Quartet Advances To Day Four Finals
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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Four members of the Arkansas swimming and diving team earned spots in the finals on day four of the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships being held at the Mizzou Aquatic Center in Columbia, Missouri.
“It was another good day,” Arkansas swimming and diving head coach Sean Schimmel said. “We have a lot of swims and dives tomorrow. So we have to come in here and really top things off in the morning to set ourselves up for the rest of the day.”
All four finalists clocked lifetime bests in their preliminary events. In addition, sophomores Jessie Garrison and Chelsea Tatlow each earned ‘B’ cuts in the 200 fly. In prelims, Garrison placed 15th overall with a time of 1:58.52, while Tatlow was 20th in 1:58.87. Garrison later captured 11 points in the 200 fly B-Final, placing eighth in a time of 1:59.74. Tatlow contributed six points, finishing third in the C-Final in a time of 1:58.54 and bettering her lifetime-best mark from the morning.
After finishing 18th in the 100 back prelims with a time of 54.15, junior Natalie Burnett clocked a 53.87 in the C-Final, also bettering her lifetime-best mark from the morning and tallying six points for the Razorbacks.
In the 100 breast prelims, freshman Madison Strathman finished 19th in a time 1:02.13. She later secured fourth place in the C-Final in a time of 1:02.29, which chipped in six points.
In addition, freshman Madison Umberger posted a lifetime-best time of 55.81 in the 100 back while junior Sarah Easterling registered a season-best time of 56.36. Sophomore Madison Edwards clocked a lifetime-best time of 1:03.39 in the 100 breast.
“We had a lot of lifetime-best performances again today which is really exciting,” Schimmel said. “Those four finalists all had big swims for us.”
The Razorbacks closed out the night with a ninth-place overall finish in the 400 medley relay final. The team of senior Anna Mayfield, Strathman, Burnett and senior Maddie Monroe registered a season-best 3:37.56, adding 40 points to the squad’s total score.
Through 30 events, the Razorbacks are currently in 10th place with 371 points.
The team returns to action tomorrow for the final day of competition. Prelims for the 200 back, 100 free and 200 breast begin at 10 a.m., followed by prelims for the women’s platform diving at 1 p.m. and timed finals for the 1650 free at approximately 4 p.m. The evening session starts at 6 p.m. with the final heat of the 1650 free as well as the finals for the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, women’s platform diving and 400 free relay. Both sessions can be viewed on SEC Network+.
A recap of the championship will air on Wednesday, March 2 at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
Team Rankings – Through Event 30
1. Texas A&M – 847.5
2. Tennessee – 828.5
3. Georgia – 815.5
4. Missouri – 545
5. Auburn – 538
6. Florida – 507
7. LSU – 482
8. Kentucky – 405
9. Alabama – 377
10. Arkansas – 371
11. South Carolina – 324.5
12. Vanderbilt – 130
For more information on Arkansas swimming and diving, follow @RazorbackSD on Twitter.
