Vanessa Herrmann Wins Three Times to Lead Arkansas Past Houston
Vanessa Herrmann won three races on Saturday to power Arkansas to a 198-116 win over Houston in a nonconference clash.
Molly Moore, Rebecca Simpson and Eleonora Camisa added two wins each for the Razorbacks in their final home meet of the 2021 portion of the schedule.
Herrmann led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:00.11. She added a win in the 200 breast in 2:12.29, a margin of more than 4.5 seconds back to teammate Bradi Jones. She finished it with the closest race of the day, beating Houston’s Marina Ortega by just .08 seconds to win the 200 individual medley.
Moore posted a time of 54.22 in the 100 backstroke to get the better of teammate Andrea Sansores by three tenths. She added a narrow win in the 100 freestyle in 50.46 seconds, just .12 ahead of teammate Bella Cothern. Cothern had posted a best time of 22.72 to get the win in the 50 free and was also second in the 100 breast to Herrmann.
Simpson added wins in the 200 free and 200 back. Camisa did the daring double of the 500 free and 200 fly. Sansores won the 100 fly in 54.95. Grace Walker augmented a runner-up finish in three-meter diving to win the one-meter with a score of 303.30. Sansores, Cothern, Moore and Emily Barclay teamed to win the 400 free relay in 319.97.
“I was very proud of our team today,” Arkansas coach Neil Harper said in a team release. “We have really been working hard in the pool and weight room and they rose to the challenge. We were without five swimmers and divers today, three of which made NCAA’s last year, so it was always going to be a challenge. The team today not only accepted the challenge, but they also rose to the occasion. Houston swam incredibly fast the last time we competed against them, so we knew anything was possible. Our seniors and freshmen set the tone again today with valuable leadership and wins.”
Houston got a boost from its distance contingent, with Mary Catherine Jurica and Shayla Erickson going 1-2 in the 1,000 free. Laura Garcia Marin was second in the 200 free and 500 free. Chase Farris won three-meter diving with a score of 304.13 and was third in one-meter, a place behind teammate Emilia Waters.
“We are walking away from the meet encouraged for Phill Hansel (Invitational),” Houston coach Tanica Jamison said in a team release. “There were a lot of season-best performances in the pool and on the boards. We saw better execution of individual race plans and our team fought through adversity which brought a new energy that we will need for the future.”
Go Hogs!!!!!!