LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock swimming and diving program opened the season at home this Saturday, where they won the All Arkansas Invite for the second year iin a row at the Donaghey Aquatic Center.
This will be head Coach
Nathan Townsend's second year at the helm, and with that already alot of progression and depth have been evident in the new team for the 2024-25 season.
"I feel like we have a lot to be proud about today from the very first relay to the last, the teams energy was felt throughout the entire natatorium." said Coach Townsend, "A handful of lifetime Best swims and lifetime best splits as well. It can be a challenge to get up and compete this early in the season, but I felt like our team did a great job of just going for it from the beginning and I believe these results speak for themselves."
Relays
The Trojans came in hot, breaking every meet record for the relays, as well as a pool record for the 200 free relay.They started off with a victory in the 200 medley relay, touching the wall in 1:42.79. The team of
Caitlin Romprey,
Lauren Pieniazkiewicz,
Jaelle Carlson and
Cheryl Poulsen were over three seconds faster than the team of second place.
The Trojans won the 200 freestyle relay with Pieniazkiewicz,
Erma Duratovic, Carlson and Poulsen clocking in at 1:33.43 for a two second victory.
To end off the meet, Little Rock raced the 400 freestyle relay, with the A relay- Pieniazkiewicz, Poulsen, Duratovic and
Olivia Elgin- dominated the race and winning by over a 10 second lead, stopping the clock at 3:26.71 to round out the three pool records set today. The B squad came in strong to take 2nd place, 3 seconds ahead of Henderson's A relay.
Freestyle Events
Coming into her fifth year, Gabriela O'neil broke the meet record in the 200 free as well as a personal best in a time of 1:51.45. She was followed very closely behind by sophomore Elgin who came in second in a time of 1:52.72 giving Little Rock their first 1-2 finish of the meet.
Elgin also won the 100 freestyle to take her first individual in of the meet in 51.69. Pieniazkiewicz,
Carol Heinz and
Lucy Jahn rounded out the top five to take 3 through 5 respectively.
To top off the sprint freestyle events, Carlson and Poulsen both dipped under the 23 second mark, while L
ena Nikoleava finished second through fourth in the 50 freestyle clocking in times of 23.61, 23.76 and 24.47 respectively.
Collecting her first gold of the day, Senior
Gillian Boggs led the charge in the 500 Free winning in a time of 5:12.57. Junior
Duru Sibik and Freshman
Izzy Thibodeau took second and third to make it a full Trojan Podium.
Non-Free Events
The 200 IM started off with a bang as Freshman
Anna Nishikazi started her Trojan career with a first place finish in a time of 2:07.04. Sibik came in second in a time of 2:13.36 as Sophomore
Niamh Carroll was the final Trojan of the event, taking 4th place in 2:19.31.
Little Rock had an exciting 1- 2 place in the 100 back as seniors
Caitlin Romprey and Carlson battled it out for the top spot which pushed Romprey to finish in 56.89, followed closely by Carlson in 57.10.
The 100 butterfly was a great show of depth for the Trojan women as they took the top four positions, all going sub 1:00. Duratovic snagged her first individual title taking first position in 57.54, with Stoddard,
Brooke Cummings and
Devin Trammell finishing after.
The final individual event of the day was exciting as O'neil showed off her talents in the 100 breaststroke , dropping 3 seconds to swim a personal best and take first place. In true Trojan fashion, Stoddard, Nishikazi and
Ally Desordi came in to finish second through fourth, respectively, to finish out the individual events.
Diving
The diving squad came out in full force, led by Coach
Chris Pape, to take the win in the 1-metre 6 dive team event with a final score of 256.58. Led by Senior
Kyra Apodaca , who went on to take first in the 3-metre diving with a final score of 242.48. Apodoca was followed closely behind by the two new additions to the diving program and added to the team win in the 1- metre.
Delaney Nickels took second with a score of 217.7 , followed closely by
Tatum Malatin to take fourth place.
Final Team Scores
Women
1. Little Rock – 710
2. Ouachita Baptist – 508
3. Henderson State – 432
4. Harding - 201
Up Next
Little Rock will head to Oklahoma as they gear up to race Oklahoma Christian on September 28thh.
View the full Trojan 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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