LITTLE ROCK – The Trojans are turning heads to kick off the season, picking up both Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Swimmer of the Week awards in the opening round of conference voting. Jaelle Carlson earned Swimmer of the Week while Olivia Elgin secured Freshman of the Week, as announced by the MVC Thursday.
Carlson, a junior from Weatherford, Texas, owns the top time in the MVC in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.38. She posted the time last weekend at a tri-meet in Jacksonville, Florida against North Florida and Tulane, where she won the event not once but twice over the two-day meet.
On Friday, Carlson touched the wall at 52.96, beating out the next swimmer by over seven tenths of a second. On Saturday, she came in at 52.38, now the league-leading mark. Once again, she was the only woman under 53 seconds, this time winning by nearly eight tenths of a second. In her other individual events, she finished second in both the 100 butterfly (56.79) and 200 freestyle (1:53.95).
Meanwhile, Elgin has put together a strong start to her freshman campaign. At Little Rock's season opener, the All-Arkansas Invite, she won the 200 freestyle with a lifetime best time of 1:54.60, winning by almost three full seconds. Her time ranks fourth in the MVC, right behind Carlson's 1:53.95 from last weekend. Elgin won the 200 freestyle again on Friday at the tri-meet in Florida, posting a time of 1:54.90 to win by over a second and showcase her consistency. She collected two more personal best times in the 200 IM (2:09.63, fourth place) and 100 IM (1:00.06, second place) and posted a time of 5:10.83 in the 500 freestyle, the number two time in the MVC currently.
Together, the pair helped both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay to league-leading times and first place finishes at the tri-meet. In the 200 free relay, the Trojans touched the wall at 1:36.20, almost nine tenths of a second ahead of silver, while Carlson led off with a 24.29 - the second-fastest 50 freestyle time in the MVC behind teammate Cheryl Poulsen. In the 400 free relay, Little Rock threw down a 3:30.71 to finish two and a half seconds ahead of the whole field. The race was highlighted by a 51.95 second leg from Carlson as the only woman under 52 seconds in the entire meet.
Little Rock's last Swimmer of the Week award came early last season from now-graduated senior Annya Grom, the only honor given to the Trojans last year. Before that, it was Carlson herself as a freshman, once again the only award claimed by a Little Rock swimming and diving student-athlete that season. However, this marks the fifth year in a row that the program as garnered a weekly conference award.
Jaelle Carlson, Olivia Elgin, and the Little Rock swimming and diving team will be back in action tomorrow, returning home to the Donaghey Aquatic Center on the campus of UA-Little Rock to host the Razorback in a 10 a.m. dual. Check out the full Little Rock swimming and diving 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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