Razorbacks set school record at SECs
ATHENS, Ga. — The 20th-ranked Arkansas swimming and diving team broke a school record in the 200-yard medley relay and posted two NCAA provisional qualifying times Wednesday at the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships inside the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium.
After the first day of competition, the Razorbacks are sitting in ninth with 46 points. Florida and Georgia are for tied for first with 95 total points.
“We had a great first night with the two relays and the diving,” Arkansas coach Jeff Poppell said. “Setting a school record in the 200-yard medley relay was just a fantastic way to start the meet off. All four girls had fantastic splits, and we could not have asked for a better way to start it off. We were a little disappointed with the finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay being seeded fourth going into it.
“We are sitting in a very familiar place, as we have each of the last four years. We have a lot of work to do in the next three days to start moving up. It is possible, but we have to come in ready to go tomorrow morning and get girls some final swims.”
In the first race of the meet, the 200y medley relay team of Lynette Ng, Yi-Ting Siow, Lisa Lunkenheimer and Megan Haskins set a Razorback record of 1:40.66, finishing in eighth place. The time broke the previous mark of 1:41.57 set at last year’s SEC championships and represents an NCAA “B” cut time.
To close out action for the night, Siow joined Katie Whitbeck, Chelsea Franklin and Sigrun Sverristoddir to post a time of 7:17.09 in the 800y freestyle relay. The second-fastest time in school history and NCAA “B” cut time earned the quartet a seventh-place finish. Whitbeck’s time of 1:48.40 on her leadoff leg of the relay marked not only the second-best time in program history but also represented a new career-best time for the sophomore.
In the morning’s 1-meter diving preliminaries, sophomore Liana Bugslag finished 19th with a score of 237.70. Fellow sophomore Alex Roman earned a mark of 224.35 for a 21st-place finish.
“The 1-meter today is the weakest of the three diving events,” Poppell said. “Three-meter tomorrow should be a lot better for the team, and we are looking forward to getting some diving points to help us out.”
Thursday begins with preliminaries in the 500y freestyle at 10 a.m. EST, followed by the 200y individual medley and the 50y freestyle. The women’s 3-meter preliminaries are scheduled to being at 2:30 p.m. The evening session will feature finals in all three events, concluding with the 200y freestyle relay.
Live video and results from both sessions Thursday will be available at georgiadogs.com.
Download: Results-wednesday finals.pdf
