LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock swimming and diving team raced in their first meet since November this Saturday, competing against Missouri Valley Conference rivals Southern Illinois as well as in-state DII opponents Henderson State. The SIU Salukis came out on top in a distance-heavy event lineup, topping the Trojans 177-66, but Little Rock toppled Henderson State in a 176-53 victory.
"I am very proud of the way the team stepped up and pushed through," said head coach
Amy Burgess. "We have been hitting the gas hard these last few weeks and racing today was no easy task. This team represents the Trojan GRIT and has great things ahead as we move into championship season!"
RESULTS
Relays
The Trojans opened the meet with the A squad turning in a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, just a second and a half behind first-place SIU. Junior
Regan Lawrence, junior
Palmer Ristroph, freshman
Asmalia Redzuan, and sophomore
Carolyn Godwin teamed up for a time of 1:48.74, helped by Redzuan's 25.28 50 fly split, the fastest in the pool.
At the end of the long day, Little Rock also took second in the 200 free relay. Lawrence, Redzuan, Godwin, and freshman
Khadijah Brown combined for a 1:40.16 with sub-25 second performances from both Godwin and Redzuan.
Diving
On the one-meter board, juniors
Sierra Thain and
Coy Jones both improved from their previous score. Thain took third with a season-best 245.30 while Jones finished fourth with 225 points, eight points ahead of a Saluki. In the three-meter event, Thain repeated at third, collecting 229.27 points, while Jones took fifth with a score of 208.87.
Freestyle
The 1000 saw a pair of season bests by freshman
Fernanda Gamez and junior
Lily Kerr, who finished third and fifth, respectively. Gamez and Kerr both dropped approximately 13 seconds from their seeds to post a 10:58.28 for the former and a 11:10.20 for the latter. Gamez had another solid performance in the 500, earning valuable team points with her 5:20.47 second place finish.
Little Rock also collected a handful of team points in the 200 freestyle, where Redzuan and classmate
Fer Moussier went 2-3. Redzuan stopped the clock at 1:56.57, a best unrested time for the freshman, while Moussier recorded a 1:58.42 in her first time swimming the event.
In the sprint freestyle events, Lawrence appeared in the 50 free to touch third out of the 13 that raced. She came in at 25.04, out-touching two Salukis that were three-tenths of a second behind. Freshman Anna Grom posted a best time in the 100 free with a 54.04, good for fourth in a tight race where the top four finishers were within half a second of each other.
Backstroke
Senior
Jessie Baldwin put together a strong race in the 200 backstroke, clocking in at 2:11.19 for second overall, while junior
Mia Gibson turned in a season-best time by nearly three second to place fourth with a 2:13.88.
Breaststroke
Ristroph was the top Trojan in the 200 breaststroke, stopping the clock at 2:29.15 for fourth amidst a quick pool of Southern Illinois swimmers that went 1-2-3.
Butterfly
Moussier came into the wall second in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:07.43, just seven tenths behind the top finisher from SIU despite a quick front half.
400 IM
The long IM was in the lineup for just the second time this season, outside of the midseason invitational. Senior
Amanda Dreyer led the way for the Trojans, clocking in at 4:49.76 for fourth overall.
The Trojans will compete in one final meet prior to the Missouri Valley Championship, honoring their seniors in a tri-meet against Vanderbilt and Ouachita Baptist on Feb. 1 at 11:00 a.m.
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
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