FINAL RESULTS

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas - The Henderson State Red Wave men's and women's programs opened the 2022-23 season with the All-Arkansas Invitational, hosted by Arkansas-Little Rock, Saturday, Sept. 17.

In a field that featured HSU, Ouachita Baptist, Hendrix, University of the Ozarks, Williams Baptist and Harding Club Swim for the men and the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, HSU, Ouachita, Hendrix, Ozarks, Williams Baptist and Harding Club Swim for the ladies, the Red Wave men finished in first place with 605.5 points while the women garnered 437 points for third place.

The ladies put 80 points between them and fourth-place OBU, trailing second-place Division I Little Rock by 64 points. The men edged out the Tigersharks by 23 points to take the top spot in teh season-opening event.

To open the meet, Henderson's 200 yard medley relay teams showed out as Aimee Miller, Jessica Bongfeldt, Izzy Andrews and Kiara Pozvai finished third behind two of Arkansas' relay teams with a time of 1:50.17 for 32 points before HSU's 'B' relay of Emily Chen, Bianca Santiago, Mackenzie Kester and Raven Roberts finished in fourth for 30 points, touching the wall at 1:50.61.

The men's 200 medley relay team also topped the podium with Lamar Taylor, Jaren Tippett, Jase Pinckney and Tim Holt besting OBU's second-place team by nearly five whole seconds with a time of 1:31.48 to pull 40 points. 

The Red Wave men picked up one other first-place finish in the relays with Pinckney, Holt, Jack Armstrong and Taylor out-swimming Ouachita by just a notch under six seconds for first in the 200 free relay, touching at 1:21.84. Armstrong, a transfer from Grand Canyon University, and Taylor went sub-20 in their respective splits at 19.99 and 19.63, respectively.

Individuals of note on the day for both sides were Jayme Simmer, Emma Jorgensen, Pozvai and Santiago and Laci Long for the women and Dabrowski, Armstrong, Taylor, Pinckney, Ty Gibbs, Robert Sachua, Tippett and Jevonn Cobin for the men.

Simmer, a true freshman out of Harvest, Alabama, finished in sixth (2:00.05) in her first ever collegiate meet in the 200 free for 13 points and then fifth (5:25.54) in the 500 free for 14 points. Jorgensen finished fourth (2:13.14) for 15 points in the 200 IM before true freshman Santiago claimed fifth (2:15.41) in what was also her first collegiate meet. Pozvai saw third-place finishes in both the 50 free (23.95) and the 100 free (52.42) while Long, a freshman diver from Dixon, Illinois, got second in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive with 196.35 and 182.80 points, respectively.

For the men, Dabrowski got first (1:44.27) in the 200 free, Armstrong got first in the 100 free (46.43), Taylor got first in the 50 free (20.24) and the 100 back (49.77), Pinckney topped the podium in the 100 fly (50.62) and Tippett was the first one to touch the wall in the 100 breast (58.19). True freshman Robert Sachau saw a pair of fourth-place finishes, first in the 100 fly (53.80) and then in the 100 back (56.70). Cobin finished out the scoring for the Red Wave with a pair of first-place finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive.

The Red Wave will return to the pool in their first head-to-head meet when they head to Conway, Arkansas, to face Hendrix College Friday, Sept. 30.