Nevada's Hines, Leung get Tiger swim squad off on right foot

The Nevada Tiger swim team collected fifth and sixth-place finishes respectively at their opening two meets of the season.

At the Carthage Indoor Invitational, held at Fair acres Family YMCA on Sept. 8, Nevada notched a fifth-place team finish at the seven-school meet. On Saturday, the Tigers returned to the pool for the Ozark Invitational, held at Foster Natatorium in Springfield. There, they placed sixth at the 12-school meet.

Carthage meet

Nevada's outing in Carthage was highlighted by freshman Cody Leung's pair of gold medal performances — blazing to gold in the 100-yard Butterfly, and 100-backstroke. Leung notched a state-qualifying time in the 100-Butterfly, and a state-consideration time in the 100-Backstroke. Additionally, Nevada's 200-yard medley, and 200-Free relay teams also notched state-consideration times.

—— NHS individual results ——

• Cody Leung: First-place, 100-Butterfly (55.19); first-place, 100-Backstroke (58.62).

• Tretin Raney: Fourth-place, 50-Freestyle (27.13); fifth-place, 100-Breaststroke, (1:18.20).

• Karter Evans: Sixth-place, 100 Breaststroke (1:21.47); ninth-place, 100 Freestyle (59.97).

• Jeremiah Hoss: Seventh-place, 500-Freestyle (7:58.86).

• Braylin Brooks: Ninth-place, 50-Freestyle (29.03); 14th-place, 100 Backstroke (1:29.09).

• Colby Bourassa: 11th-place, 100-Backstroke (1:25.54); 16th-place, 100-Freestyle (1:08.44).

• Daylan Harth: 12th-place, 50-Freestyle (29.81); 17th-place, 100-Freestyle (1:08.55).

• Kynndrick Brooks: 15th-place, 50-Freestyle (31.52); 20th-place, 100 Freestyle (1:14.80).

—— Relay results ——

• 200-yard Medley relay (A): Evans, Raney, Leung, and B. Brooks — fourth-place, 2:01.70.

• 200-Freestyle relay: Leung, Evans, B. Brooks, and Raney — sixth-place, 1:47.35.

• 400-Freestyle relay: Harth, Bourassa, K. Brooks, and Hoss — fifth-place — 4:54.38.

—— Team scores ——

• Carthage High (299), Joplin High (282), Kickapoo High (261), Lebanon High (222), Nevada High (215), Camdenton High (205), Nixa High (134).

"It was a good first meet," said Nevada High head swim coach, Clayton Wheeler. "We are very proud of Cody for swimming an auto-state time in the Butterfly, and a consideration-time in the Backstroke. We are also very excited about two of our relays earning consideration times. We don’t know yet where we rank with other teams, as our ranking website will not be up until district assignments come out on Sept. 21."

Ozark Invitational

Reigning four-time state gold medalist Ben Hines made his season debut for the Nevada swim squad, and didn't disappoint.

Hines, who has committed to the University of Alabama, notched a pair of gold medal finishes in the 50-Freestyle and 100-Butterfly. Leung, meanwhile, followed up his stellar freshman debut with a gold medal finish in the 200-Individual medley — as the Tigers notched a strong sixth-place finish.

"It went pretty good," Wheeler noted. "Ben was glad to be in the pool for this meet, having missed the Carthage Indoor. And did so in his usual way, swimming auto-state times, and winning both the 50-Free and the Butterfly."

Added Wheeler: "Cody stunned with an amazing race in the 200-Individual Medley, where he not only won, but almost hit the state-auto time, and set a new school record, 2:05.84.

"The old record of 2:07.44, was set by Ben during his freshman year (2017). Cody also swam a state-consideration time in the 100-Free. Our 200-Medley relay and 200-Freestyle relay teams dropped time, and inched closer to and automatic state time."

—— NHS individual results ——

• Ben Hines: 50-Freestyle, first-place (21.47); 100-Butterfly, first-place (53.29).

• Cody Leung: First-place 200-Individual Medley (2:05.84); Fourth-place, 100-Freestyle (52.15).

• Karter Evans: 11th-place, 50-Freestyle (26.59); 11th-place 100-Breaststroke (1:19.62).

• Jeremiah Hoss: 15th-place, 500-Freestyle (7:45.70).

• Braylin Brooks: 19th-place, 100-Backstroke (1:31.35); 20th-place, 100-Freestyle (1:07.68).

• Daylan Harth: 19th-place, 100-Freestyle (1:07.55); 50-Freestyle, DNP (29.04).

• Kynndrick Brooks: 21st-place, 100-Freestyle (1:12.40); 50-Freestyle, DNP (30.16).

—— Relay results ——

• 200-yard Medley relay: Leung, Evans, Hines, and B. Brooks — third-place, 1:55.24.

• 200-Freestyle relay: Hines, Leung, Evans, and B. Brooks — fifth-place, 1:41.09.

—— Team scores ——

• Glendale (503), Ozark (265), Kickapoo (262), Monett (152), Marshfield (151), Nevada (149), Logan-Rogersville (143), Springfield Central (117), Nixa (103), Waynesville (80), Republic (50), Hillcrest (29).

Up Next

Nevada returns to the pool for today's meet in Monett. "We are looking forward to this meet, as we should have all our swimmers (available)," Wheeler noted.