Two school records fall in morning session

ATHENS, Ga. — Arkansas sophomore Katie Whitbeck and senior Lynette Ng each set a school record on Friday 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 five swimmers to the evening’s finals, including Whitbeck who advanced in both the 100y butterfly and the 200y freestyle.

Whitbeck stopped the clock at 54.33 seconds in a preliminary heat of the 100y butterfly, breaking the previous school record of 54.80 that she set at the Purdue Invitational in November. She advanced into the consolation final with a 14th-place finish. The Oklahoma City native also qualified for the consolation final of the 200y freestyle event in 13th with a time of 1:48.68.

Ng touched in at 55.26 in a qualifying heat of the 100y backstroke, breaking the previous school record of 55.55 that she set at the Minnesota Grand Prix in 2008. She took the 16th and final spot in the consolation final.

Senior Yi-Ting Siow qualified eighth for the championships final in the 400y IM with a time of 4:14.34. Junior Jamie Marks touched in at 4:15.99 to finish 11th and earn a spot in the consolation final.

In her final SEC championship meet with the Razorbacks, senior Leah Pierce advanced into the consolation final of the 100y breaststroke with a time of 1:02.33. Pierce’s time represents a NCAA provisional qualifying time, as she placed 12th in the preliminary races. Junior Erin Neumann stopped the clock at 1:03.84 to finish 20th.

In the preliminaries of the 400y IM, sophomore Jillienne Schilling posted a NCAA “B” cut time with a personal-best mark of 4:19.17.

Other personal bests on the day included Erica Totten (4.21.13) and Ashley Largo (4:25.22) in the 400y IM prelims and Haley Smith (55.75) and Dannica Brennan (56.84) in the 100y backstroke. Sigrun Sverristoddir (1:50.33), Chelsea Franklin (1:50.39) and Alison Templin (1:51.06) all set personal-bests times in the preliminary race of the 200y freestyle.

In other 100y butterfly action, sophomore Lisa Lunkenheimer posted a career-best time of 55.04, as did Ng with a time of 56.33

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

The women’s platform diving event will take place Saturday, beginning with preliminaries at 12:30.

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

Download: Friday Prelim Results.pdf