Big 12 Weekly Preview: Texas Hosts NC State & Arizona, Kansas Travels to Arkansas

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Jason Tillotson.

After a relatively quiet Big 12 scene last week, the action ramps up this weekend with the University of Texas Longhorns hosting a two day double-dual with the ACC’s NC State University and Pac-12 contenders University of Arizona.

The Longhorns swam the Wolfpack last fall, with the men losing 116-176 and the women winning 184-115. In the spring of last year Texas swam a double-dual with Arizona State and Arizona, where they topped the Wildcats 179-120 for the women and 155-143 for the men’s meet.

The Longhorn men come into this weekend’s dual with a record of 4-2 while the NC State Wolfpack is currently undefeated with a record of 4-0. Arizona’s men come in as 1-3.

On the women’s side the Lady Longhorns, who are currently undefeated with a record of 6-0 will have their plates full with NC State boasting a record of 4-0 coming into this weekend. Arizona’s women are sitting on a record of 3-4.

Meanwhile, even further west we have Kansas University taking on SEC foe University of Arkansas.

Texas Hosts Double Dual with NC State and Arizona

The Texas men should score some major points in the stroke events, where NC State and Arizona are less equipped. The NC State men do have Coleman Stewart to go head-to-head with Longhorn Austin Katz, but after Stewart the Wolfpack does not have much depth to handle John Shebat, Jeff Newkirk and Ryan Harty.

In the breaststroke events the men have Charles Scheinfield who should be able to hold off NC State’s fastest breaststroker, Daniel Graber. Arizona will look to Matt Salerno for much needed points in the breast events.

The butterfly races should be interesting with the Wolfpack bringing in a pair of studs, Andreas Vazaios and James Bretscher, who will likely race the Longhorn duo of Sam Pomajevich and Jacob Huerta.

In the freestyle events, it looks like a mixed bag. Texas brings dependable powerhouses like Townley Haas who can stretch from the 50 to the 1000, while NC State has Eric Knowles who can do the same, not to mention Justin Ress in the sprint events. The Wildcats will bring Noah Reid to make up the gap in the 50 and 100 freestyles.

For the women the backstroke events will be taken care of by Quinn Carrozza and Claire Adams, who will have to face NC State’s Elise Haan.

The Longhorns have Holly Jansen and Olivia Anderson as the go-to women for the breaststroke races, who should see the Wolfpack’s Sophie Hansson give them a swim for their money in both the 100 and 200 distances.

For the women’s freestyle races the Longhorns have Evie Pfeifer, Lauren Case and Joanna Evans to rely on against NC State’s Ky-lee Perry and Julia Poole.

Kansas Travels to Arkansas for a Big 12 versus SEC showdown

The Kansas University Jayhawks will travel to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for a single day dual with the Razorbacks.

The Jayhawks come into the competition with a dual meet record of 6-0 while the Razorbacks are sitting on a 5-3 record.

Kansas is coming off a wide victory of William Jewel last weekend where they topped the Cardinals 149-50.

Arkansas is on a three meet win streak after defeating Rice and SMU on the road, and Houston at home.

The usual standouts, Jenny Nusbaum, Carly Straight and Crissie Blomquist will lead the Jayhawks in the freestyle events while Greta Olsen will take the butterfly responsibilities.

For the breaststroke and IM races we should see Jayhawks Haley Downey and Hayley Bishop score major points against the power-five school.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use