Razorbacks to Face Seminoles and Gamecocks
Preparing for two away meets this weekend, the Hogs’ swimming and diving team plans to build off a strong performance at senior day against Missouri State and No. 12 Penn State.
The Hogs blew out Missouri State with a score of 250-50, and they pulled off the upset over the Nittany Lions, 151.5-146.5.
The Razorbacks won eight matches in the meet to improve to 5-1 on the season.
The Hogs started the meet with the lead when freshman Anna Mayfield won the 200 freestyle to take a 30-25 lead.
A win in the 100 backstroke gave the Nittany Lions a small lead over the Hogs, but then the Razorbacks had one of their strongest events of the meet.
The Razorbacks had a tremendous finish on the three meter diving board, finishing 1-2-3-4.
Junior Kesha Naylor led the Hogs and posted the second best score in school history with a score of 355.75. The score earned her the Southeastern Conference diver of the week award.
Hannah Bortnick, Shelby Bartlett and Meaghan Clark rounded out the top four, each posting personal best scores.
Penn State then took the lead winning the next three events, the 50 freestyle, the 100 freestyle and the 200 backstroke.
Needing to rally, sophomores Nikki Daniels and Julia Banach finished 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke to start the Razorback comeback.
Another 1-2-3-4 finish in diving, this time the one meter dive, pulled the Hogs to only a seven-point deficit. The Razorbacks then took the lead on the ensuing event, the 500 freestyle.
Penn State won the 400 IM to set up a winner take all finale, the 400 freestyle relay.
Nina Drolc, Mayfield and Maddie Monroe set up Susann White who anchored the relay and beat the Nittany Lions to the finish line by nearly three seconds with a time of 3:21.63.
“It came down to that last relay, and they stood up and got it done,” head coach Sean Schimmel said.
After the upset, the Razorbacks now turn their attention to a meet in Columbia, S.C., against SEC foe South Carolina and Florida State.
South Carolina comes into the meet with a 2-4 record, but they are fresh off a 184-115 win over the Duke Blue Devils.
The Gamecocks have improved as the season progressed. The win over the Blue Devils was their second straight win and followed a second-place finish at the Virginia Tech Invitational.
South Carolina is paced by junior Amanda Rutqvist and senior Matea Peteh this season.
Rutqvist set a Taishoff Aquatic Pavillion record against Duke in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:15.30.
She was also a part of the 200 IM relay that won with a time of 1:44.20.
Peteh won the 100 backstroke against Duke with a time of 57.06. Her personal best in that race was set in last year’s SEC Championship with a time was 56.11.
Florida State is coming off an upset win of their own, beating the 11th-ranked and rival Florida Gators 157-143.
This is only one of two meets this weekend for the Razorbacks. After the meet in South Carolina, the Hogs will drive up to Davidson, N.C., to face Davidson college less than 24 hours after Friday’s meet.
Schimmel feels that the quick turnaround will benefit the team in the future.
“It’s about SEC preparation for championships,” Schimmel said, “we have a similar situation where we have to be really great on Friday, get on a bus, do some travelling and get ready to go against Davidson.”
