HALL OF HONOR

Red Wave Earns Top Combined Score at UALR Christmas Invitational
Dec. 7, 2009
By Cody Qualls

Henderson State earned the top combined score at the Arkansas-Little Rock Christmas Invitational swim meet over the weekend, defeating teams from Ouachita Baptist, Hendrix College and UALR.

The Lady Red Wave earned a convincing win against the other three schools, earning 958 points in the competition. Ouachita Baptist finished second with 677 points, 281 points behind Henderson State. The men’s team finished second behind OBU.

Henderson State head coach Coak Matthews was pleased with his teams performance. "We had a fantastic meet and I am extremely proud of all the swimmers and divers," Matthews said. "The kids did a super job and showed tremendous concentration and heart throughout the entire meet."

 The swimming and diving team has now qualified a record 18 athletes for the NCAA National Championships. "We set a record on the first day, qualifying 9 women and 7 men," Matthews said. "On Saturday, we qualified another female as well as another male.  We really swam fast and dove well.  Of course it wasn’t just the national qualifiers who did well, the entire team contributed tremendously for an overall great team outcome."

The Lady Red Wave were led by junior Nicole Horn. Horn, the All-American from Harare, Zimbabwe, swam with Natalie Gallant, Tara Grieger and Chelsea Leary to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:31.59.

Horn won the 50 freestyle in 23.47, an event where Grieger (24.02) finished second and freshman Hannah Weise (25.04) finished third.

Horn dominated the freestyle events, winning the 200 event in 1:52.26 and the 100 event in 51.54, slightly ahead of Grieger who finished second.

Henderson State scored huge in the 200 butterfly, as Gallant won the event in 2:05.57 to earn 20 points for her team. Allison Kliewer finished second in 2:14.98 (17 points) and Ozden Sari finished third to earn 16 points.

Leary won the 100 backstroke in 59.54, while Rebekah Norman won the 200 breastroke (2:25.93) and Nikki Colton finished second in 2:28.65. Freshman Jennifer Rodriguez won 1 meter diving, earning HSU 20 points. Catie Morrow finished with the fastest 100 breaststroke time in 1:06.22.

The Reddies were led by freshman Zach Interrante, who won the 100 butterfly (48.76) and 100 freestyle (45.50).

Junior Grant Beahan finished second in the butterfly event in 48.81, and won the 200 freestyle in 1:39.85. Freshman Nick James won the 200 backstroke in 1:52.57.

The men’s team also benefited from 20 points from junior diver Andrew McCornack, who won the 1 meter event.

"I thank the Lord Jesus for the talented young men and women who He has given me the privilege with whom to work as well as the grace an strength He provides in order for us to be successful," Matthews said.  "I am also thankful for my helpers, Matt Schneider, Don Smith and Matt Bold, without whom none of this would have been possible.”