INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Trojans opened day one of the House of Champions leading all 11 teams at the invite and writing three new school records in the books: tying the 200 freestyle relay,
Gillian Boggs re-setting her own 200 IM record, and breaking the 400 medley relay record outright. From the fast swims to high-scoring dives, it's sure to keep Little Rock's momentum rolling through the next two days of the mid-season invitational.
"What a start for the Trojans," said head coach
Nathan Townsend. "We're feeling fired up after a great start to House of Champions. More than 30 personal bests, a few National Invitational Cuts, and some school records is about a good of a start that we could ask for. They brought the energy from the very first race in prelims to the last race in finals tonight. We have a lot of momentum to carry us into day 2, and I can't wait to see what's in store!"
200 Free Relay
The squad of
Cheryl Poulsen,
Lauren Pieniazkiewicz,
Elena Nikolaeva and
Jaelle Carlson dropped over three seconds off the team's seed time to turn in a second-place finish in the sprint freestyle relay to open the evening session. The final time of 1:33.05 exactly tied the school record set by Little Rock in 2022, helped by a massive 22.65 from Carlson to hold off Ball State for silver, nearly half a second faster than her anchor leg in this relay at last year's mid-season meet. The relay time automatically qualifies for the National Invitational Championships, a postseason meet held after the conference championships.
500 Free
The first individual event of the night was the 500, where freshman
Olivia Elgin led the Trojans with an A-final swim. Her time of 5:02.70 collected seventh place as well as fourth on the Little Rock top times list.
Gabriella O'Neil represented in the B final, staying consistent from morning to night with a 5:05.31 and 12th place overall, while
Duru Sibik posted a huge 14-second drop from her 5:19.44 seed down to a 5:05.82 to snag 15th in the B final as well.
200 IM
Gillian Boggs claimed second place in the final of the 200 IM, also lowering her own school record down to 2:04.10, her best mark as a Trojan and the only Little Rock swimmer to ever break the 2:05 mark. Boggs out-touched two opponents by less than a second in a gritty race all the way to the finish. Also racing at night was
Ashleigh Green in the B final, touching the wall at 2:07.15 to claim 11th place overall with a lifetime best. Freshman
Adara Stoddard rounded out the versatile group as runner-up in the C final, taking 18th place with a new best time of 2:09.79.
50 Freestyle
Showcasing Little Rock's depth, there was at least one Trojan in every heat of finals. Carlson highlighted the shortest freestyle event with a fifth-place finish in the quick A final, finishing into the wall with a time of 23.34, just about a tenth off her best time. Senior Poulsen and her mark of 23.82 was good for 13th place in the B final, followed closely behind by Pieniazkiewicz and her 23.87. The C final saw
Elena Nikolaeva take 19th place after popping a 23.98, while
Delaney Crowder scored a lifetime best time of 24.10 to qualify for the D final, taking 31st in finals.
3-Meter Board
Divers
Kyra Apodaca and
Julia Banister competed on the 3-meter board, placing 18th and 31st, respectively. Apodaca scored 207.50 points, just shy of consolation finals, while Banister collected 149.65 points in her first competition back from injury.
400 Medley Relay
The Trojans knocked off 10 whole seconds from their seed time to claim silver to end the night on a high note, with the team of
Caitlin Romprey,
Karina Harr, Carlson, and Poulsen putting together a time of 3:45.44 to break yet another school record. Their time was three seconds faster from the previous record, a 3:48.56 set in 2017. It's was Romprey's 56.44 that set the pace for the squad, just two tenths off her best time in the 100 back, while each of the three others did well to pull their weight. Once again, the relay time automatically qualified for the National Invitational Championships.
Up Next
Little Rock is currently in first place after the first day of competition at the House of Champions Invite, with a few teams right on their tail. Little Rock will look to continue their lead with the help of a full slate of events on day two: the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back, and 1-meter board, not to mention two relays: the 200 medley and 800 freestyle.
Team Scores
1. Little Rock – 270
2. Ball State – 265
3. Milwaukee – 263
4. North Texas – 242
5. UIC – 206
6. Lynn – 192
7. IUPUI – 174
8. Missouri-St. Louis – 158
9. Butler – 149
10. Lewis – 143
11. Quincy – 64
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.
#LittleRocksTeam
