ARKANSAS VS. HOUSTON VS. VANDERBILT
- Results (Friday)
- Results (Saturday)
- Hosted by Vanderbilt
- Friday, January 20th-Saturday, January 21st
- 25 yards
- Dual meet format
FINAL TEAM SCORES:
- WOMEN- Arkansas 193, Vanderbilt 119
- WOMEN- Arkansas 258, Houston 169
- WOMEN- Houston 163, Vanderbilt 152
Arkansas hit the road for a 2-day meet on Saturday, picking up wins against Houston and SEC rival Vanderbilt. They beat the Commodores with a score of 193-119, and the Houston women 258-169. Houston pulled out a close win over Vanderbilt, winning by 11 points.
Arkansas’ Chelsea Tatlow was among the swimmers who won multiple individual races at the meet. On Friday, she pulled off a successful 200 fly/100 back double. She first stepped up to bat in the 100 back, using her back half speed to win in 55.98 ahead of Houston’s Eleanna Koutsouveli (56.62). She then dominated the 200 fly, winning witha 2:01.98 to finish over 2 seconds ahead of the field. On Saturday, Tatlow followed up her day 1 performance with another victory, posting a 2:01.22 ahead of Koutsouveli (2:03.19).
PRESS RELEASE – ARKANSAS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Arkansas swimming and diving team (4-4, 1-3 SEC) picked up where it left off yesterday, winning the first two events on Saturday to coast to two dual-meet victories. Arkansas defeated Vanderbilt in swimming 193-119, marking the first conference win of the season. The Razorbacks also knocked off Houston 258-169 (199-113 in swimming, 59-56 in the diving), which took place at Clemson. However, Arkansas fell to Clemson in diving earlier in the day, 93-59, as the Tigers did not participate in swimming events.
In the only diving event of day two at Clemson, Nicole Gillis dove a career-best 330.70 on the 3m springboard to notch another NCAA Zone qualifying score. Her performance goes down as the fourth best in school history. Gillis finished in the top two of all three diving events this weekend and now owns the top four dives in the 3m this season by Arkansas.
As a team, the Razorbacks won four swimming events on Saturday, making it 11 total on the weekend.
“I am very happy with the team’s response and effort today,” said head coach Neil Harper. “We started the meet with a medley relay win once again. They came to race and were determined to set the tone early.”
Arkansas started the day winning its third relay event of the meet. Touching first in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:43.84 was Natalie Burnett, Madison Strathman, Olivia Weekley and Erin Kelly. Weekley and Kelly were each a part of both relay victories a day ago.
Chelsea Tatlow continued to dominate. A day after recording three victories, Tatlow won the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:01.22 to pick up her fourth win of the meet.
Arkansas swept the podium in two events. In the 400 IM, Jessie Garrison took first (4:23.65) while Mary Margaret Soderberg (4:26.60) and Ayumi Macias (4:27.44) rounded out the top three, respectively. Aiden Lister (4:55.36), Macias (4:57.22) and Jessie Garrison (5:00.78) claimed the top three spots in the 500 freestyle.
In the 100 freestyle, Annah Carney clocked a 52.31 to finish third in the event.
Tatlow, Kelly, Carney and Michailoff-Russell notched the fastest time by Arkansas this season in the 400 freestyle relay in an exhibition time of 3:28.15.
“Jessie Garrison, Chelsea Tatlow, Madison Strathman and Aiden Lister all stepped up,” coach Harper mentioned. “It was nice to sweep the 400 IM and 500 freestyle but we still have a couple more weeks of hard work and fine tuning before we focus on our preparations for the SEC Championships. I am excited about Senior Day next week against Kansas.”
UP NEXT
Arkansas will return to the pool next weekend as the Razorbacks host the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, Jan. 28 for Senior Day at the Arkansas Natatorium at 10 a.m.
For more information on Arkansas Swimming and Diving, follow @RazorbackSD on Twitter.
PRESS RELEASE – HOUSTON
NASHVILLE, Tenn. AND CLEMSON, S.C. – The 400-yard freestyle relay team led the Houston Swimming & Diving team to a dual meet win over Vanderbilt to conclude the Vanderbilt Quad Meet Saturday afternoon.
Houston beat Vanderbilt, 163-152, while the Cougars fell to Arkansas 199-113. Houston now moves to 3-2 this season in dual meets.
“Going on the road against two SEC opponents is a tough thing to do and I’m happy we were able to come away with the win against Vanderbilt,” Swimming & Diving Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka said. “Arkansas showed us how we can continue to improve so as to be more competitive with a team of their caliber. We had a back and forth battle all weekend with Vanderbilt, and it came down to the last relay, winner take all. I’m encouraged in seeing how we responded to that challenge, and our toughness prevailed today.”
IN THE POOL
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Cait Horner, Laura Laderoute, Ksenia Yuskova and Zarena Brown captured first overall in the final event of the afternoon. The team touched the wall at 3:29.46 to net the top spot.
Freshmen Peyton Kondis and Gaby Jimenez both earned podium finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke. Kondis netted a time of 2:21.93 to finish second overall while Jimenez rounded out the podium with a time of 2:22.22.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the Cougars nabbed a third place finish. The team of Laderoute, Kondis, Sharo Rodriguez and Michaela Hamrick rounded out the podium with a time of 1:45.28.
ON THE BOARDS
Junior Micaela Bouter earned her second podium finish of the weekend in the 3-meter springboard. The Johannesburg, native, netted a score of 305.30 to capture second overall.
“Perhaps more important is the progress we have made, and having some performances we have been waiting for all season,” Wochomurka said. “It is very exciting to see some of the things we saw this weekend. I am hopeful we draw confidence from that as we take on a crosstown rival, conference foe, and ranked opponent next week, and then for our main objective a little over three weeks from now.”
TOP-FINISHERS
200 Medley Relay
3. Houston A – 1:45.28
Laderoute, Kondis, Rodriguez, Hamrick
400 IM
6. Eleanna Koutsouveli – 4:31.35
100 Free
4. Zarena Brown – 52.61
100 Fly
7. Sharo Rodriguez – 58.09
500 Free
4. Zarena Brown – 5:01.20
200 Breast
2. Peyton Kondis – 2:21.93
400 Free Relay
1.Houston A – 3:29.46
Horner, Laderoute, Yuskova, Brown
UP NEXT
The Cougars will travel to Baton Rouge, La. to compete in the LSU Quad Meet for their final meet of the regular season on Jan. 27-28. Houston will face No. 25 LSU, Rice and Tulane.
COUGARS TO HOST AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Houston will host the American Athletic Conference Championships for the second consecutive year as the best swimmers and divers in the league visit the CRWC from Feb. 15-18. Following the conference meet, the Cougars will look to close the season at the NCAA Championships, to be held March 15-18 in Indianapolis, Ind.
FOLLOW THE COUGARS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in University of Houston Cougar athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/HoustonAthletics), Twitter (@UHCougars), Instagram (houstoncougars) and YouTube.com (Youtube.com/UHAthletics). In addition, the swimming & diving team has established its own official Facebook (Facebook.com/HoustonCougarSwimmingDiving) and Twitter pages (@UHCougarSwim), which provide regular updates on the team and live results during home meets.
PRESS RELEASE – VANDERBILT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt swim team battled all afternoon with Houston as both teams were never more than 15 points apart and the meet came down to the final relay. In the end, Houston prevailed 163-152. The Commodores were defeated by Arkansas 193-119.
The ‘Dores started off the meet with a second place finish in the 200-yard medley relay to close the 11 point gap Houston had going into the second day of competition. The relay team of Johanna Goldblatt, Kathryn Coughlin, Breanna Sapienza, and Paige Hamilton finished with a time of 1:44.97.
In the next event, the Commodores had two swimmers who would be competing in this event for the first time this season. Kara Lucenti and Selah Peacock swam in the 400-yard IM and finished in fourth (4:30.87) and fifth (4:31.19), respectively.
Vanderbilt was not off the podium for long as the ‘Dores picked up their first of three wins on the afternoon. Freshman Paige Hamilton was at it again, this time placing first in the 100-yard freestyle (52.07). This is her second-consecutive win after claiming first in the 50-yard freestyle yesterday afternoon.
Fellow freshman Amanda Chabbott competed in the next event for the Commodores. She placed first in her heat in the 200-yard backstroke with a season-best time of 2:05.34. Overall, Chabbott finished fifth in the event.
The ‘Dores claimed victory in the following event as two swimmers found their way to the podium. Breanna Sapienza earned her fourth victory of the season in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing with a time of 55.76. Kayla Moran was the other Commodore on the podium in the 100 fly, she placed third with a time of 56.39.
In the second to last event of the afternoon, the Commodores picked up win number three. Kara Lucenti finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke to claim her fourth victory in that event this season. She finished with a time of 2:20.00 and pulled the ‘Dores within two points of Houston with one event to go.
The 400-yard freestyle relay would determine whether the Commodores or Cougars came away with a victory in the two-day tri-meet. The relay team ofKayla Moran, Summer Brown, Kathryn Coughlin, and Paige Hamilton swam a great race but finished runner-up (3:31.79) with the Cougars finishing in first.
Prior to the meet, senior day festivities were held for the Commodore seniors. Known as the surviving six, Kathryn Babbin, Carrie Bencic, Alexandra Blankenburg, Kathryn Coughlin, Rachel Koch and Kayla Moran were honored with their families in their last home meet at Centennial Sportsplex.
The Commodores won’t have much time off as they are back in action next Saturday, January 28. The ‘Dores will travel to Huntington, W.V. to take on Marshall in a dual meet. The meet will begin at 9 am CT.
