The OBU swim teams competed in their first meet of the season against arch rivals Henderson State University this past Friday. The team traveled across the road to the HSU natatorium where both the HSU men and women's teams won.

The Tigersharks proved from the first race that they were not going down without a fight, both the men's and women's team dominated the 200 medley relays.  The Women's A relay consisting of Elizabeth Willis, Svitlana Smirnova, Bailey Brodway and Rebecca Zandstra, set the tone for the meet.  From then on fans cheered non-stop, especially for the men's relay, OBU's Emile Maritz, Jason Pullano, Carl Thomas and Kenton Scott.

Jennifer Steele won her 1000 and 500 freestyles with a huge lead from the beginning of her races; she then maintained the lead for an effortless win. Freshman David Wray stole the show in his 1000 freestyle, swimming side-by-side almost the entire race with an HSU swimmer. Wray lead the way for most of the race, but when his competitor gained ground, Wray pushed harder and ultimately won his race.

Sprinters Rebecca Zandstra, and Marcus Schlesinger crushed the completion in their 50 freestyle Zandstra with a time of 24.54 and Schlesinger with a time of 20.79. Schlesinger later won his 100 freestyle in 46.10.

Freshman Bailey Brodway impressed by winning her 100 fly with an effortless 59.66 Holly Wray not far behind in third place with a 101.48. Carl Thomas swooped in and took first place in his 100 fly as well.

However, the climax of the meet was, without a doubt, the 100 breaststroke. Svitlana Smirnova placed first with a smooth 2 second lead. Then Jason Pullano swam an intense race and tied for first place with HSU swimmer Guy Buls both with a time of 1:01.04.

While the Tigersharks fought hard it wasn't enough to overcome the Red Wave, but they will get their chance for revenge at OBU in the spring.  As for this weekend, both the men and women travel to Conway to partake in the Hendrix relays, which will provide plenty of competition from various schools from various divisions.  The meet officially starts at 1:00pm with diving, and swimming starting somewhere around 6:00pm.