The Ouachita swimming and diving teams concluded the dual meet portion of the season on Friday and Saturday, facing off against the Henderson State University Redwaves and the UALR Trojans. With the evening honoring the Ouachita Seniors, the Tigersharks overcame HSU(128-113), while the women narrowly lost to the Lady Redwaves (119-115). Then on Saturday the women cruised past UALR (120-99) in Little Rock.
Following the weekend meet the men boast a 3-3 overall record and the women are 1-5 overall.
The men’s team earned 6 event wins at the Waggoner Pool. Senior Radu Badalac and freshmen Marcus Schlesinger led the men with two individual event wins each. Badalac won the 50 (20.70) and 100 free (46.03). Schlesinger was victorious in the 200 free (1:41.54) and the 100 back (51.11). Senior Nelson Silva came out on top in the 200Im (1:54.35) and 2nd in the 100fly (50.64). Tim Ferris won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.07). Silva, Razvan Goga, Carl Thomas and Daniel Karkoska combined to win the 200 Medley relay, with a time of 1:34.63.
“We knew going into this meet that HSU was going to be very tough,” said Coach Ryan Killackey. “Our guys had to swim hard and smart to come out victorious. This meet is very special for our program. Not only is it Senior Night, but the competition is our town rival. Anything can happen with these teams compete. Our guys swam with the heart and determination.”
The Lady Tigersharks were able to pick up 7 out of 12 event wins against the Reddies. The meet started off with the 200 medley relay team of Ksenia Gromova, Sveta Smirnova, Summer Morris, and Katie Patterson picking up the win in a time of 1:49.86. Sophmores Megan Young and Ksenia Gromova each earned two victories in the meet. Megan Young won the 1000 freestyle (10:37.02) and the 500 freestyle (5:12.76). Ksenia finished first in the 100 fly (58:12) and the 200IM (2:12.27). Junior Katie Patterson held off HSU backstroker Chelsea Leary to win the 100backstroke (1:00.56). While lone Senior Summer Morris blazed in the 100 breast (1:08.86) to capture the win, with freshmen Sveta Smirnova picking up 2nd place (1:09.29).
“I’m so proud of our girl’s team,” said Coach Killackey. “For us to almost pull out a
victory over this very large and dominating HSU squad, shows us that anything is possible when you Train as a Team, Compete as a Team and Succeed as a Team. I really felt that HSU thought they could just come in here and cruise to a victory. We took a lot of wind out of their sails as the meet went on.”
Then on Saturday the Lady Tigersharks traveled to Little Rock to take on the Trojans of UALR.
“This meet gave us the ability to mix up a few events and give a few of our girls a few races that they normally don’t swim,” Killackey said.
The meet started off in great fashion with the 200medley relay team of Katie Patterson, Summer Morris, Ksenia Gromova, and Megan Young cruising to a first place finish.
Event wins came from Ksenia Gromova (200 and 500 freestyle), Megan Young (50 and 100 freestyle), Katie Patterson (200IM), Sveta Smirnova (100 breast), and Kelli Caldwell (1 Meter diving).
The Tigersharks will spend the next two weeks gearing up for the New South Independent Swim Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Cleveland, Miss. from February 10-13. n
By Alan Greenwood, Sports Information Director
