Sports

The Berryville High School golf team opened its 2022 season last week, competing Aug. 1-2 at Big Creek Golf & Country Club in Mountain Home.

RHarvey@cherryroad.com Emma Gilmore hadn’t had a swimming lesson before competing in her first swim meet as an 8-yearold. Now, at 15, she’s showcasing her skills at a national level.

SLoftis@cherryroad.com The Green Forest Tigers haven’t shied away from tough competition this summer. The Tigers recently competed in the Southwest Elite 7-on-7 tournament hosted by Shiloh Christian in Springdale, where they held their own against teams representing larger schools.

If summer-camp performances are any indication, the Green Forest Tigers might be primed for another successful basketball season. “It started fairly slow, but by the end of the summer we wound up playing pretty good,” Green Forest coach Shane Compton said.

The Eureka Springs Highlanders had the kind of season most teams can only dream about in 2021-22: The Highlanders went undefeated in conference play on the way to a regular-season conference championship, then won district and regional tournament titles as well before advancing to the second round of the Class 2A state tournament.

Longtime Berryville volleyball coach Kristin Whetham tried something new with the Lady Bocbats this summer, and she’s been pleased with the results. “This year is the first year that I actually didn’t do anything in June with the girls,” Whetham said.

Replacing 13 seniors from last season’s team that went 2-8 overall and 1-6 in conference play was a tough enough challenge for the Berryville Bobcats. Starting over at quarterback only adds to the degree of difficulty.

The Berryville Bobcats 2022 Football camp for athletes entering kindergarten through the ninth grade will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday, July 27-28, at the high school football field.

After a 3-0 loss to Berryville in the final game of the 2021 football season, Green Forest coach Greg Tibbitt said his team needed to develop an offensive identity. Fast forward eight months, and Tibbitt is feeling better about the Tigers’ offense heading into the 2022 season.

Eric Perez made the difficult decision earlier this year to leave his job as head coach of the Green Forest soccer team for an assistant coaching position in Siloam Springs. It’s a step up to a larger classification for Perez, a Green Forest native who was a player on the Tigers’ 2014 Class 4A state championship team and then coached his alma mater to a Class 3A state title in his first year as head coach in 2021.