It was battle between nationally-ranked swim teams as Delta State managed to sweep Henderson State, Friday at the Duke Wells Center. The Lady Statesmen won by a score of 126-110, while the Statesmen slipped by the Red Wave by a score of 124-119.

The 23^rd-ranked Lady Red Wave was led by Lauren Sutton, Chelsea Leary, and Emily Wright who all picked up multiple wins.

Sutton won the 200 freestyle in exciting fashion, out-touching Delta State's Dani Meerholz in a time of 1:57.76. Meerholz ended with a time of 1:57.79.
Sutton, a sophomore from Katy, Texas, returned later in the meet to take first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.22.

Leary claimed victory in both the 200 individual medley and the 200 backstroke. The senior from Spring, Texas, clocked in at 2:11.70 in the 200 IM, and 2:09.81 in the backstroke.

Wright won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. The freshman from Grapevine, Texas totaled 229.30 points in the 1-meter and 232.00 in the 3-meter.
Sophomore Jeanne Miller was the other individual winner, claiming victory in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:12.32.

Other top finishers were Erin Beu and Paige Sherman. Beu placed second in the 50 freestyle (25.53) and Sherman was runner-up in the 200 breaststroke (2:34.36).

For the Red Wave, ranked 17^th in the latest NCAA Division II national rankings, Henderson State had to play catch up in the later events. Despite winning the final four swimming events, No. 23 Delta State was able to hold off the furious rally.

“We battled but fell a bit short,” said Coach Coak Matthews. “Our backs were up against the wall after the 3-meter diving event. We knew it was going to be tough to win but our breaststrokers and freestyle relay did a great job and we just missed pulling it off.”

Robert Fisher and Nicholas James were Henderson's lone multiple event winners.

Fisher won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:45.93, while teammates Aaron Villemez was second (1:48.03), and Travis Clifford placed third (1:49.69) in the event.
Fisher, a senior from Tupelo, Miss., later claimed victory in the 500 freestyle touching the wall in a time of 4:54.84.

James easily claimed victory in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:54.82, more than two seconds faster than his nearest competitor.
The senior from Harare, Zimbabwe, also took first in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:52.30.

Guy Buls took first place in the final individual event of the meet, winning the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:09.35. The freshman from Brenham, Texas also placed second in the 200 individual medley with a finish of 1:56.94.

Other top finishers included Denver Dawson who placed second in the 50 freestyle (21.76), and Adam Milecz who was second in the 100 freestyle (47.45).

Both the 400 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay teams claimed victory for the Red Wave.

The quartet of James, Fisher, Milecz, and Brandon Curley won the 400 medley in a time of 3:28.05, with Dawson, Villemez, Curley, and Milecz captured the 400 freestyle relay posting a time of 3:10.65.

Henderson State will next travel to Little Rock to compete in UALR Christmas Invitational beginning November 29.