Swimming and Diving Fact Sheet #1

The University of Arkansas swimming and diving team has the week off after its meetwith Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Next, catch the Razorbacks at Arkansas Natatoriumwhen they host LSU on Oct. 30 at 1 p.m.

The squad splits its fi rst regular season meet, losing to No.10 Tennessee 197-103 and beating Vanderbilt 252-48. All-Americans Katie Kastes and Madison Palmer had strong outings, Kastes winning both the 200 free and 200 fl y and Palmer earning the top score in the one-meter dive. The Razorbacks won fi ve events at the meet including newcomer Leah Pierce’s fi rst place fi nish in the 200 breast.

“The girls saw the diff erence between a top 10 team versus a top 20 team at this meet and there’s a signifi cant diff erence between the two. Tennessee is an incredible team and they performed like one, but we also did very well as a team today. In addition to winning fi ve events we came close in some others; unfortunately, some of our great performances were overshadowed by the greater performances by Tennessee.”

CollegeSwimming.com released its fi rst national poll last week and ranked Arkansas 21st in the nation. Last week’s opponent Tennessee holds the 10-spot on the list. Other SEC schools receiving top 25 nods were Florida, Georgia, Auburn, and Alabama; Kentucky’s program also received votes last week.

The 2007-08 swimming and diving program was recognized by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America for maintaining the fourth-highest GPA last season among Division I swimming programs with a 3.54 GPA behind Yale, New Mexico State, and Dartmouth. Also being honored were Stephanie Carr, Madison Palmer, and Ashley Largo who were named Academic All-Americans for their classroom successes and Erica Totten, Erin Neumann, Emily Gregory, Summer Jackson, and Shara Sutphen were named as Honorable Mention Academic All-Americans.

The Razorbacks held their annual Red-White meetonOct. 17in preparation for their week’s fi rst regular season meet. In the intrasquad competition, the red team edged out the white team 174-166. Freshman Katie Whitbeck led the red team with victories in the 50 and 100 free. Katie Kastes also took two fi rst place fi nishes, in the 200 IM and 100 back, for the white team.

Arkansas returns three All-Americans from last season: Madison Palmer (one-meter dive), Stephanie Carr (1650 free), and Katie Kastes (500 free, 200 fl y). Three-time Olympian Yi Ting Siow of Malaysia and Canadian Olympic Trials fi nalist Liana Bugslag lead the 13 newcomers joining the Razorbacks this season.

The 2008-09 recruiting class was ranked 21st in the nation, Coach Jeff Poppell’s second Top 25 recruiting class in two years, by CollegeSwimming.com.

Sophomore Katie Kastes enters the season having broken fi ve Arkansas swimming and diving records as a freshman. Kastes broke school records in the 200 and 500 free, 100 and 200 fl y, and the 400 IM. Her time of 1:55.66 in the 200 fl y earned her All-American status at the 2008 NCAA Championships.

Arkansas fi nished the 2007-08 season with a dual record of 7-5, the fi rst winning season since 2000-01 season. The Razorbacks broke 12 school records on their way to a 7th place SEC fi nish, their best SEC ranking since 2004.

Download: 10.21 Notes 3.pdf