Razorbacks Headed to Houston
The Razorbacks lost to Georgia earlier this season, but look to continue recent success when they compete in the Phil Hansel Invitational later this week. (Photo by Kris Johnson)
The Arkansas swimming and diving team is heading into their second road test as they travel to Houston for the Phil Hansel Invitational.
Last month, Arkansas followed up a loss to Georgia with a dominant performance in their meet against Missouri, Kentucky and Southern Illinois and beat each team by scores of 197-103, 212-88 and 244-56, respectively.
The Razorbacks racked up 10 wins and were led by Nina Drolc, who played a part in two winning relay teams, the 400-yard freestyle and was the anchor leg for the 200-yard IM.
Drolc, the freshman from Velenje, Slovenia, also won the 100 yard freestyle for the Razorbacks.
The Razorbacks will look to build on that performance this week.
They will face 14 other schools from the Atlantic Sun Conference and multiple teams from the Mountain West Conference, Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA.
All of the teams the Razorbacks will be facing have picked up a win this season.
Clemson, however is coming off a loss to South Carolina and Florida last weekend.
Wyoming brings a 2-0 record into the event and are one of only two undefeated teams.
They are led by junior Morgan Hartigan, who is a talented all-around swimmer, but mostly swims either freestyle or butterfly.
The Hogs will face the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University for the second time this season. Both teams competed in the Razorback Relays at the beginning of the season.
The Razorbacks dominated that meet, finishing with 526 points while SMU finished with just 300.
Arkansas will also face two Southeastern Conference foes, No. 17 LSU and No. 4 Texas A&M.
LSU is 4-1 on the season with wins over Alabama, Tulane, NC State and Vanderbilt.
They are led by junior Torrey Bussey, who swims breaststroke and individual medley, and sophomore Amber Carter.
Bussey has two team-bests in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, while Carter has the team-bests in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle.
Texas A&M comes into the meet with the strongest team and are ranked fourth in the nation.
The Texas A&M Aggies also topped SMU this season with a score of 153-103 and beat the North Carolina Tar Heels and the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Other top teams in the relays are New Mexico, New Mexico State, Tulane, Idaho and Florida Gulf Coast.
All of the previously mentioned teams have won at least two matches on the season.
Other teams in the meet that have struggled this season include Rice, Air Force and Houston.
These teams, along with Clemson, are all .500 or below.
