Arkansas Razorbacks Vs. Vanderbilt Commodores (Women Only)
- January 17, 2025
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Short Course Yards (25 yards), Dual Meet
- Full Meet Results (PDF)
- Team Scores: Arkansas 133 – Vanderbilt 129
A day after losing to Tennessee, the Arkansas women headed 3 hours west to Nashville and bounced back with a win over another SEC foe, Vanderbilt, on Friday morning.
The win pushed Arkansas to a perfect 16-0 all-time over Vanderbilt, but the 4-point margin was by far the closest in the series history – last year’s 48-point margin was the previous closest, showing an improving Vanderbilt team.
The meet featured an unusual event lineup, with 50 yard stroke events replacing the usual 100 yard events and a 100 IM replacing the 200 IM.
Vanderbilt opened the meet with a winning 1:43.57 in the 200 medley relay thanks in large part to the freshman duo of Aubrey Hull (26.19 backstroke) and Emily Constable (28.85), who opened up a .87 second lead over Arkansas on the front half of the relay.
While a veteran back half for the Razorbacks closed the gap, Vanderbilt ultimately hung on to win by .17 seconds.
Arkansas snapped back with a pair of wins in the next two races, with Reka Rohacs winning the 1000 free in 10:17.89 for a 1-2 Commodore finish and Bara Matoskova winning the 200 free in 1:54.15. Arkansas is a program that has long been built around freestyle prowess, and they won five of six freestyle events in this meet. Rohacs also punched a win in the 500 free in 5:01.30, while Delaney Harrison won the 50 free in 23.97 (a day after going 23.70 against Tennessee).
The one exception came in the 100 free, where Vanderbilt senior Reagan Mathieson swam 51.46 to hold off a 2-3-4-5 finish from Arkansas. That’s her best time in a dual meet this season.
Vanderbilt, meanwhile, made hay in the same backstroke and breaststroke events that carried them to the medley relay win. Hull won the 50 back in 26.29 and her teammate Quinlan Hinerfeld used a very fast second 100 to win the 200 back in 2:03.01.
Constable, meanwhile, won both the 50 breaststroke (29.48) and the 200 breaststroke (2:21.48), in both cases holding off a deeper Arkansas team.
Arkansas entered the final race with a 9-point deficit, which meant they needed a 1-2 finish to win or a 1-3 finish to tie. They ultimately got just enough to pull off the comeback, with the team of Delaney Harison, Eleonora Camisa, Allie Thome, and Bella Cothern touching first in 1:35.91, and the “B” team finishing 2nd in 1:36.52. Vanderbilt’s top relay was 3rd in 1:36.88.
Arkansas split their top sprinters to try and get the win – Cothern had the best split of 23.41 to anchor the “A” relay, while Syd Craft split 23.67 and Gracie Colvin split 23.52 on the “B” relay. Their best foursome aggregated to a 1:34.64.
Arkansas will finish their regular season next weekend when they host Kansas. Vanderbilt will wrap their regular season with a home meet against a very good mid-major Southern Illinois team on February 1.
