FAYETTEVILLE — Senior Yi Ting Siow enjoyed a huge weekend at the Purdue Invitational swimming and diving meet, but she had plenty of company, said Arkansas coach Jeff Poppell.
Siow came back with two individual wins, including posting the nation’s fastest time in the 200-yard breaststroke, and also led the 400 individual medley relation to a school record time.
She also automatically qualified for the NCAA championships with that time of 2 minutes, 9.01 seconds and broke the pool record at Purdue.
Siow also earned the Southeastern Conference swimmer of the week honors for her efforts, the league announced Tuesday.
“She has the fastest time in the country in the 200 breast by two and a half seconds,” Poppell said. “That’s pretty exciting.
“But the pleasant surprise is the balance we showed. This is the most balanced team we’ve had. We’ve worked hard to get to this point.”
Jamie Marks also led a strong Arkansas contingent in the 1,650 freestyle. She won the event with the fifth fastest time in the country, but Marks also led a strong Arkansas performance in the event.
The Razorbacks placed five in the top 10 in the event.
“That was a huge event for us,” Poppell said.
In addition, Leah Pierce has the 10th fastest time in the 200 breast, giving Arkansas two in the top 10 nationally in the event.
New Kid On The Block
Arkansas volleyball coach Robert Pulliza said improved blocking from his middles would be key to his team’s success in the second half of SEC play.
“They’ve had some good success here even though it hasn’t always translated into wins and losses,” Pulliza said. “Taking teams like LSU and Tennessee to five ... that’s because of our middles blocking more balls.”
The Razorbacks play at Ole Miss at 7 p.m. today.
Freshman Allison Johnson has come on to provide some of that for the Razorbacks, Pulliza said.
The 6-foot-3 transfer from Missouri has given the Razorbacks more size in the middle.
“We needed to get a little bigger for sure and she’s just gone at it,” Pulliza said. “It’s really fun to see.”
Johnson has played in the last 13 matches, averaging 1.76 blocks per game. But in the last nine matches that number goes up to 2.22 blocks per match.
She’s also been strong since Janeliss Torres-Lopez has missed six matches during that stretch with a couple of injuries.
Mixed Feelings For Ulrey
Junior Dorian Ulrey was satisfied with his sixth-place finish at Monday’s NCAA Cross Country Championships, but was hoping for more from the Razorbacks, who came in ranked No. 22 and finished 26th.
The Razorbacks were coming off strong performances in the SEC and South-Central Regional meets. Arkansas finished a close second to Alabama at the SECs and won the region title.
But didn’t get the same type performance in the NCAAs, except for Ulrey.
Ulrey’s finish is the highest for a Razorback since Peter Kosgei finished eighth in 2006.
“The team definitely underperformed,” Ulrey said. “... But every single guy except Rio Reina will be back. You don’t always get what you want. That’s what keeps us hungry for next year.”
Ulrey also pointed out Eric Fernandez and Duncan Phillips were sidelined because of injuries.
Arkansas finished two spots better than a year ago. Ulrey, who was competing in his first NCAA Cross Country Championships, called that progress, particularly with the inexperienced group of Razorbacks.
“It’s a big step even at the appearance of such a small one,” Ulrey said.
Looking To The Future
Arkansas cross country coach Lance Harter believes he got all his bad luck out of the way for while this season.
At least he hopes so.
The UA women endured plenty of struggles this season, losing key members even before the season started.
It began when returning All-American Catherine White decided to transfer to Virginia. In addition, returnee Jillian Rosen was sidelined with a broken bone in her leg and standout freshman Stephanie Brown was plagued by mononucleosis.
But in the end Harter was proud of the end result.
“The crew we had compete grabbed third in the SEC and in the region,” Harter said. “We were the last team out of the national championships. They take 31 teams and we were magic number 32.”