Hopkinsville looks to win back the combined trophy this weekend when they host the region swim meet at the Rick Cohn Aquatic Center. The preliminaries begin Friday with the finals to be held Saturday.
The boys’ team won their first region title in 16 years in 2018, helping pave the way for a combined region title.
Last year, the Hoptown girls won their first region title since 2005. The combined region title went to Madisonville, and the Tiger swimmers want that title back.
Murray could be the region team to watch this year after finishing third at the Rick Cohn Invitational in November. Hopkinsville was fifth in the combined standings, and Madisonville was sixth.
Last year, Hopkinsville took four swimmers and two relay teams to the state swim meet.
Hopkinsville’s girls won the region title last year without having an individual champion. That could change this year.
Ella Falco was second last year in both the 200-yard free and 100-yard fly, while Ellie Colburn (100 free) and Lauren Langhi (200 IM, 100 breast) both had second place finishes. Falco won the 200 free at the Rick Cohn Invitational by nearly six seconds against region competition, while Langhi was second in the 200 IM.
Both the 200-yard free and 400-yard free relay teams won region titles last year. However, those teams are different this year and finished fourth behind Murray at the Rick Cohn Invitational.
On the boys’ side, Chase Atkins looks to repeat as region champion in the 200-yard free. He is the only returning Hoptown swimmer to win at region last year.
Bryce Robinson had a pair of second place finishes in the 200-yard IM and 100-yard breaststroke.
Hoptown has a pair of relay teams (200 and 400 free) looking to bring home region titles as well.
For Christian County, junior Dalton Bahr had a pair of top-five finishes at region last year. He will be looking to challenge in the 100-yard free.
Another swimmer looking to win the 100-yard free is Caldwell County’s Aaron Ziobro, who missed qualifying for last year’s state meet by .05 seconds.
Fort Campbell will have several young swimmers competing at the region meet in hopes of getting one or two qualified for the state meet.
