LITTLE ROCK - The Little Rock swimming and diving team wraps up the regular season this Saturday, March 27 with their last home meet of the season. The competition will be a virtual event, with the Trojans racing in the friendly confines of the Donaghey Aquatic Center while the Redbirds of Illinois State compete simultaneously at their own home facility.
This final conference matchup will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will be streamed live on the Little Rock Swimming & Diving Facebook page since fans will not be able to attend the event in person.
"Earlier this year we could have pictured our whole season being virtual, so we are grateful for this unique opportunity to compete against Illinois State," said head coach Amy Burgess. "As our Championship draws near, we are looking forward to one last opportunity to make adjustments, execute race strategies and showcase this amazing group of student athletes. This team has grown in so many ways during this season and these next few weeks their hard work and GRIT is going to pay off."
The meet this weekend marks the first-ever in-season dual for Little Rock against Illinois State. Last year, the Redbirds finished fifth in the eight-team field at the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Championships. This year, both Illinois State and Little Rock are picked to move up a spot at fourth and sixth, respectively. The Trojans have a chance to upset the Redbirds, especially coming off a great meet in which 78% of Little Rock's performances were season-bests.
Six Trojans have now posted results within the top 16 of an event in the MVC, while two sit right outside those rankings at 17th (Lexie Shelton's 10:38.59 in the 1000 free and Lea Zengerling's 1:54.33 in the 200 free).
After her school record-breaking swims against Southern Illinois, Annya Grom still leads the team with three ranked swims. Her 50 freestyle time of 23.29 is second in the conference while her 100 free time of 50.60 sits third. Having only raced in the 100 breaststroke twice so far, the sophomore is fourth with her 1:03.95 from January.
Joining her classmate in the top eight is Fer Moussier, who had a pair of impressive butterfly races at the SIU tri-meet to slide up the rankings. Her 2:04.33 in the 200 fly places her sixth while her 56.75 100 fly moves her to ninth.
Seniors Palmer Ristroph and Regan Lawrence also have been having quite the final season and are poised to go out with a bang. Ristroph continues to make waves in the breaststroke events, sitting 11th in the 200 with a time of 2:23.11 and 13th in the 100 in 1:05.40. Lawrence shaved off more time in her 100 freestyle at the last meet, splitting a 52.30 that places her 10th in the conference.
Finally, freshmen Gabriella O'Neil and Karina Harr each dropped significant time at the previous meet. O'Neil re-enters the rankings with a 1:53.46 in the 200 freestyle, good for 9th overall. Meanwhile, Harr's first 100 breast race of the season gives her the 15th spot after touching the wall at 1:06.33.
This weekend will be the last time that the Trojans have to improve their seeds before the MVC Championships, which will take place April 14-16 in Carbondale, Illinois.
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.
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