Alessia Ferraguti and Sydney Craft Shine as Arkansas Tops Kansas

Arkansas vs. Kansas (Women)

• January 26, 2024
• Robinson Natatorium
  • Lawrence, Kansas
• SCY (25 yards)
• PDF Results
• Results also available on Meet Mobile: “KU vs Arkansas”
• Team Scores
  • Arkansas 178 – Kansas 128

The Arkansas Razorbacks made the four hour trip to Lawrence, Kansas to take on the Jayhawks on Friday. This meet was women’s only, and Arkansas ultimately took the win by 50 points. The Arkansas women won all but one of the swimming events, with Kansas grabbing the win in the 200 fly and 3m diving.

The action commenced with the 400 medley relay, where Arkansas kicked off the day in a big way. They posted a 1-2 finish in the event, with the winning quartet stopping the clock in 3:45.01. Splits are unavailable for the relay, but the winning team consisted of Adela Vavrinova, Alessia Ferraguti, Betsy Wizard, and Maddy Hartley.

Sydney Craft of Arkansas showcased her distance prowess by sweeping the 500 and 1000 events. She first secured victory in the 1000, touching in 10:17.69 to clear the field by nearly 12 seconds. She later won the 500 by over five seconds, hitting the wall in 5:05.11.

Craft’s teammate, Betsy Wizard, also posted a pair of individual wins on the day. Wizard’s first win came in the form of the 200 free, where she stopped the clock in 1:53.09. It was a close race the whole way, as Claudia Dougan of Kansas touched just behind in 1:53.28. The two were never separated by more than a few tenths at each turn, but they split nearly identical on the closing 50 to maintain their positions.

Wizard’s second individual win came in the 100 fly, where her winning time of 55.30 topped the 55.70 produced by Amelie Lessing of Kansas.

Lessing grabbed the 200 butterfly win for Kansas, their first and only win of the day. She had a close battle with Maddy Hartley of Arkansas the whole way, with both swimmers hitting the wall in a pair of 2:03 times. Lessing touched in 2:03.75 to Hartley’s 2:03.91, and trailed going into the final 50. Lessing clocked 31.74 over the final 50 compared to the 32.17 recorded by Hartley, and it was enough to grab a win for the Jayhawks.

Another Arkansas swimmer who posted multiple individual wins on the day was Adela Vavrinova, who took the 100 back and 400 IM. Her 100 back time of 56.83 cleared the field by nearly a second, while her 400 IM time of 4:26.21 topped the field by over four seconds.

25-year-old Alessia Ferraguti of Arkansas secured both breaststroke victories, and did so in dominant fashion. Her first win came in the 100 breast, where her time of 1:03.03 represented the sole swimmer to crack the 1:04-barrier. She clocked 2:17.69 en route to winning the 200, which was over two seconds faster than her nearest competitor. Ferraguti has been as quick as 2:07.53 in the 200 distance this year, and is in contention to challenge for the A-final at the NCAA Championships. In addition to her breaststroke skills, Ferraguti also featured on the winning Razorback 200 free relay to end the day. She split 23.88 on the third leg, with her team securing the win in an overall time of 1:34.23.

Other Event Winners:

• Bara Matoskova of Arkansas touched in 2:03.23 for a convincing 200 back win.
• Bella Cothern of Arkansas swam to victories in the 50 (23.34) and 100 (51.18) freestyle events.
• Jayhawk Gabriela San Juan Carmona checked-in with a score of 346.35 to win the 3m diving competition.