LITTLE ROCK – In the final home meet of the year,
Annya Grom shattered two more Little Rock swimming and diving school records to top off the regular season. The sophomore lowered her own mark in the 100 breaststroke from last year's championship meet to post a time of 1:03.48 before returning in the 100 butterfly with a 55.12 to break the record by 26 hundredths.
Despite falling 157-116 in a virtual competition against conference opponents Illinois State, meaning that each team raced in their own home pools rather than in the lanes next to each other, 19 Trojans posted 29 season-best times, with eight of those being personal bests.
"Today was a nice benchmark for us ahead of our championship," said head coach
Amy Burgess. "Annya has put in the work to earn these records, so we're excited for her. The atmosphere on deck was great and really pushed the ladies that finished their season today. Now we're looking forward to taper and conference in a few weeks!"
Relays
The freestyle relays continue to be a strong point for Little Rock, as the team of
Regan Lawrence,
Asmalia Redzuan,
Gabriella O'Neil and
Annya Grom turned in a time of 1:37.10 in the 200 free relay, over three seconds ahead of the top Illinois State team. Grom's anchor split of 22.97 also helped the Trojans lower their own previous best from this season by two seconds.
The 200 freestyle C squad of
Katelyn White,
Delaney Crowder,
Rylie Discenza and
Jillian Long finished third with a time of 1:42.09 to beat out the B teams of both Illinois State and Little Rock.
Freestyle
O'Neil kicked off the morning's individual events with a season-best time of 10:47.00 in the 1000, dropping over eight seconds to place second overall. Fellow freshman
Lexie Shelton was the top finisher in the 200 free for the Trojans, touching the wall at 1:59.24 for a season-best as well.
Another freshman led the way in the sprint events: Crowder took home first place in the 50 free with a personal best time of 24.47 before placing second in the 100 in 53.57. The Trojans swept the 50, with Little Rock swimmers taking the top four spots.
Regan Lawrence shaved off a hundredth of a second for a season-best 24.51, followed by O'Neil's 25.05 and
Cheryl Poulsen's 25.37. In the 100, Redzuan placed third with a time of 55.07, beating out three Redbirds that also posted 55-second marks.
Lea Zengerling wrapped up the freestyle events with a second-place finish in the 500. The junior dropped nearly five seconds for a season-best 5:11.94.
Backstroke
The 100 backstroke was highlighted by scorers
Taylor Floyd and
Mia Gibson, taking silver and bronze, respectively. Floyd lowered her time to 59.26 while Gibson also broke a minute, stopping the clock at 59.66. Freshmen
Aubry Matthews and Long also recorded season-bests, with the former posting a time of 1:01.54 and the latter coming in at 1:02.35.
Gibson finished her swimming career by leading the Trojans in the 200 back, placing third in 2:11.99. Lawrence was not far off, taking fourth in 2:12.33 for a new personal best.
Breaststroke
Grom dominated the field by nearly five seconds in the 100, as her time of 1:03.48 looks to move back up into third in the conference. Meanwhile, White claimed a lifetime best time of 1:08.69, just a few tenths shy of second place.
Palmer Ristroph took second in the 200 breast for Little Rock in 2:31.40, while
Karina Harr went 2:33.83 for third.
Butterfly
Grom swam the 100 fly for the first time in over a year this morning, making waves with a personal best 55.12 to lead the event by over two seconds. The sophomore's time should now sit second in the conference, behind first by three one-hundredths. White also picked up a season-best time, finishing at 59.88. Meanwhile,
Ashleigh Green was the top Trojan in the 200 butterfly, coming in at 2:16.99.
Individual Medleys
Little Rock swam both the 200 and 400 IM this morning, while no Illinois State swimmers opted to compete in the longer of the two events. Two Trojans posted season-best times in the 400 IM, led by Shelton's 4:43.63 for first place, followed by Green's 4:47.20 for second. Redzuan took third in the 200 IM with a new best time of 2:14.24 while fellow sophomore
Fer Moussier stopped the clock right behind in 2:14.76 after a quick front half.
Little Rock will now rest and taper for the Missouri Valley Conference Championships, which will take place in Carbondale, Illinois from April 14 through April 16.
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,
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Twitter.
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