The University of Arkansas at Little Rock swimming and diving team members broke nine school records while competing in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship Feb. 14-17 at the University of Iowa. 

On the first day of the event, Laura Ruiz Astorga, Nuria Gallego Murcia, Isabelle Finzen, and Emma Doll broke the school record for the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:44.11 — over a second faster than the previous record set in 2014.

On Feb. 15, senior Tori Fryar finished third in the A-Final of the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:54.33, breaking her previous school record of 4:54.47.

“It is awesome to see Tori finish one of her favorite events with a third place and a school record,” Head Coach Amy Burgess said. “She worked so hard for this and is more than deserving of this.”

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Imre van Huyssteen, Courtney Goff, Doll, and Ruiz Astorga recorded a time of 1:34.32, breaking the record of 1:34.52 that Goff, Doll, and Ruiz Astorga set last year along with former teammate Courtney Coe.

Two more school records fell for Little Rock swimming and diving in day three of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Feb. 16. Ruiz Astorga placed fifth going into the finals with a time of 55.87. Her time was .34 seconds faster than her own time set at last year’s MVC Championship.

Fryar broke her second school record in two days while competing in the 200-yard freestyle as she finished fourth in the A-final with a time of 1:50.28. Fryar smashed her own record of 1:51.52 set in last year’s MVC Championship — 1.24 seconds better.

In the final day of the championship on Saturday, Feb. 17, Little Rock swimming and diving broke four more school records while also medaling in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The next record to fall in another big weekend for Little Rock was in the 400-yard freestyle relay as the team of van Huyssteen, Regan Lawrence, Ruiz Astorga, and Doll medaled with a third-place finish and a time of 3.26.03 — 1.12 seconds faster than the previous record.

Fryar had a big evening in the pool as she took a fourth-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, breaking her 1000-yard record at the split with a time of 10:12.08 and then breaking the 1,650-yard time at 16:56.21. The split time edged out her own previous record by over eight seconds while her 1,650 time was 8.98 seconds faster than also her own previous record.

Ruiz Astorga broke another record, taking down her previous 200-yard backstroke time of 2:03.14 with a fifth-place finish time of 2:01.47.

Fryar was named to the All-MVC First Team in the 500-yard freestyle. Gray, Ruiz Astorga, Doll, and van Huyssteen were all named All-MVC Honorable Mentions for their performances.

As a team, Little Rock finished the MVC Championships in sixth place with a final score of 363.5 points.