Razorbacks poised for final push

ATHENS, Ga. — Arkansas seniors Yi-Ting Siow and Leah Pierce qualified one-two for the championship final in the 200-yard breaststroke Saturday morning at the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships inside the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium.

The 20th-ranked Arkansas swimming and diving team advanced six swimmers to the finals, hoping to make a last push into top five in the team standings.

Siow touched in at 2:10.78 to earn the top qualifying spot in the 200y breaststroke, followed by Pierce in 2:11.75. Siow’s mark represents the fifth-fastest time in school history. Junior Erin Neuman qualified 16th for the consolation final with a time of 2:18.93 while sophomore Sarah Howard was the first alternate, stopping the clock in a career-best 2:19.41.

Sophomores Lisa Lunkenheimer and Katie Whitbeck qualified 10th and 16th, respectively, for the consolation final in the 200y butterfly. Lunkenheimer stopped the clock in 2:00.39, while Whitbeck touched in at 2:00.89. Junior Erica Totten posted a time of 2:01.52 in the third preliminary heat.

Junior Megan Haskins qualified 16th for the consolation final in the 100y freestyle with a career-best time of 50.36.

In the preliminaries of the 200y backstroke, freshman Dannica Brennan narrowly missed an NCAA provisional qualifying time with a personal-best 1:59.76.

Other career bests on the day included Katie Davis (2:02.03) and Haley Smith (2:00.03) in the 200y backstroke prelims along with Sigrun Sverrisdottir (51.31) and Courtney Hubbard (52.21) in the 100y freestyle.

Sophomore Jillienne Schilling touched in at 2:01.59 in her qualifying heat of the 200y backstroke.

The preliminaries in the women’s platform diving event are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. EST, followed by heats of the 1,650y freestyle beginning at 3:25 p.m.

Finals begin at 6 p.m. and will include the 400y freestyle relay.

Live video and results from Saturday night’s finals will be available at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.