Special to the LPJ
SULPHUR, La. — The Ruston Bearcats swam their way to the Division II state champions over this past weekend, while the Lady Bearcats picked up a sixth place finish at the 2025 LHSAA State Championships at the SPAR Aquatic Center in Sulphur, La.
The Bearcats won with a 272 points total — nearly 100 points better than second place Arch Bishop Rummel.
“After the second place finish last year, the boys really started talking about winning this year,” Head Coach Paulette Butterfield said. “It became a regular discussion of having to do the work in practice. Simply wanting it wasn’t enough. The first half of the meet we knew we would have to be patient and calm, since our stronger individual events were in the back half of the meet would give us a strong finish. The last relay (400 freestyle) was the final factor, we knew they had to place high to get the final points needed. Those boys took care of things by winning the event by 8 seconds.
“It was a flashback moment for me, going back to the first team we beat them in 2012 and held on to the title for six more years. This was kind of like that, we believed we could beat them but didn’t really know what to expect with our team of 10 qualifiers versus their team of 16.”
See boys results below:
- 1st > 100 fly – Sophomore JJ Hoover (set new Division 2 state record)
- 1st > 100 breast – Hoover
- 2nd > 50 free – Junior Samuel Jackson
- 2nd > 100 free – Jackson
- 3rd > 100 fly – Freshman G Amiano
- 3rd > 200 medley relay – Sophomore Matthew Roach, Hoover, Amiano, Senior Taylor Roller
- 4th > 200 free relay – Roller, Junior Paul St. Cyr, Freshman Ian Liu, Jackson
- 6th > 100 back – Amiano
- 8th > 100 free – Roach
- 8th > 100 breast – Sophomore Maddox Hamby
- 9th > 200 IM – St. Cyr
- 10th > 100 back – Roach
- 10th > 200 IM – Roller
- 11th > 100 breast – Roller
- 13th > 100 back – St. Cyr
- 13th > 100 breast – Campbell
- 14th > 200 IM – Campbell
- 14th > 50 free – Liu
- 15th > 100 free – Liu
For the girls, they finished with 116 points for a six overall finish.
“For this small group to finish in the Top 8 is a huge accomplishment,” Butterfield said. “The relays did well finishing in the Top 8 along with the individual finishes of Junior Breanna Senn, Junior Emma Hinton and Freshman Emily Xu made for a strong team finish.”
- 1st > 500 freestyle – Senn
- 2nd > 200 freestyle – Senn
- 3rd > 100 freestyle – Xu
- 5th > 50 freestyle – Xu
- 7th > 400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Xu, Hinton, Sophomore Olivia Strand, Senn
- 8th > 200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Xu, Hinton, Strand, Senn
- 14th > 100 breaststroke – Hinton
Cedar Creek also had impressive individual swimming performances, as well, in the Division IV meet which included individual championships by junior Camdyn Napper in both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.
- 1st > 200 IM – Napper
- 1st > 100 Breastroke – Napper
- 3rd > 100 Backstroke – Junior Gracie Jones
- 6th > 200 IM – Jones
- 6th > 200 IM – 8th grader Dallas Gouedy
- 7th > 100 Freestyle – Gouedy
“This group had a variety of experiences this year,” Butterfield said. “Camdyn was a repeat champion in his events, Gracie had her first podium appearance and Dallas was the highest finishing middle school swimmer in both of his events.”
Choudrant freshmen Jessie and Julie Groce also placed well in their respective events.
- 3rd > 200 IM – Jessie Groce
- 4th > 100 Butterfly – Jessie Groce
- 5th > 50 Freestyle – Julie Groce
“This was the first high school state meet appearance for both of these girls and to finish in the top for both of them is a great starting point for future years,” Butterfield said.
