The championship season officially gets under way for the Arkansas swimming and diving team on Tuesday as it is set to compete at the 2017 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The five-day event will run Tuesday through Saturday at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Tennessee. The Championships will be streamed throughout the entire week through SEC Network + and the WatchESPN app.
Arkansas (5-3, 1-3 SEC) enters the championship season riding a four-meet winning streak, including its lone conference victory over Vanderbilt. The Razorbacks extended its non-conference dual meet win streak this season to 26 consecutive meets with wins over Drury, Illinois, Houston and Kansas.
“I am excited for our ladies to show what they can do this week,” head coach Neil Harper said. ”The SEC Championships is the fastest and deepest meet in the country and we have a great opportunity ahead of us. We have trained hard and worked on a lot of self-improvement. It comes down to each individual performing to their best and aiming for season and personal best times and scores. They seem calm and confident so we are looking forward to success as individuals and of course as a great team.”
Arkansas holds four top-50 times in the nation and 14 top-20 times in the SEC. Ayumi Macias leads the way with three top-20 times in the conference, two being in the top 10. The freshman has the third fastest time in the SEC in the 1650 freestyle (16:08.86), which is the 16th quickest in the country this season. Her 500 freestyle (4:42.39) is the sixth fastest in the conference and 26th fastest in the nation. She also holds the 25th best time in the NCAA in the 1000 freestyle (9:47.56).
Behind Macias, sophomore Madison Strathman and senior Mary Margaret Soderberg each have two top-20 times in the SEC.
Nicole Gillis has been strong on the boards all season. The junior broke the 1m pool and school record in the opening meet of the year against Drury with a score of 334.28, qualifying for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. Against No. 18 Florida in the following meet, Gillis proceeded to break her record once again, scoring a 337.88. The Johannesburg, South Africa, native captured her second career SEC Diver of the Week honor in the last week of the regular season, when she broke her lifetime best in the 3m against Kansas. Her score of 347.93 ranks second on the school’s all-time top performers list. She owns 17 zone scores this year with at least one in each event.
The Razorbacks finished ninth at last year’s SEC Championships held in Columbia, Missouri.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
TUESDAY
Diving Prelims (1:05 p.m.)
Women’s 3-Meter
Finals
200 Medley Relay (5:00 p.m.)
Women’s 3-Meter (5:30 p.m.)
800 Freestyle Relay (6:15 p.m.)
WEDNESDAY
Prelims (9 a.m.)
500 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
Diving Prelims (12 p.m.)
Women’s 1-meter
Finals (5 p.m.)
500 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
Women’s 1-meter
THURSDAY
Prelims (9 a.m.)
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
Finals (5 p.m.)
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
FRIDAY
Prelims (9 a.m.)
200 Butterfly
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
Diving Prelims (12 p.m.)
Platform
Finals (5 p.m.)
200 Butterfly
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
SATURDAY
Prelims (9 a.m.)
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
1650 Freestyle Prelims (TBD)
Finals (5 p.m.)
1650 Freestyle (Final Heat)
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
For more information on Arkansas Swimming and Diving, follow @RazorbackSD on Twitter.
News courtesy of Arkansas Athletics.
