Bella Cothern Swims a Season Best in the 100 Fly as Arkansas Downs Kansas

Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Kansas Jayhawks (Women Only)

  • January 24, 2024
  • Arkansas Natatorium, Fayetteville, Arkansas
  • Short Course Yards (25 yards)
  • Full Meet Results (PDF)
  • Final Team Scores
    • Arkansas Women 171 def. Kansas Women 128

Arkansas and Kansas, two teams that share most of their names (and none of their borders), but that haven’t been in the same conference since 1991, squared off on Saturday in Fayetteville. For the fifth straight year, and 15th time in the last 16 matchups, the Razorbacks came away with the win.

The 171-128 final score was almost identical to last year, where Arkansas won 172-128.

Arkansas celebrated seven graduating seniors in their last home meet, including the star of the team Bella Cothern. She won the 50 free in 22.78 and the 100 fly in 53.92. That 100 fly time was a season-best for her by half-a-second, better than her swim from the mid-season Hawkeye Invitational.

She was part of a clean sweep of the freestyle events for the Razorbacks, with a big cast chipping in. Delaney Harrison won the 100 free in 51.03, Becca Simson won the 200 free in 1:48.45, Reka Rohacs won the 500 free in 4:51.00 and the 1000 free in 9:59.59. Rohacs and Syd Craft went 1-2 in both of the distance events.

In total, Arkansas won 11 out of 14 swimming events. That included a sweep of the relays, winning the opening 200 medley in 1:40.37 and the closing 400 free relay in 3:22.74. The highlights included a 23.27 fly split from Cothern.

Kansas was 2nd in the 200 medley relay in 1:40.78 that included a 22.66 anchor from Caroline Blake – almost a full second ahead of where she was in the individual.

Kansas, meanwhile, won three races that included a sweep of the backstroke races: Lezli Sisung won the 100 back in 54.56, Bradie Ward won the 200 back in 1:59.35. Sisung was 6th at the Big 12 Championships last season in the 100 back, which was Kansas’ best finish at that meet, and she’s only half-a-second off that time already.

The other win came from Ryan Johnston in the 200 breast, which she won in 2:16.27.

Other Headline Results:

  • Eleonora Camisa won the 200 fly in 1:59.63, which is her first time under 2 minutes this season. Her lifetime best is a 1:58.89 from the mid-season Tennessee Invite in 2022.
  • The two teams split diving. Maria Jose Sanchez from Arkansas won 1-meter, and Shiyun Lai from Kansas won the 3-meter. The 1-meter was Lai’s first loss in a dual meet this season. Sanchez’s win was her 10th this season – pulling off the upset on the lowest board in spite of being a platform specialist and shattering the school record on 10-meter earlier this year.

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Pancake
2 months ago

I know her!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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