Meet Stats
- September 16, 2017
- Arkansas def. SMU 149-83
- Arkansas exhibitioned the last 3 events of the meet.
- HPER Natatorium, Fayetteville, Arkansas
- 25y
- Meet Results
The Arkansas Razorbacks won their 27th-consecutive non-conference dual meet on Saturday by knocking off the SMU Mustangs 149-83 in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks have also now won 3-straight season openers.
“I was very happy,” said Arkansas head coach Neil Harper. “I think it was a great team effort. They did really well and wanted they wanted to race someone else. You could see that. There are still a few things we are working on but they have improved from where we were on the first couple of days of practice. It was good to see a lot of people step up.”
The Razorbacks built a big lead early, winning the first 9 events of the meet, including 1-2-3 sweeps in the 200 medley relay, 200 free, 1m diving, and 100 free. The Razorbacks’ “A” 200 medley relay won in 1:43.44. Arkansas returns that medley relay almost completely in-tact from last season, and wound up with almost the same time as they swam in their 2016 opener.
Senior Olivia Weekley picked up a pair of wins, winning the 50 free in 23.72 and the 100 fly in 55.27.
Arkansas freshman Peyton Palsha is the next in a very good Arkansas distance freestyle tradition – she won the 500 on Saturday in 4:57.75.
While they were dominant in scoring, Arkansas’ year-over-year times were down as compared to their season opener last year – though this meet was also almost a full month earlier in the year. This meet will give the Razorbacks some confidence, while their tri-meet on October 14th against Missouri and South Carolina will be a better parallel for time comparisons.
For SMU, senior Matea Samardzic and sophomore Erin Trahan each finished 2nd in two events. Trahan was 2nd behind Weekly in the 50 free (24.09) and 100 fly (56.38), while Samardzic was 2nd in the 200 IM (2:03.69) and 500 free (4:59.02).
i agree…just say they beat SMU and don’t make the headlines about non conference win streak……especially if you aren’t swimming some good swimming schools. hopefully smu will get back to some good strength with the new pool.
Why would you brag about winning 27 NON-Conference duel meets in a row? I would understand if it were in-conference meets, because you have to swim themand they’re rivals. But this just tells me that you’re scheduling soft opponents. Why not swim teams like Texas, Cal, Michigan, Florida, etc? Give yourself a chance to race against tough competition and get better. Sure you might lose a couple, but who cares, it’s pre-season.
So people in the athletic department who make decisions about the future of a team have “good stats” to look at. Swim team need to show off everything they do well.
If your read the text, it contains no bragging at all. Coach Harper’s quotes are very suiting.
Wow! This is so early in the season to have a meet!