Courtesy: Missouri State Athletics
SPRINGFIELD – Numerous individual and relay victories highlighted the Missouri State women’s swimming and diving team’s efforts in Saturday’s 155-70 win over Little Rock at Hammons Student Center.
“This was probably the best meet our women have ever had at home,” head coach Dave Collins said. “The fact that we have fewer dates of competition than we normally do shows that they are going to put everything they got into any time we are going to race. For us to break pool records, postseason and lifetime bests was very impressive. It was just a great meet across the board today.”
Overall, the Bears swept six events and recorded 11 individual wins while setting four Hammons Student Center pool records.
The Bears got off to a hot start as the 200 medley relay squad of Kellie Fischer, Yuliya Zubina, Sami Roemer and Anna Miller won the event in dominant fashion posting a pool record time of 1:42.11. MSU also took second and third to sweep the event.
MSU then swept the 1000 freestyle, as Libby Howell swam a 10:00.42 to break her own pool record and take first, edging out Sam Hietpass by 15 one hundredths of a second. Heitpass’ time of 10:00.67 was a personal best. Vera Margula finished third while clocking in at 10:14.97.
MSU went 1-2-3 in the 200 freestyle as Grace Beahan posting a career best 1:52.01 to win the event. Following Beahan was Anna Lucas (1:52.65) in second and Sami Roemer (1:55.92) in third.
Madison Brown made the most out of her last meet inside the Hammons Student Center as the senior won the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.60. Fischer followed Brown in second with a time of 56.95 while Kelly Sego (57.64) finished third to complete the MSU sweep.
“It was exciting to have everyone racing here together for my last time,” Brown said. “We were racing in our tech suits and posted some good times even though we were kind of tired, we still swam really fast.”
Yuliya Zubina broke the pool record in the 100 breaststroke, winning the event in 1:02.43. MSU secured the sweep as Alessia Puleo (1:04.58) and Cabrini Johnson (1:05.73) finished second and third respectively.
Miller won the 50 freestyle while breaking a pool record in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.85. Howell followed in third with a personal-best time of 23.78.
In the 100 freestyle it was Miller again with the victory and the pool record as the St. Louis, Mo., product posted swam a 49.68. Jordan Wenner followed in second with a time of 52.06.
Sydney Radloff was victorious in the 200 backstroke as the sophomore bested the field by an impressive 12 seconds with a time of 2:01.49.
“We have been training hard these past two weeks,” Radloff acknowledged. “We upped the yardage the past two weeks and everyone swam very well for being fatigued. It felt excellent to put on our racing suits and I felt like we all did very well.”
In the 200 breaststroke, it was Puleo who joined the victory parade as the Cambiago, Italy, native posted a 2:17.30 to win the event.
Ulyana Zubina swam a 56.88 to win the 100 butterfly as she defeated Little Rock’s Fer Pichardo Moussier by a mere two seconds.
MSU recorded its sixth and final sweep in the 200 IM with Radloff (2:03.41) in first, Roemer (2:08.17) in second and Sego (2:10.22) in third.
In diving action, the Bears competed in an intrasquad setting as Little Rock did not bring any divers to compete.
Seniors Ashley Yarbrough and Dayana Popa went 1-2 on both boards. In 1-meter diving Yarbrough posted a 281.63 while Popa posted a 267.30. On 3-meter boards Yarbrough had an impressive 299.48 mark and Popa earned a zone cut after scoring a 282.30
“I was very pleased with our performances today,” head diving coach Jim Huelskamp said. “We always get great performances from Ashley (Yarbrough) but to see Dayana get her zone cut on the 1-meter board at her last home meet was very exciting. It was a great finish at the last home meet for our seniors.”
Both teams will be back in action Feb. 27-28, when they travel to Columbia, Mo., to compete in the Missouri Last Chance meet.
Courtesy: Little Rock Athletics
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Little Rock swimming and diving took on their first conference opponent of the season this morning at Missouri State, notably the first time that the Trojans and the Bears faced off in a dual meet format. Although Missouri State came away with the 155-70 win, Little Rock showed good effort with a limited squad.
“Three weeks in a row is no easy feat, especially ending the run against Missouri State,” added head coach Amy Burgess. “The team showed grit today, and although the scoreboard may not have shown what these athletes are capable of, we saw a lot to be proud of and a new level of fight.”
Relays
This morning’s action started with the 200 medley relay, where the Little Rock A team of seniors Regan Lawrence and Palmer Ristroph as well as sophomores Fer Moussier and Annya Grom put up a time of 1:48.70, less than a second off of Little Rock’s season-best from two weeks ago.
The team of Lawrence, Grom, sophomore Asmalia Redzuan and freshman Gabriella O’Neil teamed up in the 400 freestyle relay at the end of the meet. Lawrence and Grom both split solid 52s to help the group to finish at 3:36.54.
Freestyle
O’Neil raced in the 1000 for the first time this season, leading the Trojans with a time of 10:55.77, which will put her second on Little Rock’s roster in the event so far this year. Freshman Lexie Shelton was right on her season best at 11:00.47 while senior Ashley Hornbuckle picked up a season-best 11:36.54.
Lea Zengerling continues to be a consistent force for Little Rock in the 200 free, posting her third 1:57 in as many weeks. She led the team at 1:57.43 today, while freshman Cheryl Poulsen followed, finishing at 2:01.60. The 500 was also led by Zengerling, who recorded a team-best 5:16.44 on the year.
The top two 50 freestyle sprinters in the conference going into this weekend raced in the 50 free, with Grom solidifying her second place standing with a lifetime best 23.48 while outtouching several Missouri State sprinters. Lawrence was the next Trojan to finish, popping a season best 24.75.
Grom also raced in the 100 free, taking third by a heartbreaking hundredth of a second to a Missouri State opponent, stopping the clock at 52.07. Once again, Poulsen was the next white cap to touch the wall at a season-best 55.40.
Backstroke
Lawrence led the Trojans in the 100 back, stopping the clock at 1:00.72, while Moussier was less than a tenth behind at 1:00.81. In the longer backstroke event, the 200, freshmen Maci McCullough and Rylie Discenza each made their first collegiate appearances in the event, with the former coming in at 2:13.46 while the latter touched at 2:19.28.
Breaststroke
Freshman Lexie Shelton and junior Katelyn White represented Little Rock in the 100 breaststroke, with the younger of the two shaving off a tenth for a new season-best time of 1:10.71. White wasn’t far off, posting a 1:12.08 for just half a second off her best mark this year. In the 200 breast, Ristroph and O’Neil competed, with the senior clocking in at 2:28.36 and the freshman coming in at 2:29.70 for her first race in this event.
Butterfly
Ashleigh Green showed grit in the 200 butterfly, winning the event with a time of 2:15.68, while in the sprint fly event, Moussier was back to post a time of 58.04, just half a second off of her season-best to lead the Trojans.
400 IM
Today’s meet featured both individual medley events as exhibition swims, with Missouri State swimming the 200 IM while Little Rock went for the longer event for the first time this year.
An impressive three Trojans were under 4:50 this early in the year, led by freshman Maci McCullough’s 4:44.79. Classmate Shelton was close behind at 4:46.26, while Green rounded out the group with a 4:49.46, all setting themselves up for good seeds going into the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in April.
For now, Little Rock is scheduled to take a long break from racing, currently set to resume conference action next month at Southern Illinois, joined by Valparaiso for a tri-meet.
