Trojans Finish Fifth in the Kansas Classic

TOPEKA, Kan. – Little Rock edged out Omaha in the final relay to claim a fifth place finish with 266 points in the Kansas Classic and KU Diving Invitational this past weekend in Topeka, Kansas. Kansas claimed first place with 1,060 points while North Texas took second with 769.5 points, Iowa State took third with 60 points, Northern Iowa took fourth with 502 points and Omaha took sixth with 264.5 points.
 
It came down to the 400-yard freestyle relay Sunday afternoon as Little Rock and Omaha were neck-and-neck in points battling for the fifth place seed of the Classic. The Trojans were able to claim the spot after the team of Imre van Huyssteen, Emma Doll, Tori Fryar and Laura Ruiz Astorga took sixth place with a 3:29.00 time and grabbed 26 points while the other team of Regan Lawrence, Courtney Goff, Isabelle Finzen, and Claire Bristow finished twelfth with a time of 3:34.09 to get 12 points. Omaha was only able to grab seventh and thirteenth place finishes and not enough points to beat the Trojans.
 
The weekend did not see any school records broke, but numerous swimmers came extremely close. In the 200-yard freestyle on Saturday evening, Fryar took 12th place with a recorded time of 1:51.75 which was 00.23 seconds away from the school record. Fryar finished the top scorer for the Trojans after also finishing seventh in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth place in the 1,650 freestyle.
 
Nuria Gallego Murcia claimed a seventh place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke after being just .80 seconds behind the school record with a time of 1:04.86.
 
Ruiz Astorga nearly broke two different school records, first in the 100-yard backstroke being just .75 seconds behind the record with a 56.96 time and then even closer in the 200-yard backstroke swimming only .13 seconds behind the record finishing with a 2:03.27 time.
 
Imre van Huyssteen won the C-Final in the 100-yard freestyle after swimming a 51.75 time which was just .53 seconds behind the school record.
 
Samantha Gray would lead the Trojans in diving taking third place finish in the one-meter dive with a score of 224.30 and then taking fourth place in the three-meter dive with a score of 233.70.
 
Little Rock showed well in the 200-yard breaststroke as Gallego Murcia and Palmer Ristroph had season best times while they took sixth and seventh place. Gallego Murcia was the Trojans second top scorer of the Classic as she also took points after a seventh place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.
 
With the fall schedule out of the way, Little Rock will look forward towards Orlando, Florida, for their annual winter training trip before returning to dual-meet action on January 13.