LITTLE ROCK- The Trojans finished third in the third annual Little Rock Invitational on Saturday morning inside the Donaghey Aquatic Center.
Lea Zengerling won the 500-yard freestyle and
Sierra Thain finished first in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
Little Rock totaled 642 points for the meet, just two points behind second-place Henderson State (644) and 93 points behind Oklahoma Baptist who came out victorious. Rounding out the competition was fourth-place University of the Ozarks who finished with 157 points, Lindenwood Belleville who took fifth with 142 points and Hendrix College in sixth with 30 points.
The Trojans opened the relay events with some solid performances from
Laura Ruiz Astorga,
Palmer Ristroph, Carolyn Godwin and
Lindsey Butler who took third in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:52.20. The quartet of
Jessie Baldwin, Katie Carsrud, Alexis Carr and
Claire Bristow came in right behind their teammates to place fourth in the event, earning a time of 1:58.24.
Rachel Maradyn had a solid swim in the 1000-yard freestyle, clocking in at 11:15.76 which was good enough for fourth place.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Bristow swam her way to second place with a time of 1:57.65, less than three tenths of a second behind the leading swimmer Julianna Cifuentes. Butler finished right behind Bristow with a time of 1:59.23.
The Trojans had another pair of swimmers take second and third place in an event as Ruiz Astorga and Butler finished second and third respectively in the 100-yard backstroke. Ruiz Astorga posted a time of 59.14 and Butler clocked in at 1:00.28.
Zengerling put in her first solid performance of the day in the 200-yard butterfly where she took second place with a time of 2:09.37. To continue the trend of the second and third place finishes, Maradyn would come in just behind Zengerling with a time of 2:14.44.
In the 50-yard freestyle,
Regan Lawrence posted a very solid time of 25.02 for fourth place.
Thain dominated the 1-meter dive, earning a score of 234.55 to pick up a huge 20 points for her team with her first place finish. She then went ahead and won the 3-meter event as well with a time of 214.45.
Butler continued her stellar day with a second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, clocking in at 53.60.
In the 200-yard backstroke, Ruiz Astorga put in another second place finish with a time of 2:09.14 to earn another substantial amount of points for the Trojans.
Mia Gibson and
Amanda Dreyer also finished fifth and sixth respectively in the event.
Zengerling displayed her brilliance in the 500-yard freestyle with a first place finish, the first of her Little Rock career. Her time of 5:13.98 was nearly five seconds ahead of the second-place competitor.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Godwin showed well with a time of 1:02.15 for fourth place.
Junior
Charis Won impressed with a third place finish in the 200-yard IM, clocking in at 2:16.65.
In the final event of the day, the Trojans took third in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Ruiz Astorga, Lawrence, Bristow and Butler combined for a time of 1:40.18, only five hundredths of second off second-place Henderson State.
Little Rock will get back in the pool at the Donaghey Aquatic Center on Oct. 27 when they host Evansville.
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