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Hopkin takes silver medal, relay gets bronze medal on final day at SEC Championships

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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ATHENS, Ga. — In the final day at the SEC Championships, the 400-yard freestyle relay team earned bronze and junior Anna Hopkin earned her second silver medal of the meet.

Arkansas had a total of five podium finishes, with sophomore Brooke Schultz taking the 1- and 3-meter titles earlier in the week.

“I’m really excited about how we finished the meet. We had a great first day and we brought it through to tonight. It was a total team effort and I’m so proud,” coach Neil Harper said.

The first event of the day was the 200-yard backstroke, where freshman Rachel Rodriguez set a personal best time of 2:00.48 to earn a 41st place finish while senior Maddie Umberger set a season-best time of 2:00.30 to finish in 40th place.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, senior Sydney Angell earned a 33rd place finish with a time of 2:16.17. Emma Garfield finished in 29th place with a season-best time of 2:14.50, just 0.14 seconds from tying her personal best, and Vanessa Herrmann tied for 24th place (2:13.24).

The 100 yard freestyle saw nine Razorbacks compete, with four setting either a personal or season best. Annah Carney earned a 58th place finish with a time of 51.08, while Brittney Pike finished in 55th place and set a personal best (50.94).

Erin Kelly earned a 54th place finish with a time of 50.87 and Kiera Michailoff-Russell’s time of 50.62 tied for 50th place.

Kenedy Thaman set a personal best time of 50.50 for a 49th place finish, while Molly Moore earned a 46th place finish with a time of 50.39.

Marlena Pigliacampi set a season-best time of 50.10 to finish in 38th place.

Kobie Melton earned a sixth-place finish with a time of 49.60, advancing to the C-finals where she earned a 23rd place finish (49.75). Hopkin earned a sixth-place finish (48.06) to advance to the A-finals, where she took second-place overall with a time of 41.71.

The final individual event was the 1650 yard freestyle, where Alyssa Lemon posted a season-best time of 17:12.35 to earn a 31st place finish while Rachel Rodriguez finished in 30th place (17:01.39).

Peyton Palsha recorded a season-best time of 16:22.97 to earn a 14th place finish and an NCAA ‘B’ cut.

The 400 yard freestyle relay team of Melton, Hopkin, Moore, and Pigliacampi capped off the meet with a third-place finish (3:14.65) to set a school record and make an NCAA ‘A’ cut.

The relay was the ninth-fastest in the nation and first time since 2016 that the Hogs have medaled in the event.

“Anna, Kobie, Marlena, and Molly have been reliable all year and to see the team excited and cheering their hearts out was amazing,” Harper said. “We did a lot of things that we wanted to accomplish.

“The relay team medaled, which we haven’t done in a long time, we got the NCAA ‘A’ cut, which we haven’t done in a long time, and the third-place relay secured our eighth-place finish, we haven’t done in a long time.

“I’m so happy for them and all their work and all the work of our staff. We felt the love from the Razorback nation, and we finished in a great way.”

The Hogs finished in eighth place with 517 points. The finish is the highest under Harper and highest since 2014. Following the meet, Schultz was recognized as SEC Diver of the Meet.

Arkansas comes from behind to down Southern Cal, take series

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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LOS ANGELES — Arkansas came back from a three-run deficit in the middle innings and scored six of its eight runs with two outs Friday night to earn a series victory over USC with an 8-6 win at Dedeaux Field.

Sophomore Casey Martin and junior Jack Kenley led the team, offensively, with two hits each. Kenley led all players with a career-high three RBIs, including the important insurance run that was scored by Christian Franklin in the top of the ninth.

Martin notched his second-straight multi-RBI game as he went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a walk. Martin provided one of the biggest hits of the night when he smacked a two-run home run in the fifth inning well over the tall screen beyond the wall at Dedeaux Field.

It was his first home run of the year and put Arkansas ahead 5-4, the final lead change of the night.

On the mound, redshirt junior Isaiah Campbell had another strong outing even though the stat sheet may not show it. Campbell went 5.1 innings and allowed six runs with only three being earned.

The Razorback defense behind him suffered the error bug in the third inning, which led to four USC runs, but Campbell settled back in over the remainder of his outing, striking out three in the fourth and fifth innings.

Campbell moves to 2-0 with the win and has worked at least five innings with five strikeouts in both of his outings.

Junior closer Matt Cronin also picked up his second save in as many days as he pitched a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout on 11 pitches.

Welcome Back Kevin Kopps

Redshirt junior Kevin Kopps made his first appearance since going through Tommmy John surgery a year ago. Kopps, who hadn’t made an official appearance since the postseason of 2017, was the first man out of the bullpen Friday night after Isaiah Campbell was pulled in the sixth inning.

Kopps inherited two runners on base before throwing his first pitch, but went on to throw scoreless seventh and eighth innings to set up the save situation for Matt Cronin. Kopps faced nine batters and gave up three hits on 28 pitches.

Way Out Of Here

Much had been discussed about the West Coast “marine layer” before the Razorbacks traveled to Los Angeles to take on USC.

Well-hit balls that would normally go over the fence don’t travel as well at night along the coast, but that didn’t seem to bother Casey Martin Friday night.

In the fifth inning with Christian Franklin on second, Martin unloaded a 3-1 pitch for his first home run of the year, completing a three-run Razorback comeback to push Arkansas ahead 5-4.

Martin’s home run landed on the other side of the tall screen that sits roughly 20-25 feet beyond the left field fence and was Arkansas’ fifth home run as a team this year.

Kenley Deadly With Two Outs

Infielder Jack Kenley’s first hit of the night started an Arkansas rally in the fourth inning. With USC leading 4-1, Kenley laced a two-run triple down the right field line to make it a one-run game.

It was his first hit of the night and first hit of the weekend as Arkansas used that momentum to score four more runs over the fifth and sixth innings and take the lead.

Kenley did it again in the ninth inning singling home Curtis Washington, Jr., with two outs to provide the needed insurance run and his third RBI of the game.

Razorback Quotables

“Bottom line, we found a way to come back and win the ballgame tonight. It started off well, but we had a bad defensive inning. We left a lot of runners out there, but we got three or four really big two-out hits. Just proud of the team, fighting back to win. It was really good to see (Isaiah) Campbell come back after giving up a few runs in the third and give us two quality innings that really helped us save our bullpen.”  — Coach Dave Van Horn on the series win over USC

“He played great defense and then he got two really big hits, which were both big two-out hits that got us within one in the fourth and in the ninth that doubled our lead. The difference between a two-run lead and a one-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth on the road is huge. It was great to see him swing the bat so well. We’ve seen it in practice and in scrimmages a lot. Now, he’s taken it to the field.”  — Van Horn on Jack Kenley’s two-hit, three RBI night

Up Next

Arkansas and USC will finish its series on Saturday with game three set for 8 p.m. at Dedeaux Field. The game will, once again, be broadcast on PAC-12 Plus.

Hogs split first day of Razorback Invitational, downing SEMO, beating SIU-Edwardsville

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas split day two of the Razorback Invitational, taking a 6-1 loss to Southeast Missouri State and following up with a hard-earned 2-1 walk-off win over SIU-Edwardsville.

The walk-off win came at the hands of sophomore Hannah McEwen, who scored Haydi Bugarin on a base hit up the middle. Bugarin reached on a leadoff hit-by-pitch call before advancing to second and then third with a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Nicole Duncan and a ground out by junior Sydney Parr.

McEwen connected on a 2-1 pitch and celebration ensued as Bugarin made her way across home plate.

Arkansas found themselves trailing its opponent for the second time in the same day, and the Razorbacks battled back to overcome a one-run deficit in the sixth with the help of sophomore transfer Danielle Gibson, whose RBI single to left field scored McEwen.

The defensive dual left a total of eight runners on base, six of them Hogs, as opposing pitching staffs combined for not a single walk from start to finish.

The thrilling victory goes in the books as head coach Courtney Deifel’s 100thwin as a Razorback, after picking up the program just four short years ago, Coach Deifel has transformed the program into a national contender year-after-year.

The win was much needed after the Razorbacks dropped the earlier game to Southeast Missouri State. The loss is just one day removed from when the Hogs recorded five runs in the fourth inning of a 7-1 win over the Redhawks.

Starting pitcher Mary Haff kept SEMO scoreless through four innings of play, but the Redhawks had seen enough of the sophomore’s portfolio and come the fifth frame, scored two runs on two hits – including Haff’s first allowed home run of the season.

Teammate Autumn Storms tagged in during the fifth inning, but after seeing Storms for seven innings just the night before, the Redhawks quickly familiarized themselves and tacked on four additional runs in the top of the seventh inning with five hits against the Hog defense.

Arkansas was unable to recover from the late rally, falling to the Redhawks. It would stand as the first time this year the Hogs were outhit. The Razorbacks continue to struggle with scoring runners on base, stranding 11 in the loss – only against #5 Washington did the Hogs leave 10 or more runners on base.

Up Next

The Hogs return to Bogle tomorrow, Sunday (Feb. 24) for another double-header, slated to host Drake at 2:30 p.m. and SIU-E once more at 4:45 p.m. The Razorbacks will close out the tournament on Sunday, with a 12:15 p.m. first pitch against IUPUI.

Boit stays undefeated in league, Hogs in second place at SEC Indoor meet

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas currently sits in second place with 26-points, trailing Alabama by six-points, as the Razorbacks captured an SEC title and qualified the most of any other team through to finals on day one of the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships at Randal Tyson Friday night.

“I liked the fight our guys are showing,” said coach Chris Bucknam. “This is going to be a tough battle all the way to the end, we can’t let go of the rope. We got some qualifiers in for tomorrow, I’m really pleased with Boit’s run and the points we captured in the 5,000-meters and the DMR. Those were all positive points, and we’re in the mix,” Bucknam finished.

Gilbert Boit highlighted opening day action for the Razorbacks as he remained undefeated in SEC action. Boit, who captured the SEC Individual Championship last fall, settled in early right up from with the Alabama trio of Gilbert Kigen, Vincent Kiprop, and Noel Rotich and kept pace lap by lap waiting for his moment to strike.

That moment came with 400-meters to go as the pack took off in a straight sprint to the finish line. Alabama’s Kigen held the lead coming off the final turn but Boit kicked it in and legged it out over the final 50-meters running through the line to take the title by three one-hundredths of a second over the Crimson competitor to earn his second individual SEC Championship and remain undefeated on the season.

Arkansas also brought home points with sixth and seventh-place finishes by Austen Dalquist (14:16.02) and Matt Young (14:19.00) to make it a solid 15-points in the event for the Razorbacks.

Laquan Nairn scored points for the Razorbacks with a sixth-place finish in the long jump with a season-best performance of 7.67m (25-2). Nairn will return tomorrow in the triple jump.

The men’s Distance Medley Relay turned in a silver medal performance running 9:48.67 trailing only Ole Miss.

Gabe Moore and Derek Jacobus wrapped up day one of the heptathlon with scores of 3,329 and 3,115-pts., respectively.

Moore recorded marks of 7.05 (60-meters), 7.18m/23-6.75 (long jump), 15.07m/49-5.50 (shot put), and 2.10m/6-7 (high jump), while Jacobus finished with marks of 7.01 – a lifetime-best – 6.93m/22-9, 13.23m/43-5, and 1.95m/6-4.75.

The duo will close out the event tomorrow as they compete in the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault, and the 1,000-meters.

Cameron Griffith and Ethan Moehn grabbed auto-Q spots into tomorrow’s Mile final with their first and third-place finishes in their prelim heat running 4:12.77 and 4:13.19.

Jalen Brown and Hunter Woodhall advanced to tomorrow’s final in the 400-meters, recording the seventh and eighth-fastest times from prelims.

Carl Elliot III will back into the blocks tomorrow afternoon in the 60-meter hurdles as he punches his ticket with a time of 7.81 that ties his personal-best in the event and is No. 5 in program history.

Kieran Taylor earned a spot in tomorrow’s 800-meter final with his time of 1:49.29 that is a lifetime-best and the fourth-fastest from prelims.

Roy Ejiakuekwu punched his ticket to the 200-meter final running 20.86 in the prelims – the sixth-fastest on the day.

Arkansas will return to Randal Tyson for day two of the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships tomorrow morning starting at 10:45 a.m.

Arkansas puts up another 196-plus score, but falls to LSU on Friday night

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas posted its third score of 196 or higher in four meets with a 196.375 against No. 5 LSU, but fell to the Tigers 197.125-196.375 inside Barnhill Arena on Friday night.

First Rotation: LSU Bars: 49.225, Arkansas Vault: 49.175

Arkansas once again eclipsed the 49 mark on vault posting a 49.175. The Razorbacks were led by freshman Kennedy Hambrick, who scored a 9.900 in the fourth position. The score was followed by a 9.825 from senior Sydney McGlone and a 9.875 from fellow freshman Amanda Elswick.

Second Rotation: LSU Vault: 49.300, Arkansas Bars: 48.625

Junior Jessica Yamzon led the rotation off with a 9.775 that was followed up with a 9.750 from sophomore Sophia Carter. Sophomore Sarah Shaffer led the rotation with a 9.875, but Arkansas was forced to count a low score in the rotation as the Tigers took a 98.525-97.800 lead heading to the third rotation.

Second Rotation: LSU Floor: 49.300, Arkansas Beam: 49.225

Arkansas got off to a quick start in its third rotation, posting three consecutive scores of 9.800 or higher before Carter recording a season-high tying 9.900 in the fourth position. Yamzon led off the rotation with a 9.800, as Hambrick and Elswick each posted 9.850’s to lead off the rotation.

Fourth Rotation: LSU Beam: 49.375, Arkansas Floor: 49.350

Arkansas proved strong on the floor once again as all five scores recorded scores of 9.825 or higher. Yamzon led off the rotation with a 9.800, that was followed up with a pair of 9.850’s from Hambrick and Elswick. In the fourth position, McGlone recorded a 9.875. Carter once again showed that the floor was her showcase event, posting a career high-tying 9.950.

Razorbacks sit in second after first day at SEC Championships on Friday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — No. 1 Arkansas currently sits in second place with 30-points, trailing Alabama by five-points, capturing three SEC titles on day one of the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships at Randal Tyson on Friday night.

“It was a great day,” said coach Lance Harter. “The key to today was to advance as many people to the final as possible, and we were way above and beyond our expectations… and the finals that we were a part of tonight we got three 10’s. Cumulatively we couldn’t have asked for any more than we got today. Tomorrow is an opportunity to cash in, and I think with the momentum that was created today, there’s no reason it should slow down.”

Redshirt-Senior Kelsey Herman got things going for Arkansas as she competed in the women’s pentathlon. Herman opened the competition with a lifetime-best in the 60-meter hurdles clocking 8.29 scoring 1,064-pts.

She followed up with marks of 1.73m (5-8) in the high jump, 12.31m (40-4.75) in the shot put, 6.10m (20-0.25) in the long jump and 2:20.81 in the 800-meters to finish with a total score of 4,330-pts – a lifetime-best – and a gold medal in the event.

Herman is the fifth Razorback to win the pentathlon and second in a row following last year’s SEC and NCAA Champion Taliyah Brooks.

Taylor Werner is an SEC Champion! The junior absolutely ran away from the field in the 5,000-meters running 16:18.39 that was a full 10 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. This is the second SEC title at 5,000-meters for Werner pairing with her title from her freshman campaign in 2017.

“I was ecstatic for Taylor [Werner] for a couple reasons. She followed the race plan until the middle of the race when I told her ‘take off let’s get going’. Once she got going I told her to run as controlled as possible and make it as effortless as possible. She walked away from the field and walked away from the race with a lot of confidence and reconfirmation that she’s 100% healthy and back to her old self after having the back procedure last summer,” said Harter.

The women’s Distance Medley Relay struck gold for Arkansas once again. The relay of Devin Clark, Paris Peoples, Meghan Underwood, and Carina Viljoen went the distance for the Razorbacks turning in a time of 11:21.98 – six seconds ahead of second-place Florida.

While the three SEC titles highlighted action on Day one for the Hogs, Arkansas set themselves up for even more success tomorrow afternoon with how they competed in preliminary action on the track Friday afternoon.

Three Razorbacks will toe the line in tomorrow’s Mile final as Lauren Gregory, Carina Viljoen, and Maddy Reed turned in the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 times on the day during prelims. Gregory, the 2017 SEC Cross Country Freshman of the Year, is competing in her first SEC Indoor Championships and is the favorite to capture the title tomorrow afternoon as she holds the top-time from prelims of 4:46.87.

Kiara Parker, Janeek Brown, and Jada Baylark will represent the Cardinal and White in the final of the 60-meters with Parker’s time leading the bunch. Parker ran 7.24 trailing only LSU’s Korteni Johnson who ran 7.19 in preliminary action. Brown (7.27) and Baylark (7.28) qualified as the fifth and sixth-fastest from prelims.

Arkansas advanced three to the 400-meter final led by Kethlin Campbell’s lifetime-best in the event at 52.82 that bested her performance of 52.99 last week at the Arkansas Qualifier and tied Chrishuna Williams for the ninth-best performance in program history. Campbell will be joined by Morgan Burks-Magee and Sydney Hammit who ran a personal-best as well crossing the line in 53.15.

Payton Chadwick and Brown stepped on the track for the prelims of the 60-meter hurdles and left with tickets to the finals in the event running the No.1 and No. 2 times on the day at 7.98 and 8.00, respectively.

Alex Byrnes is headed back to the SEC Indoor final in the 800-meters as she ran 2:07.37 to grab one of the two non-auto qualifying spots. Byrnes enters the final with the sixth-fastest time from prelims.

Chadwick and Parker, who punched their tickets in the 60-hurdles and 60-flat, returned to the track in the 200-meter prelims nabbing two more scoring opportunities for Arkansas as they ran times of 23.03 and 23.13, respectively, with Parker’s mark being a lifetime-best. Chadwick’s time was the second-fastest on the night while Parker’s mark finished as the fifth-best from prelims.

“Some people looked at us outdoors (last year), and after winning indoors we just looked like a shadow of ourselves in some respects, but we weren’t that far out of a title,” said Harter.

“We just had some key injuries and I was not going to pull the redshirts of the kids we had on ice at the last minute. We had to deal with what we were capable of but we kind of had a smile on our face of ‘wait till you see our indoor/outdoor team.’ I think our veterans are doing what we thought they were capable of, but some young ones followed them and are following the model that was set before them, and if we can continue to nurture that after our senior’s graduate we’ll have another class regenerate,” Harter finished.

Arkansas will return to Randal Tyson for day two of the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships tomorrow morning starting at 10:45 a.m.

Razorbacks set five personal bests on fourth day at SEC Championships

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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ATHENS, Ga. — In the fourth day of the SEC Championships, Arkansas swimming and diving set five personal bests and sent four swimmers to the finals.

In the 200 yard butterfly, senior Cris Roberts earned a 41st place finish with a time of 2:05. 96. Senior Marlena Pigliacampi set a personal best time (1:57.51) on her way to a 16th place finish. Her time earned her an NCAA ‘B’ cut and allowed her to advance to the B-finals, where earned a 15th place overall finish (1:58.70).

The second event of the day was the 100 yard backstroke, with three swimmers representing the Razorbacks. Molly Moore set a personal best time of 55.34 for a 44th place. Andrea Sansores also set a personal best, taking 35th place with a time of 54.67 while Kobie Melton earned a 33rd place finish with a time of 54.38.

The final individual swimming event of the day was the 100 yard breaststroke, with three swimmers advancing to the finals. Emma Garfield earned a 35th place finish with a season-best time of 1:03.31. Annah Carney set a personal best (1:01.91) to tie for 22nd place and advanced to the C-finals, where she finished in 24th place (1:02.21).

Sydney Angell also advanced to the C-finals after finishing the preliminary round in 20th place (1:01.83). In the finals, she earned a 23rd place finish with a time of 1:01.93. Vanessa Herrmann earned an NCAA ‘B’ cut with a personal-best time of 1:00.73 to advance to the B-finals, where she took 14th place (1:00.67).

Maha Amer and Carline Welch both competed in the final diving event of the championships, with Welch taking 27th place with a score of 155.90 and Amer taking 15th place with 223.95 points.

The 400 yard medley relay team was led by an all-freshman group, with Sansores, Herrmann, Melton, and Moore earning a 10th place finish with a time of 3:38.18.

“Today was tough for many reasons,” coach Neil Harper said. “But Sydney, Marlena, and Annah provided us with senior leadership and earned swims in the finals. As our lone freshman, Vanessa stepped and also performed beautifully in the finals.

“The future of our program was entrusted to our medley relay quartet and I think they performed very well and gained valuable experience for the future. We are in a battle with some other teams and need some great performances in the morning to set up a successful last finals session.”

After four days of competition, the Hogs sit in eighth place with 420 points. The final day of the SEC Championships will begin tomorrow, with the preliminary round beginning with the 200 yard backstroke at 10 a.m.

Anderson: Jones’ is ‘a first-year player … that’s what you call it’

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, when asked about inconsistency from Mason Jones, said he was a young player plus previewing Saturday’s matchup with Texas A&M.

???? Friday Halftime Pod — featuring former Omahog Carson Shaddy

Tye Richardson
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???? Friday Halftime Pod — featuring former Omahog Carson Shaddy

Phil Elson & Tye Richardson discuss updates with Arkansas football, the USC win, plus former Omahog Carson Shaddy joins the pod!

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Friday

Tye Richardson
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Friday

John, Tommy, & Nick discuss the USC win, take calls on Mike Anderson, where Arkansas ranks in the SEC and more!

Cronin saves day for Razorbacks in first game against USC, retiring four straight

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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LOS ANGELES — Matt Cronin didn’t have such a good outing against Eastern Illiniois last weekend, but made up for it in the first game of the series against USC as Arkansas held on for a 6-3 win.

The Razorbacks never trailed in the game as Casey Martin got things started with a three-run double in the second inning for a 3-0 lead.

With a pair of runs in the third and a solo run in the fourth, the Hogs ran through pitchers Cody Scroggins, who started before yielding to Patrick Wicklander, who proceeded to let the three baserunners he inherited cross.

Cole Ramage then got in some work, followed by Zebulon Vermillion before Cronin finished it by getting the last four outs of the game, all on strikeouts.

Arkansas will try to win the series Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 8 p.m. Isaiah Campbell will start on the mound for the Razorbacks.

You can hear the game on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.

 

 

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