Eighth-ranked Hogs start road stretch in St. Louis

FAYETTEVILLE — Eighth-ranked Arkansas hits the road for the fourth time this season for the Mardi Gras Invitational quad meet this Friday in St. Louis, Missouri.

“We’re just trying to get better every weekend,” said coach Mark Cook. “It’s just a matter of staying consistent and staying healthy. It’s going to be a different competition being on the podium, but it simulates SEC competition.”

The Razorbacks are pitted against No. 21 George Washington and will have rematches against No. 4 LSU and No. 20 Missouri.

It will be Arkansas’ first regular season quad meet since 2015 when the Razorbacks placed third at the Metroplex Challenge in 2015.

How They Compare (Season Averages)
Vault: LSU- 49.292, GWU- 49.071, Arkansas- 48.996, Missouri- 48.995
Bars: LSU- 49.350, Arkansas- 49.058, Missouri- 48.915, GWU- 48.763
Beam: Arkansas- 49.200, LSU- 49.200, Missouri- 48.765, GWU- 48.713
Floor: LSU- 49.425, Arkansas- 49.129, GWU- 49.008, Missouri- 48.915
Total: LSU- 197.267, Arkansas- 196.383, Missouri- 195.590, GWU- 195.554

The matchup is Arkansas’ first non-conference meet of the season, after competing in six straight conference meets to being the season.

The Razorbacks were the only school in the conference to compete against only Southeastern Conference foes heading into this weekend.

Since Arkansas’ season opener at LSU, the Razorbacks have posted five straight scores over 196, its third longest stretch in school history, and come into the meet tying its highest ranking of the season at No. 8.

In last Friday’s meet against Auburn, the Razorbacks set a new season high, and its second highest score in history, on the bars with a 49.450.

The score was led with four 9.900’s, including one from freshman Sarah Shaffer. Shaffer is the only freshman in the SEC to record multiple 9.900’s in each of the last two weeks with four of her last six events competed tallying scores of 9.900.

“This team is really good on that event,” said Cook. “I was happy to see them dialed, but we’re strong on all four events and we just have to stay balanced.

Despite being shorthanded on vault, sophomore Hailey Garner stepped in and secured a solid score for the Razorbacks on the event, after not competing in it for over two years. The sophomore posted a 9.700 on vault, as well as a 9.900 on bars and a 9.800 on floor.

“That’s the kid I saw when I recruited her several years ago,” said Cook. “I told her at the meet ‘this is where you should be, you should be an all-arounder in this program’. She really shined, and for her she just needs to make those improvements on a consistent basis. She’s doing a great job right now.”

The meet is scheduled to being at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and will be streamed live on FloGymnastics (Subscription required).