Bowling Green’s swim teams swept the Best of the West meet Saturday at BGHS.

“I thought we had a good swim meet – the kids swam well,” BG coach Dee Wilkins. “My guys had a great meet. Harrison Griffin really stood out. He had a lifetime best in the 200 free, lifetime best in the 500 free. So with no competitive suits on and no time to rest, I thought we had a great meet today.”

The Purples totaled 305 points, 170 more than second-place Henderson County (135). Barren County tied for third (120), Logan County was sixth (76), Russellville was 10th (60), Allen County-Scottsville was 11th (48), Greenwood was 13th (33) and Glasgow was 14th (23).

The Lady Purples distanced themselves from Madisonville-North Hopkins 287-176. Greenwood’s girls were fourth (134), Glasgow was eighth (65), Barren County tied for ninth (54), ACS was 11th (52), Russellville was 13th (7) and Logan County finished 14th (6).

The Purples saved their best for last, zooming to a first-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay in the day’s final event.

Rudy Edelen, Corey Pruitt, Jake Thomas and Griffin clocked a 3:17.58, breaking the pool record and sending an elated Griffin into the air in celebration.

“We’ve been trying to get that record for the last three meets,” Wilkins said. “Finally, today, we dropped three-and-a-half seconds. That was a good boost going into regionals. I was so excited for them.”

The day started with the girls’ 200-yard individual medley relay. After Glasgow’s team of Meghan Taylor, Brenna Taylor, Barbara Vanderveer and Stephanie Walton gave GHS an early edge, the Lady Purples rallied to take a slight lead after the second lap and pulled away over the final two 200 yards. Cassady Puckett, Dana Reynolds, MaKenzie Brummitt and Rachel Smith finished with a 2:02.69.

In the boys’ race, BG went neck-and-neck with Barren County after the first 100 yards, but the Purples eventually lengthened their slight lead to take a 1:42.68-1:53.33 lead. Nick Vanmeter, Edelen, Griffin and Thomas swam the race.

Bowling Green’s Paige Fields took first in the girls’ 200-yard freestyle with a 2:05.89. In the boys’ race, Griffin went stroke for stroke with Barren County’s Ryan Metzger before surging forward over the final 50 yards.

“It was close,” Griffin said. “Last time we raced a few weeks ago (at the Hilltopper Invitational), I had (Metzger) by half a second, but then he came back. So he started out before today – I was kinda scared. The way I swim, the third 50 (yards) I’ll go all out and the last leg it’s whatever I have left. Once I pulled ahead of him I knew he wasn’t coming back.”

In the boys’ 200-yard individual medley, Russellville’s Corey Hall swam a 2:07.24 for an easy win. In the girls’ 50-yard freestyle, Glasgow’s Meghan Taylor edged Greenwood’s Katelyn Wedde 26.16-26.99.

In the boys’ 50-yard freestyle, Edelen held off teammate Nick Rauh with a time of 22.87. Rauh finished with a 23.69 while Ryan Gerald of ACS swam a 23.96.

In the 100-yard butterfly, BG’s Reynolds steadily pulled away from teammate Brummitt for the win, swimming 1:04.23. In the boys’ event, Russellville’s Hall held off a late surge by BG’s Thomas to win by half a length at 53.75.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Fields won her second individual event of the day with a time of 57.46, leading from the starting horn.

“It was good – at the end my legs started to hurt. I got really tired,” Fields said. “I was out of breath and I was breathing, like, every stroke. (I was happy with my time) for this pool. This pool isn’t very fast, so I was proud of it.”

In the boys’ 100-yard freestyle, Bowling Green’s Rauh got out to a quick lead after the first 25, but teammate Pruitt overtook him during the next lap and held on for the win with a 50.79.

In the girls’ 500-yard freestyle, BG’s Brummitt led throughout, winning with a 5:42.57. In the boys’ race, Griffin on BG led 2:25.44-2:27.39 over Barren County’s Metzger at the halfway point. But Griffin dominated over the final 10 laps to win by just less than 12 seconds with a 4:55.71.

Bowling Green’s Fields, Lauren Walker, Rachel Smith and Meredith Harbison won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:50.23. Greenwood’s Lindsey Thomas, Taylor Nicks, Taylor Conrad and Wedde were second with a 1:56.80.

In the boys’ 200-yard freestyle relay, BGHS won with a time of 1:30.11 and finished before the other swimmers in the pool had made their final turn at the other end. It was Edelen, Pruitt, Rauh and Thomas getting the job done for BG.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, BG’s Walker and Reynolds both touched the wall at the same time after 25 and 50 yards. But Walker nudged forward over the final 10 yards to get the win with a 1:14.40.

In the boys’ 100-yard breaststroke, Russellville’s Jonathan Hindman swam to an easy win, posting a time of 1:03.68.

In the girls’ final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Walker, Brummitt, Reynolds and Fields swam a commanding race out of Lane 4 to win with a 3:57.48.

Allen County-Scottsville, Barren County, Bowling Green, Glasgow, Greenwood, Logan County and Russellville – all in competition Saturday – turn their focus to the Region 1 meet Feb. 5-6 in Owensboro.

“The training’s gone real well – we haven’t rested at all,” Wilkins said. “Over Christmas we put in 90 miles of training over 10 days, so they’re still kinda torn down. We’ll be resting up the next couple of weeks and ready to go fast.”

BGHS diving teams compete at TSU

The Bowling Green High School diving teams competed Saturday at the Tennessee State University Invitational meet in Nashville.

There was no team competition, but the BGHS squads were led individually in the boys’ contest by Caleb Brent, who finished with a score of 286. Matthew Higdon was third at 253.

In the girls’ competition, BG’s Goodman Johnson was third with a 327, Trevor Prieskorn was fourth at 320 and Katie Berryman was ninth at 320.