FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas starts the 2017-18 season Saturday at 11 a.m. at home at the HPER Natatorium against Southern Methodist.
Neil Harper enters his second season as the coach, after taking Arkansas to a 5-3 record last season, including winning each of its final four dual meets.
Arkansas returns 19 members from a year ago, including three who advanced to the NCAA Championships.
Senior Chelsea Tatlow made her third straight NCAA Championship appearance last season, finishing 30th in the 200 butterfly, 53rd in the 100 backstroke and 62nd in the 200 individual medley.
Senior Nicole Gillis qualified for the 1m and 3m springboards, where she finished 39th and 26th, respectively.
Sophomore Ayumi Macias qualified for the Championships, becoming just the second freshman (Tatlow) to qualify for the as an individual in nine years. Macias recorded the highest individual finish by a Razorback with a 21st-place effort in the 500 freestyle with a personal-best time of 4:40.92.
She also notched a personal best in the 200 free, with a 47th-place finish in 1:47.64. The distance swimmer finished 36th in the 1650 free.
SMU leads the all-time series 7-2, but Arkansas won the last meeting 152-148 during the 2008-09 season. Dating back to the 2011-12 season, Arkansas has won 26 straight non-conference dual meets.
