Swimming and Diving Notes- SEC Championships Recap

Up nextThe Arkansas swimming and diving team will have two weeks off after the SEC Championships to prepare for the Austin Grand Prix, March 4-6, in Austin, Texas. The Razorbacks will be training in advance of the NCAA Zone Diving competition, March 12-14, and the NCAA Championships, March 18-20. This year’s NCAA Championships are hosted by Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.Razorbacks finish Sixth at 2010 SEC ChampionshipsThe 20th-ranked Razorbacks finished in sixth place with 262.5 points, after scoring 113 points in their most productive day Saturday. Arkansas finished just behind Alabama in fifth with 272 points and just ahead of LSU who finished with 262 points. Georgia won their seventh SEC Championships with a point total of 824.5 followed by Florida in second with 698. In Poppell’s Words… (On 2010 SEC Championships)“All I can say is wow. We made one heck of a run from where we were after the first day of the meet. We came up nine-and-a-half points shy of getting fifth and we couldn’t have done anymore than we did. I am so proud of this group of girls. They have done a phenomenal job all year but especially at this meet. This is by far the best SEC meet we have had in the four years I have been here, even though we dropped a spot from where we were a year ago, we far out performed what we did a year ago.”SEC Champion: Yi-Ting SiowArkansas senior Yi-Ting Siow became the first Razorback swimmer to win back-to-back Southeastern Conference titles at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships. Siow won her second SEC championship, and second medal of this year’s event, touching in at 2 minutes, 9.23 seconds. The Malaysia native becomes the fourth SEC swimmer to win back-to-back titles in the 200y breaststroke since 1981.Siow qualifies for NCAAs in 400y IMYi-Ting Siow was the only Arkansas swimmer to post an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Championships. She swam that mark in the 400y IM and had previously qualified in the 200y breaststroke. She won her first medal of the 2010 SEC Championships in that event, with her third place finish.Razorbacks rewrite school record bookIn the four-day event, the Razorbacks broke nine school records, tied one and posted numerous career best times. Arkansas broke school records in the 1,650y freestyle, 100y and 200y backstroke, 100y butterfly, 200y and 400y individual medley, 200y and 400y medley relay along with platform diving. The Razorbacks tied the school record in the 400y freestyle relay.Marks, Pierce earn top-five finshesOther top finishes for the Razorbacks included junior Jamie Marks with a fourth-place finish in the 1,650y freestyle and senior Leah Pierce also finishing fourth in the 200y breaststroke. Bugslag places eighth on platformIn the women’s platform diving event, sophomore Liana Bugslag posted a 254.65, breaking the previous school of 251.95 she set at a dual meet against Drury in 2009. She advanced to the finals of the platform for the first time in her career and finished eighth.

Whitbeck shows diversity at SECsSophomore Katie Whitbeck started off her second SEC championships by swimming the second-fastest 200y freestyle time in school history on the lead off leg of the 800y freestyle relay Wednesday night. She advanced into a total of three consolation finals. On Friday, she touched in at 54.85 to finish 14th in the consolation final of the 100y butterfly and earned a 15th-place finish in the 200y freestyle consolation final with a time of 1:49.05. On Saturday, she finished 16th in the 200y butterfly with a time of 2:02.83.