Lady'Backs Travel South for Weekend

FAYETTEVILLE-The University of Arkansas swimming and diving team travels to the Lone Star State for a busy weekend in the water. The Lady Razorbacks meet Houston in a dual meet, Thursday, Nov. 3, at 5 p.m. and participate in the Marriot West Loop/Rice Invitational, Nov. 4-5.

Arkansas swimming head coach Anne Goodman James said the Lady’Backs are ready for the challenging weekend.

“At Rice, we will see some teams we have never met before with Oregon State, Villanova and Rice in the four-way meet,” she said. “It will be a good variety of competition, each of those teams has different strengths and weaknesses.”

The Lady’Backs (1-1) lead the all-time series with Houston 10-3 but fell to the Cougars, 60-44, last season in Honolulu, Hawaii. The invitational marks the first meeting with Oregon State or Villanova and Arkansas is 1-0 against Rice.

Arkansas was successful in its first road meet of the year with the Lady’Backs defeated Drury, 158.5-104.5, Oct. 22, for their first team victory of the season.

Goodman James said she is pleased with the Lady’Back performances after the first two meets of the season and hopes the team continues the trend in Texas.

“First of all, I’ve very encouraged by the competitions that we’ve had so far,” she said. “They’re just really tough racers, especially the freshmen. Every freshman that we have has made an impact on the team already, and a couple has really stood out and has been great point-getters for us.”

Freshmen Summer Jackson and Jesika Heidloff have paced Arkansas this season with Jackson taking top honors in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly and Heidloff sweeping the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.

For more information on Arkansas swimming and diving, log on to LADYBACKS.COM.