Arkansas Sets School Record For Consecutive Dual Meet Victories

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri, November 9. THE Arkansas women’s swimming and diving team dominated its dual meet against Missouri State on Saturday afternoon, winning every event but one en route to the team’s 14th consecutive dual meet win. Missouri State’s Dora Kiss earned the Bears’ lone win of the day, setting a pool record in the 200 fly with a 2:03.78.

Arkansas Press Release

The No. 15 University of Arkansas swimming and diving team picked up its fourth dual-meet win of the season by defeating Missouri State 203.5-88.5 in Springfield, Mo., on Saturday. The win was highlighted by a Razorback sweep of the 200-yard freestyle and the 3-meter and 1-meter springboards. The Razorbacks picked up wins in 15 of 16 events.

The win against Missouri State marks a school-record 14th consecutive dual-meet win for Arkansas, breaking the previous record of 13 from 1991-92.

“We came out with the goal of staying positive, focused and aggressive,” head Coach Sean Schimmel said. “We let the work show up for where we are at this point in the season.”

The Razorbacks began the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay. The team of sophomore Anna Mayfield (San Antonio, Texas), junior Nikki Daniels (Wichita, Kan.), junior Susanna White (Forest, Va.), and sophomore Nina Drolc (Velenje, Slovenia) completed the race in 1:43.24.

The Razorbacks swept the 200 freestyle, led by Mayfield in 1:51.01. Sophomore Lauren Jordan (Carmel, Ind.) finished in second place in 1:52.25, and freshman Mary Margaret Soderberg (San Antonio, Texas) took third in 1:56.35.

Senior Kesha Naylor (Saskatchewan, Canada) won the 3-meter with a score of 312.90, a 21.9-point improvement from her first zone qualifying score against Nebraska on Oct. 26. Her score was followed by sophomore Shelby Bartlett (Noblesville, Ind.) in second place with 276.60 and sophomore Hannah Bortnick (Mission Hills, Kan.) in third place with a 260.85.

Naylor led the Razorbacks again in a sweep on the 1-meter boards with a season-high score of 295.72. Bartlett took second place with 273.37 and junior Meghan Clark (Frisco, Texas) came in third with a 254.47.

“Divers were outstanding,” Coach Schimmel said. “They really stepped up today. Kesha (Naylor) did a great job winning both boards. Shelby Bartlett also had a great day. The others are taking major strides. I’m really proud of our divers. They did a great job.”

White contributed to a team-high four Razorback wins. In addition to splits on two winning relays, White’s time of 1:04.79 tied for first place with Missouri State’s Renata Sander in the 100 breaststroke. White also won the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.25.

The Razorbacks continued dominance in distance swimming with wins in the 1,000 and 500 freestyles. Sophomore Rachel Stoehr (Lake Forest, Ill.) touched the wall first in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 10:19.84. Jordan placed first in the 500 freestyle in 4:56.55 and also won the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.99.

Drolc took first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.26. Daniels won the 200 breaststroke in 2:17.92. Sophomore Maddie Monroe (Godfrey, Ill.) won the 100 butterfly in 58.32.

Senior Julia Kucherich (York, Pa.) finished first in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:05.63, and earned a second event win in the 400 individual medley in 4:27.77.

Arkansas’ relay team of White, Drolc, Monroe and senior Shelby Cox (Little Rock, Ark.) ended the meet by winning the 200 freestyle relay in 1:34.33.

“We’ve got two weeks now to train and get sharp,” Coach Schimmel said. “We’re really looking to set up for February and March, go through our routine and be a better team than we’ve ever been before.”

Arkansas will travel to Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 21 to participate in the Missouri Invitational. The three-day invite will be the team’s last competition of the fall semester.

Missouri State Press Release

No. 15 Arkansas defeated the Missouri State women’s swimming & diving team, 203.5-88.5, in a non-conference dual meet at Hammons Student Center Pool Saturday.

With the win, the Razorbacks improve to 4-0 in dual meets this season. The loss drops the Bears to 3-2 on the year.

Sophomore Dora Kiss led the Bears on the day, breaking a pool record in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:03.78. Roni Balzam set the previous mark of 2:04.59 on Nov. 10, 2011 against Missouri.

Kiss also posted a second-place finish in the 400 IM in 4:31.23, the best time in the Missouri Valley Conference in the event this season.

Senior Renata Sander finished in a dead heat in the 100 breaststroke with Arkansas’ Susanna White in 1:04.79 to share first-place points. Sander also took second in the 200 breast, touching in 2:22.22.

Other top-three finishes came from the 200-medley relay squad of Megan Holthoff, Sander, Balzam and Shannon Myer in second in 1:48.20, Emily Chesser (200 backstroke, 59.88, third), Anna Bump (50 freestyle, 24.79, third). Bump was also third in the 100 free in 54.16, while Brianna Horozewski finished the 200 back in second in 2:08.23. Ibby Simcox and Chesser earned second- and third-place points in the 100 fly with times of 59.07 and 1:00.36, respectively.

Seniors Janke Engelbrecht, Hannah Molden and Sander and freshman Shawna Elsey finished strong with a 200-free relay time of 1:40.64 to take third in the event.

Missouri State is off until both men’s and women’s teams travel to Evanston, Ill., to compete in the TYR Invitational at Northwestern Nov. 22-24.

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