FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks snapped a four-meet losing streak on a successful senior night Friday.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (4-7) closed out the regular season with a 196.15 to trounce San Jose State (193.875) and Centenary College (188.225) before a crowd of 2,756 at Barnhill Arena.
Arkansas notched its second-highest score of the season, surpassing 196 for the second time to boost their NCAA regional chances.
"This really solidifies our postseason bid," Arkansas Coach Mark Cook said. "I feel very confident we'll make the postseason based on this score."
The Razorbacks swept the top three spots on three of the four events.
Arkansas freshman Hailey Garner turned in the biggest performance, a near-flawless 9.925 on the uneven parallel bars that drew a 9.95 from one judge.
Arkansas sophomore Syndey McGlone returned from a two-meet absence to score 9.9 on the floor exercise and share first place with San Jose State's Taylor Chan.
Seniors Heather Elswick and Samantha Nelson also delivered. Elswick finished in a three-way tie atop the vault and placed second with Nelson on the floor exercise with 9.85s.
Nelson, who has turned in a steady season with no scores lower than 9.75 on her two events, tied for first on the balance beam with freshman teammate Michaela Burton with 9.825s.
"It was nice to see [everyone] transferring what they do in practice into the competition," Nelson said. "I think this is a great confidence booster. We're going to take what we learned from it into SECs and kill it there."
The Razorbacks will compete in the early session of next week's SEC championships in Jacksonville, Fla., along with Auburn, Kentucky and Missouri, while LSU, Florida, Alabama and Georgia will vie in the evening session.
The Razorbacks bolted to an early lead with a 48.975 on the vault, with Elswick and juniors Leah MacMoyle and Braie Speed tying for the event title with scores of 9.825.
Arkansas pushed out to a team score of 98.0 with a 49.025 on the bars, its third-highest score of the year.
Sports on 03/11/2017