Photo courtesy of Amy Knoll
The Hope Piranhas Swim Team celebrated the end of the season with a party and swim team exhibition during the Watermelon Festival Saturday afternoon where they had some fun in the pool and gave out end-of-the-year awards.
The awards started out with three different high point awards: boys, girls and overall. 13-year-old Sadie Knoll was awarded the Overall High Point award for winning the most points for the team over the whole season of every gender. 12-year-olds Ben Stewart and Zoie Cox were awarded the high point trophy for winning the most points for their respective genders.
Another award was given out that afternoon for Boys and Girls Most Improved which awards the swimmer from each gender that had the most growth and improvement throughout the season. 8-year-old Kase Lemley and 9-year-old Aubri Newton were each the recipient of that award.
The team also had some fun in the pool during the celebration with a variety of different relays taking place. The relay fun started out with the Watermelon relays where the swimmers had to race across the pool while pushing a locally-grown Hope Watermelon with their heads. The 2nd relay was a parent/child relay where swimmers got to race on a relay team with their parents. The last relay was a T-shirt relay where swimmers had to race across the pool in an oversized T-shirt and pass it off to their other teammates.
The Hope Piranhas ended the season with their most successful yet after not being able to compete last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They had multiple top finishes, tons of personal best times, and even went on to help Team Arkansas win the Junior Olympic Swim Meet.
"After not getting to swim last year and finally getting into the pool this year, they did awesome," Coach Amy Knoll said. "I could not be more proud to be one of their coaches!"
They will return next summer for what they hope to be an equally successful year.
13-year-old Sadie Knoll with her Overall High Point Trophy
12-year-old Ben Stewart with his Boys High Point Trophy
12-year-old Zoie Cox with her Girls High Point Trophy
9-year-old Aubri Newton with her girls most improved Trophy
8-year-old Kase Lemley with his Boys Most Improved Trophy
Photos by Jordan Woodson