Razorback Round-up -- Jan. 18

LIFT UP AMERICA: For the third year in a row, Arkansas student-athletes and administrators are participating in the Lift Up America event to unload food for distribution to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank and partner agencies. This year’s event, which is once again a partnership between the university, Lift Up America and Tyson Foods, Inc., is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of the Broyles Center.BASEBALL: The Razorbacks are ranked No. 23 in the Collegiate Baseball Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I preseason poll. Arkansas opens its season Feb. 19 with a three-game series against Ball State at Baum Stadium.MEN’S BASKETBALL (8-9, 1-1): The Razorbacks fell at Mississippi State on Thursday, but despite a 19-point first-half deficit, came back to make it a one-possession game in the closing moments before losing 82-80. Marshawn Powell led the team with 25 points, including 21 in the second half, while Courtney Fortson scored 20. The Razorbacks picked up their first conference win of the season, 71-59, at home against Alabama on Saturday. Powell scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Mike Washington scored 17 points and grabbed a season-best 13 rebounds, and Fortson had 12 points and 10 assists for three double-doubles. Arkansas remains at home for a Thursday night tilt against Florida at Bud Walton Arena on ESPN at 8 p.m. before traveling to take on the No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington on Saturday afternoon.WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (8-10, 0-5): Arkansas got 38 points from senior Charity Ford and 29 from sophomore Lyndsay Harris, but dropped two Southeastern Conference games at home last week. Arkansas now faces eight of the remaining 12 regular season games on the road, beginning with Kentucky and Alabama this week.FOOTBALL: Arkansas announced the hiring of Chris Klenakis as an assistant coach for the offensive line. Klenakis comes to Fayetteville after six seasons at Nevada where he was the offensive coordinator. Arkansas finished the season with a 20-17 overtime win against East Carolina in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. MEN’S GOLF: The Razorbacks are off until Feb. 14-16 when they compete at the Battle at the Beach in Newport Beach, Calif.WOMEN’S GOLF: The Razorbacks are idle until the Central District Invitational Feb. 22-23 in Parrish, Fla. GYMNASTICS (1-1): Arkansas went on the road for the first time last week and the No. 7 Razorbacks fell to No. 8 Florida, 196.575-195.925. Senior Casey Jo Magee won the individual beam title (9.90) and sophomore Jaime Pisani tied for the individual floor win (9.90). A tape-delay broadcast of the meet airs on Cox Sports Television (available in Cox Communications and Suddenlink markets) Tuesday from 6-7 p.m. Arkansas is on the road again this week, traveling to Alabama for Friday’s 7:30 p.m. meet.SOFTBALL: The Razorbacks open the season Feb. 12-14 at the Metrodome Classic in Minneapolis, Minn. SWIMMING AND DIVING (5-2, 2-1): No. 18 Arkansas suffered only its second loss of the season Saturday at the hands of No. 25-ranked Missouri, falling 161-115, at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. Senior Yi-Ting Siow picked up event wins in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200y individual medley while Leah Pierce added another win in the 200y breaststroke. Arkansas returns to action Jan. 30 when it hosts Utah at 1 p.m. at Arkansas Natatorium. A pre-meet ceremony will honor seniors Siow, Pierce and Ng along with Megan Haskins. WOMEN’S TENNIS: Two Razorbacks continued their strong start on Sunday by advancing to the finals in their respective flights at the Florida Gulf Coast Invite in Ft. Myers, Fla. Sophomores Fernanda Perrotta and Stephanie Roy each remained undefeated in singles play and advanced to the finals of their flights. Perrotta defeated Maria Christensen of Missouri to earn the spot against Angelika Jogasuria of Akron for flight six. In flight 3, Roy defeated Bhavani Tirumurti of Purdue and plays in the finals against Melanie Aguirre of North Florida. In doubles, Roy and Perrotta advanced to the finals of the consolation bracket. The Razorbacks return to the courts Saturday to host Saint Louis University and Oklahoma State at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center. Matches are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.MEN’S TENNIS (0-1):The Razorbacks fell to No. 26 Washington, 4-3, Sunday at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center. The Razorbacks started strong, winning the doubles point for an early 1-0 lead. In singles at No. 1, Jeevan Nedunchezhivan won the first set over UA’s No. 81 Chris Nott, but Nott claimed the match in a third set tie-breaker, 6-7(8), 6-3, 7-6(8). At No. 4, Dmitry Lebedev held off Martain Kildahl, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. In doubles, Matt Hogan and Matt Walters earned the first win of the day at No. 2. Lebedev and Nott clinched the doubles point against Derek Drabble and Kildahl, 9-7. The Razorbacks return to the courts to host the No. 8 Texas Longhorns at Dills Indoor Center Fayetteville on Friday at 5:30 p.m. MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD:No. 5 Arkansas topped Texas in an indoor dual meet, 88-81, at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Saturday. The Razorbacks picked up eight individual wins and a title in the distance medley relay in front of a crowd of 600-plus. Arkansas swept the running events from 200 meters to the 5K, and added a DMR win at the end. Freshman Cobi Hamilton, in his track debut, won the 200 meters (21.25) with the No. 9 mark in school history. Sophomore Ben Skidmore won the 400 meters in a personal-best time (47.54). In the field events, freshman Brede Ellingsen won the high jump (6-10.75) and sophomore Tarik Batchelor won the triple jump (49-8.5). Arkansas returns to the track for next weekend’s Razorback Invitational. The two-day event, beginning Friday, will be held at the Randal Tyson Track Center.WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD:The No. 17 Razorbacks completed competition at the Virginia Tech Invitational with three event titles and four NCAA qualifying marks. Regina George won the 800 meters (2:09.42) and was a member of the winning 4×400-meter relay team (George, Karen Thomas, Shelise Williams, Edina Brooks). Williams also picked up a pair of wins in the relay events. The Razorbacks also took home first in the DMR (Williams, Kristen Gillespie, Stephanie Brown, Samantha Learch) and the 1,000 meters. Both relay teams clocked provisional qualifying times. Gillespie (2:45.86) and Brown (2:49.19) combined for a 1-2 finished in the 1,000 meters. Arkansas’ other two qualifying marks came from Tina Sutej with a second-place jump of 14-1.25 in the pole vault. The clearance is a season and personal best, improved her NCAA automatic qualifying mark and bettered the Slovenian national record she broke last week in the season opener. Shantel Thompson turned in a season-best performance with a 19-11 leap in the long jump, good enough for fifth place and an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark. Arkansas is home for next weekend’s Razorback Invitational. The two-day event, beginning Friday, will be held at the Randal Tyson Track Center.