Hogs’ Hopkins sets second individual record on SEC Championships’ third day

ATHENS, Ga. — Junior Anna Hopkin set her second individual record of the SEC Championships on day three of the meet, her 13th record-breaking performance of the season.

The Razorbacks opened the meet with the 400 yard IM, with two swimmers setting a personal best time and one setting a season-best time. Emma Garfield earned a 40th place finish with a time of 4:23.98, setting a season-best time.

Vanessa Herrmann set a personal best (4:16.72) to earn a 25th place finish and qualify as first alternate. Peyton Palsha also set a personal best, earning a 12th place finish (4:10.70) and advancing to the B-finals where she took fifth in her heat and 13th overall with a time of 4:10.36.

In the 100 yard butterfly, three swimmers set personal best times and two set season-best times. Brittney Pike set a personal best (57.40) to finish in 48th place while Cris Roberts set a season-best time of 56.40 to earn a 41st place finish.

Andrea Sansores tied for 39th place with a personal best time of 56.05 and Marlena Pigliacampi set a season-best time of 54.23 to tie for a 27th place finish.

Kobie Melton set a personal best time of 53.06 to finish in 16th place and advance to the B-finals where she finished in 14th place overall (52.91). Her finals time was just 0.30 seconds from tying the school record.

The final event of the day was the 200 yard freestyle, where Alyssa Lemon set a personal best (1:49.68) to earn a 47th place finish while Kenedy Thaman set a season-best (1:49.54) to finish in 46th place.

Kiera Michailoff-Russell earned a 42nd place finish and set a personal best with a time of 1:49.20. Hopkin earned an eighth-place finish (1:45.78) to advance to the A-finals to finish in sixth-place and set a school record with a time of 1:44.56.

“The team is really performing well and we had a lot of personal bests today. Peyton, Kobie, and Anna all excelled tonight in the finals and went faster. Anna’s school record was a fantastic performance and provided us all good momentum for tomorrow’s preliminaries,” coach Neil Harper said.

After three days of the SEC Championships, the Hogs sit in seventh place with 346 points. Arkansas will return to the pool tomorrow for the fourth of five days at the meet, opening competition at 9 a.m. with the 200-yard butterfly.