Arkansas Wraps Up Day 1 at SEC Championships

Fayetteville, Ark.- The 20th ranked Arkansas Swim & Dive team finished a successful day one at the SEC Championships Wednesday evening.

In Athens, Ga., the swimmers competed in the 200-medley relay final and the 800 free relay final. In the 800 free relay final, Peyton Palsha, Adela Vavrinova, Brittney Pike and Molly Moore finished with a time of 7:13.11. Palsha set a new personal best in the opening leg of the relay, with a time of 1:45.24. In the 200-medley relay, Andrea Sansores, Vanessa Herrmann, Kobie Melton and Emily Barclay finished seventh with a time of 1:37.91.

The divers started the day strong in Columbia, Mo. in the one-meter dive prelims. Brooke Schultz took first place with a score of 310.55 and Maha Amer finished second with a score of 297.95. The divers placed four others in the prelims with Estilla Mosena (20), Grace Walker (24), Mayson Richards (25) and Josie Matalone (34) all posting solid performances. In the one-meter dive finals, Schultz’s score of 313.25 was good for third while Amer’s 288.65 placed her sixth overall.

Quotables

Head Coach Neil Harper: “I thought we got off to a pretty good start today. We had some solid relays with some amazing legs today. Peyton swam a lifetime best by over a second to lead off our 800 free relay. Our 200-medley raced well, placing seventh. We also got some great help from our diving team today led by Brooke and Maha. Everyone will be competing tomorrow in their individual events, so we are excited to compete for personal bests.”

Diving Coach Dale Schultz: “I thought we started out great in the prelims today, with Brooke and Maha leading the way. I thought we did a good job of competing in the finals but could have finished better. I think we will come out tomorrow and compete and dive very well.”