In the school’s final meet at the Rick Cohn Aquatic Center, the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers made it a memorable day by winning the Region I Swim Meet with six automatic qualifiers for the state first round.
The Lady Tigers built points by way of 11 top-five individual finishes and three runner-up finishes in the relays.
“They are talented across the board and we realized that they could be in spots that they don’t always like to be in, and not the most comfortable for them, but they rose to the occasion and did what it took to win,” said veteran coach Keith Marquess, who was named the Girls’ Region Coach of the Year following the meet.
The region win is the first for the Lady Tigers since 2018 and comes as Hopkinsville and Christian County merge into one school and program next year. Bringing home a region championship trophy in Hopkinsville’s final season makes it even more special for Marquess.
“I love every minute of it. I’m proud of all of our swimmers, and we just had more numbers in the right spots to do it this year,” she said.
Hopkinsville totaled 357 points to outdistance second-place Henderson County (265) and third-place Murray (228).
Lily Johnston had Hopkinsville’s lone individual win, taking first place in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:10.91. She also finished in second place in the 200-yard IM in 2:39.39 and qualified for the state first round.
Grace Cansler was looking for a region three-peat in the 100-yard breaststroke but came in second to Murray’s Abigail Mattingly by three-quarters of a second. Cansler was also third in the 200-yard IM in 2:40.77.
The top two finishers at the region automatically qualify for the state first round this Saturday at Bowling Green High School. The next ten times in each event from Regions 1-3 will also qualify.
Brilyn Merrick was third in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:08.06 and fourth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:21.16.
Saralynn Major came in third place in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:45.02 and fourth place in the 500-yard freestyle in 6:43.58.
Kaley Bangart finished in third place in the 500-yard freestyle in 6:34.97 and fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:47.10.
Kaydon Coats finished in fifth place in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:10.17 and seventh place in the 50-yard freestyle in 31.68 seconds.
Evelyn Bangart came in sixth place in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:55.87 and 10th place in the 50-yard freestyle in 32.24 seconds.
Sarah Kate Gilliam took sixth place in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:13.52 and eighth place in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:58.79.
Brooke Ebbinger came in ninth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:27.88 and 14th in the 50-yard freestyle in 34.45 seconds.
Madelin Macario came in 12th place in the 50-yard freestyle in 33.87 seconds and 12th in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:32.21.
Hopkinsville’s three relay teams also qualified for the state first round.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Brilyn Merrick, Lily Johnston, Grace Cansler, and Saralynn Major finished in second place with a time of 2:09.55.
The 200-yard free relay team of Major, Cansler, Johnston, and Kaley Bangart finished second in 1:54.94.
The 400-yard free relay team of Coats, Merrick, and the Bangart twins finished in second place in 4:34.36.
