of 1:46.20. The senior also won the 500-free with a time of 4:50.36. Florida Gulf Coast University signee Sarah Zoellner won the 200-yard IM by nearly 17 seconds (2:05.82) and the 100-yard fly with a time of 55.51 seconds, nearly topping her regional record set in 2022. Junior Gator Amelia Matzke placed first in the 50-free with a time of 24.75 seconds.
The Purples, Spartans, and Gators won 21 of the 24 events at the region meet and placed second in 16 of those. Allen County-Scottsville placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay behind the efforts of Kash Taylor, Ryan Wolfe, Houston Porter, and Aaron Shain. The Patriot quartet will head to state looking to make some more noise.
The top two finishers in each event qualify for the state meet, while at-large qualifiers are announced once all region meets have concluded. The at-large qualifiers have not been announced by the KHSAA at this time.
The state event will be held at the Lancaster Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington over three days between February 16-18.
