There was plenty of excitement at the Duke Wells Center Swimming Pool Friday night in Arkadelphia as the Henderson State Red Wave swim team got past Ouachita Baptist 129-102 in the first meet of the year.

However, the Lady Red Wave fell just short as the Lady Tiger Sharks edged Henderson 124-115 in a meet that was separated by the narrowest of margins in several events.

On the men's side, OBU opened the meet winning the 200-yard medley relay to take the early lead. However, the Red Wave took control in the next event as Robert Fisher won the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:13.51, followed by Will Palmer placing second finishing in a time of 10:25.55.

Adam Milecz kept things going for HSU by winning the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:46.91, with teammates Peter Schneider and Kieven Franklin finishing third and fourth in the event.

The Tigersharks rallied by winning the 50-yard freestyle, the 200 individual medley, and the 1-meter diving, before Brandon Curley ended the OBU run by winning the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 52.11, with Schneider and Chad Beall finishing third and fourth.

In the 100 backstroke, Nick James edged out the competition with a time of 53.33, while Fisher won the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:50.96.
In the 3-meter diving, Scotty Serio finished first with a score of 114.75, with Ben-David Ramirez pacing second with a total of 83.15.

In the final event, the team of Terrance Fogle, Jair Boerenveen, Schneider and Milecz won the 200 freestyle relay in a time 1:25.31 to clinch the victory for the Red Wave.

The women's meet was even tighter as both teams kept trading punches, but the Lady Tigersharks won 8 of the 13 events to beat the Lady Red Wave.
Henderson won the opening event as the 200 medley relay team of Chelsea Leary, Catie Morrow, Mary Andrews, and Lauren Sutton finished in a time of 1:50.04.

OBU won the next three events before Chelsea Leary ended the run by easily winning the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:14.60, two seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Caitlin Cavert then won the 1-meter diving event with a score of 190.88, while teammate Caitlin Carter was third scoring 157.90 points.
Natalie Gallant continued her stellar career by beating the competition in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.58.

After OBU won the next three events to secure the win in the team competition, Henderson ended the meet on a high note by winning the final event as Gallant, Mary Andrews, Kayla Mehl, and Lauren Sutton out-swam their competition in the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:40.91.

“It was a typical exciting OBU/HSU meet,” said HSU Coach Coak Matthews. “I thought our men did an excellent job. Our women lost several close races. If we win just one of those races, we would have won. However, I know they will rebound and it will light a fire under them to get better.”