The Arkansas women hosted Houston, Vanderbilt, and Clemson during their annual two-day quad meet, although only Clemson divers competed.. The Razorbacks were victorious across the board, triumphing over Vanderbilt 225-101 and Houston 221-122. Vanderbilt beat Houston by only twelve points, ending the meet 176-164.
Arkansas kicked things off by winning the 200 free relay three and a half seconds ahead of runners-up Vanderbilt. The team of Nina Drolc, Natalie Burnett, Maddie Monroe, and Anna Mayfield touched in 1:33.68 ahead of Vanderbilt’s 1:37.19. Aidan Lister granted Arkansas another victory in the 1000, breaking away from Houston’s Delia Weber to touch in 10:13.09. Weber fell to second in 10:18.85. Lister also became the only swimmer to touch under 5:00 in the 500, finishing in 4:58.57 ahead of Vanderbilt’s Summer Brown.
Arkansas swept the three remaining relays as well, winning the 400 free relay in 3:26.53 over Vanderbilt. They took the 200 medley relay in 1:44.08, running away from Vanderbilt (1:45.45) on the breast and fly legs. The two teams touched with a much wider margin in the 400 medley relay with Arkansas throwing down a 3:45.04 to Vanderbilt’s 3:51.36.
In addition to their relay success, Nina Drolc and Anna Mayfield claimed two individual victories each for Arkansas over the course of the meet. Drolc led an Arkansas sweep in the 50, touching in 23.60 to Erin Kelly‘s 24.04 and Kiera Michailoff-Russell‘s 24.14. She returned to dominate the 100 in 51.13, over two seconds ahead of Cait Horner‘s 53.45.
Mayfield led the way in both the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke. She took down Drolc and her teammate Chloe Hannam in the 200 free, touching in 1:48.48 to Hannam’s 1:50.43. She managed to put up season dual meet best times in both the 200 free and 200 back, winning the backstroke in 1:58.66. Eleanna Koutsouveli finished nearly five seconds back to secure the runner up spot for Houston in 2:03.61.
Madison Strathman swept the breaststroke events in two narrow races, taking down the Vanderbilt pair of Kathryn Coughlin and Kara Lucenti in the 100. Strathman’s season dual meet best time of 1:04.26 took down the duo’s respective times of 1:04.47 and 1:04.85. Strathman made a statement in the 200, taking it out a half second faster than Lucenti and continuing to widen the gap on the back half. Strathman touched in 2:16.85 to Lucenti’s 2:17.68.
Breanna Sapienza granted Vanderbilt their lone win in the 100 fly, touching in 55.26 to defeat Arkansas’ Natalie Burnett (56.62). Mary Margaret Soderberg secured the 400 IM for the Razorbacks by nearly eleven seconds, winning in 4:26.62. Vanderbilt’s Alex Blankenburg hit the wall second in 4:37.23. Hannam took the shorter IM distance in 2:02.12, her second fastest swim of the season, over her teammate Jessie Garrison.
Garrison again fell second in the 200 fly to her teammate Chelsea Tatlow. The pair touched in 2:01.13 and 2:01.68, well ahead of Taylor Weiss‘s 2:04.00. Natalie Burnett took her 100 back out under 27 seconds to run away with the event, touching in 56.21 over Houston’s Koutsouveli.
Houston swept the diving events, which were also the only events featuring Clemson athletes. Micaela Bouter took the one-meter title over Clemson’s Megan Helwagen, while Danielle Shedd beat out Arkansas’s Shelby Bartlett in the three-meter. Platform diving was also contested as an exhibition event, allowing Clemson’s Danielle Reitsma to shine with the victory.
Full results can be found here.
