Jaelle Carlson Wins Sprint Events, Pushes Final Relay to First Place

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Little Rock swimming and diving team bested Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) opponents Valparaiso despite falling to hosts St. Louis this afternoon, in the second of two tri-meets within the span of 24 hours. The Trojans gritted out the conference win with the help of Jaelle Carlson, who won every individual event this weekend and anchored the final relay tonight. Caitlin Romprey also picked up an individual win today, and not a single Valparaiso swimmer beat the top Trojan in any event.

Relays
In a reverse situation from last night, the 200 medley relay opened the day and the 400 freestyle relay closed the weekend of racing.
 
Little Rock was neck-and-neck with St. Louis in the 400 free relay throughout most of the race, with a big 51.38 finisher from Jaelle Carlson to seal the win. The team of Lauren Gray, Lauren Pieniazkiewicz, Gabriella O'Neil and Carlson turned in a time of 3:32.92 to out-touch Saint Louis by approximately eight tenths of a second. It's the team's best unrested relay time this year by over a full second.
 
The 200 medley relay team of Caitlin Romprey, Lauren Pieniazkiewicz, Taylor Floyd and Lauren Gray clocked in at 1:49.55, helped by a low 24.17  from Gray's anchor leg, the fastest free split in the pool. The group placed second, this time just eight tenths of a second behind St. Louis's top relay.

Freestyle Highlights
Jaelle Carlson won the 50 free by over half a second and the 100 free by nearly a full second to sweep the sprint events. Her time of 24.15 in the 50 was her best unrested time by four tenths, while her time of 52.45, despite being a second off her time from the day before, was her top time without a tech suit on.

A season-best time from Lara Alsader in the 1000 began the meet's individual events. The sophomore touched the wall at 11:08.24, placing fourth overall. Teammate Clare Sprinkle was not far off, coming in at 11:11.95.

Gabriella O'Neil was the only Trojan under two minutes in the 200 free, clocking in at 1:59.74 for fourth place. Likewise, the middle distance freestyler also finished as the top Trojan in the 500 free, coming into the wall at 5:25.25.

200 Stroke Highlights
The Trojans raced in every 200 of every stroke today, including the 200 IM, instead of the 100 races.

Caitlin Romprey highlighted the longer swims with a dominant first-place finish in the 200 backstroke, touching the wall at 2:06.82. Her time was two and a half seconds ahead of second place as well as half a second faster than her time from the day before, where she had a tech suit on and hadn't raced in a meet the day before.

In a gutsy performance, Ashleigh Green claimed second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:14.63, racing a St. Louis foe down to the wire to out-touch the Billiken next to her by five one-hundredths of a second. Her final 50 was only half a second behind her 50 free split the day before, showing grit in the back half of a busy weekend.

Lexie Shelton also impressed in the 200 IM, touching the wall at 2:15.85 in a tight field. However, her 200 breaststroke was even more commendable, as the junior took third with a time of 2:30.91 thanks to a quick front half of her race. Breaststroke duo Ally DeSordi and Karina Harr were close behind, finishing at 2:32.31 and 2:32.72, respectively.

Finally, Fer Moussier led the Trojans in the 200 butterfly, placing fourth overall with a time of 2:12.10 in one of the more grueling events to double up on throughout the weekend.

Up Next
Next weekend, Little Rock competes in their final meet of the season and last chance to tune-up before the MVC Championships. The Trojans head to Nashville, Tennessee for a dual meet with Vanderbilt on January 28 at 2 p.m. to conclude the regular season. View the full schedule here.


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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