FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas swimming swept all 16 events in a victory against Missouri State on Friday.
Arkansas Press Release
Arkansas women’s swimming and diving sent out its seniors with a bang as the Razorbacks topped the Missouri State Bears, 191-96, at the Arkansas Natatorium on Friday evening.
“It was a pretty special day,” said head coach Sean Schimmel. “For what we go through year in and year out at such a high level academically, and their work ethic – to get to this day for all five of our seniors is a huge deal. I have so much respect for them and what they’ve done for this program.”
The Razorback diving squad had a career day in the home finale. Freshman diver Nicole Gillis took first in the three-meter boards, tying a personal best with 320.70 points. Junior Hannah Bortnick snagged second in the 3-meter spring boards, tallying 320.03, a new career-best. Senior Meghan Clark also collected a career-best in the three-meter boards with a score of 316.05. Junior Shelby Bartlett took first in the 1-meter boards with a new personal best score of 292.13. Both Bortnick and Clark also racked-up career best dives, scoring 287.93 and 276.83, respectively.
“It was amazing to get 316,” said Clark. “It crushed my last record – and to get a zone qualifying score on the one meter, it was a great feeling.”
Arkansas grabbed first place in all 16 events of the day. Senior Nikki Daniels racked-up two wins on the day in the 100 (1:03.77) and 200 (2:19.24) breaststroke, while seniors Liz Braun (200 back, 2:03.04) and Susanna White (50 free, 23.60) also grabbed event wins on the day.
“I was so full of emotion,” said White of her senior day. “I don’t really have words right now. I’m so grateful that I was with the team that I love today and have such great coaches that support me – I’m a little overwhelmed.”
Junior Anna Mayfield grabbed two first places in the 100 backstroke (55.38) and 500 free (4:53.18), while junior Maddie Monroe tallied two event wins in the 200 free (1:50.11) and 100 free (51.19).
Swimming the remaining first places was sophomore Aiden Lister (1,000 free, 10:13.89) and freshmen Jessie Garrison (200 butterfly, 2:04.91), Olivia Weekley (100 butterfly, 57.15) and Chelsea Tatlow (400 IM, 4:20.38).
Arkansas’ two relay teams also clocked first-place finishes. The 200-medley relay team of Mayfield, Daniels, White and Monroe touched the wall first (1:43.11). The 400 freestyle relay squad notched a victory with Braun, Daniels, senior Julia Banach and White (3:38.59).
Contributing to the Razorbacks scoring efforts with second-place finishes was junior Rachel Stoehr (1,000 free, 10:17.25; 500 free, 4:59.31), junior Nina Drolc (200 free, 1:50.81; 50 free, 23.72), Braun (100 back, 57.17), Banach (100 breast, 1:05.01; 200 breast, 2:19.28), freshman Taylor Weiss (100 butterfly, 58.43) and freshman Chloe Hannam (400 IM, 4:22.08).
The Razorbacks will next return to action in Lawrence, Kansas when they take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the Robinson Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 10 a.m.
Missouri State Press Release
The Missouri State women’s swimming and diving team fell in their final regular-season dual meet to the Arkansas Razorbacks, 191-96, on Friday, Jan. 23, at the Arkansas Natatorium.
After racing less than 24 hours hours prior in the Duel in the Pool, the Bears made the trip to Arkansas to swim against the Southeastern Conference member on its Senior Night.
“The Arkansas women challenged us to step up and compete on the highest level today,” Bears senior captain Shannon Myer said. “The meet also gave us an opportunity to work on stroke details to improve our races before the conference meet in February.”
“We are constantly working on the idea of racing tired,” MSU assistant coach Chelsea Dirks-Ham said. “It was nice to see the women get up and race against a very competitive Arkansas team today after a tough training week in both the pool and weight room.”
The Bears battled the Razorbacks tough and had top-three finishes in several events, despite the disadvantage of racing on back-to-back days.
Anna Bump (53.65) and Kate Gately (53.70) placed second and third in the 100 free for the best MSU tandem finish Friday. Dora Kiss earned runner-up in the 200 fly in a time of 2:05.76 and Lauren Pavel took third in the 100 breast in a time of 1:07.67.
Sydney Zupan had two top-five finishes for the Bears, taking runner-up in the 100 back (1:59.16) and fourth in the 200 back (2:03.37).
“This meet was our last opportunity to fine tune our race strategies and practice competing before conference,” MSU freshman Sydney Zupan said. “I thought we did a great job racing tired and I’m really excited for February.”
The Bears had two divers lead the squad, with Hannah Swyers finishing with an MSU-best 217.88 points in the 3-meter and Nina Privitera earning 220.43 points in the 1-meter. CeCe also took fourth for MSU in the 200 back (2:09.23) and Emma Metz placed fifth in the 200 free (1:59.16). The top MSU 400 free relay squad of Zupan, Megan Holthoff, Bump and Shannon Myer finished the final event of the dual in a time of 3.41.31.
“It was exciting to swim in my home pool and although we were tired, we all gave a great effort,” MSU junior swimmer Olivia Gean said. “We were glad to have one last opportunity to race before conference.”
The Missouri State women’s swimming and diving team will now gear its focus towards the Missouri Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The conference meet is set to begin on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium on the campus of Southern Illinois University.
“This meet was the final opportunity for our women to fine tune race specific details in a meet setting before the conference championship,” Dirks-Ham said. “As a group, we have targeted a couple areas to focus on during the final weeks of training heading into the conference meet.”
Arkansas vs. Missouri State Dual Meet – Results