LITTLE ROCK - The Little Rock swimming and diving team is finally back in action this Saturday, Jan. 18 after nearly two straight months of solely training. The Trojans welcome both Henderson State and Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) foes Southern Illinois to the Donaghey Aquatic Center for a 1:00 p.m. tri-meet. Live results will be posted on the MeetMobile app for fans to follow along from home.
"With just a few weeks left of our season we are looking forward to getting back to competition, especially against fellow MVC team Southern Illinois," said head coach Amy Burgess. "As we approach the MVC Championship we will begin to fine tune our skills and really focus on our race pace training. The team has really grown and supported each other these past few weeks and it is going to be exciting to see it all come together!"
The Southern Illinois Salukis are picked to finish second in the conference under first-year head coach Geoff Hanson, according to the MVC preseason poll. Little Rock has never defeated Southern Illinois, but recently the gap has been closing considerably. Last January, Little Rock faced Southern Illinois on Saluki turf and fell by just 50 points, a much tighter dual than the 150-point swing from January 2018. This time around, in 2020, the Trojans have the home advantage.
While Southern Illinois has arguably the best diving squad in the entire conference, there are several pool races where Little Rock has the potential to challenge them. The shorter freestyle races, from the 200 free, to the 100 free and down to the 50 free, as well as the 100 breast, 200 fly and 100 fly, could all be races to keep an eye out for this Saturday.
The Henderson State Reddies return to Little Rock for the second time this season, after finishing third at the Little Rock Invitational in October. The last time the two teams met in a dual meet setting was in 2016, the fourth-straight victory for the Trojans in a row. Though the Reddies do have a couple studs that may out-pace Little Rock, the Division II team does not have the depth to upset the hosts.
The last outing for the Trojans was at the Kansas Classic invitational in November, where the team was allowed some rest beforehand to record new season best times. While hitting those same times at this point of the season may not be entirely realistic after the past week being filled with hard doubles on training trip, this weekend will be a good measure of where Little Rock is at prior to heading into taper.
"The last two months we finished up a great Fall semester in the classroom, got some time at home for the holidays, and just got back from an amazing experience training in Rincon, Puerto Rico," added Burgess. "Coming back from the Kansas Classic we got back to the grind of training and have been able to really push the team out of their comfort zone."
With the end in sight, Little Rock just has to push through these last few weeks of tough competition before rounding out an exciting season.
For the latest information on Little Rock Swimming and Diving, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockSwim on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
#LittleRocksTeam
