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Hogs ready for first conference weekend on road

FAYETTEVILLE — After splitting its first two conference matches of the season last weekend at home, Arkansas hits the road for the first time in conference this weekend, traveling to Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

The Razorbacks will open the weekend on Friday in Lexington, Kentucky, facing the Wildcats at 4 p.m. Following that match, Arkansas will head south to Nashville to face the Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Arkansas has won seven of its last nine matches, bringing its overall mark to 8-5 this season and 1-1 in SEC play, after splitting a pair of SEC matches last weekend.

The Razorbacks hosted the LSU Tigers last Friday, defeating the Tigers 6-1 to open conference action. On Sunday, No. 7 Texas A&M came into Fayetteville and swept Arkansas 7-0.

The Razorbacks are led by senior Jose Salazar, who is 15-7 overall this season in singles, including a 9-3 mark this spring. Freshman josh Howard-Tripp is right behind with 14 singles victories, holding a 7-5 record this spring.

Fourth-ranked Razorbacks ready for NCAA battle

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — No. 4 Arkansas will face its final challenge of the indoor season this weekend in College Station, in pursuit of the program’s 42nd national title at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships.

The Razorbacks are back in Aggieland for the second time in in two weeks having finished as the runner-up at the the 2018 Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships at the end of February.

“The game plan is have our guys get out there and perform to the best of their ability,” coach Chris Bucknam said. “Right now, we know who our qualifiers are and anyone of them can score; probably a little bit of luck and being fearless.

“I think that’s the name of the game for our guys. You have to go in there knowing you can win.”

Events to Watch (Friday):

• 12 p.m. | Heptathlon Day One 
Razorback Entry: Gabe Moore (PR: 5,777 points)

• 5:30 p.m. | Long Jump Final
Razorback Entry: Laquan Nairn (PR: 7.87m/25-10)

• 6:05 p.m. / 7:35 p.m. | 60/200 Meters Semifinal
Razorback Entry: Kenzo Cotton (PR: 6.56/20.61)

• 6:25 p.m. | 400 Meters Semifinal
Razorbacks Entries: Obi Igbokwe (PR: 45.38) | Rhayko Schwartz (PR: 46.08)

• 8:05 p.m. | 5,000 Meters  Final
Razorback Entry: Jack Bruce (PR: 13:43.34)

Friday Scoring Opportunities
Arkansas will rely on distance and field to get points on the board on day one of the championships with senior Jack Bruce contesting the 5,000 final and sophomore Laquan Nairn in the long jump.

A three-time cross country All-American, Bruce had his breakthrough on the track at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships where he surprised the track and field world, out-kicking notable favorites to place second in the 5,000 by a narrow margin to Stanford’s Grant Fisher.

Survive and Advance
In addition to points secured, the Razorbacks will also need finalists. Two-time 60 and 200-meter national finalist Kenzo Cotton will lead that charge for the Hogs, looking to close out his career three-for-three.

Cotton heads into his two seminfinal competitions with major momentum having finished first in the 60 and second in the 200 in the fastest conference championships in the nation.

“I’m sure he’s [Kenzo] looking for a win, I’m sure he’s looking to be a national champion,” Bucknam said. “That was such a big win for him. He won a big race.

“The 60-meter dash in the SEC is a marquis race; a heavy bout, and he was able to come away with that win. We all know the kind of athlete he’s been for us and he’s just a sign that consistency leads to championships”

First Up
Two-time combined events All-American Gabe Moore will be the first Razorback to see action, opening Arkansas’ weekend with the heptathlon 60-meter dash at 12 p.m.

The SEC heptathlon runner-up currently ranks at No. 7 in the country and has a best in the event of 5,777 points secured earlier this season at the Razorback Invitational.

The two-day event will be live streamed on ESPN3 with Friday’s stream beginning at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday’s stream beginning at 4 p.m.

Offensive changes more than just pace of offense

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Arkansas is different these days.

And it’s more than having a head coach that runs more in one practice than the previous one waddled around in five years … combined.

Every single player we’ve talked to in the spring has mentioned how much faster the pace of just about everything is. Not one has complained.

Not even the quarterbacks, who’ve been saddled with learning an entirely new way of offense. The learning is at an accelerated pace.

“The last coaching staff we didn’t really go this fast,” Cole Kelley said Thursday.

It’s also not going like a well-oiled machine, but Chad Morris really wasn’t expecting it to this early, he’s said on a couple of occasions.

“We’re making some mistakes, but we’re making them full speed,” Kelley said. “Guys aren’t just putting their hands up stopping. We’re going full speed.”

Kelley and Ty Storey have been splitting the reps at the No. 1 quarterback position. Storey may have gained a slight edge in the two-minute drill in Saturday’s workout where he led the offense to a score on a pass to freshman Michael Woods.

“We obviously picked up some momentum and carried it through till the end,” Storey said Tuesday. “Obviously Mike Woods made a great catch and scored, so it was good.”

Kelley’s drive ended in an interception by Ryan Pulley.

“In my opinion, it was a P.I. [pass interference], but Pulley gets away with those a lot, so I’m not going to fault him,” Kelley said with a sheepish smile.

Apparently, though, the running game is beginning to show signs of progress.

“Seems like the running backs are getting used to getting the flow,” tight end Jeremy Patton said. “We broke off some great runs today at practice. It’s fast, new and fun.”

Patton said Chase Hayden, Devwah Whaley and T.J. Hammonds all had big runs with Hayden breaking free on a couple of 60-yard runs.

Morris said his offense utilized the tight end position a lot and was a key to it working.

Coming to a school where that position has been the most successful over the past few years (two Mackey Award winners in D.J. Williams and Hunter Henry), Morris hit the motherload of tight ends.

They could be even more prominent with the wealth of talent already there.

“It’s definitely going to be different.” he said. “Our job is to be the utility guy on offense.

“We’re moving around. You’ll see us at wideout, you’ll see us in the slot, you’ll see us in the backfield. So we’re really the guy that brings everything together for this offense.”

Morris said earlier, the first round of installs would go for three practices, then the offense would go back through it, hopefully at a faster pace.

“We’re just about finished with what we’re going to install for the spring, but it’s really smooth,” Patton said.

“We’ve all kind of rolled through,” Storey said. “I think they’re trying to kind of throw us all in there and see what happens. But most of all I think they’re trying to make sure we learn the offense and pick up on it.”

With the first scrimmage planned for Saturday, it will be the first chance to see how it’s coming together.

It probably won’t be ready for prime time.

But it will be different.

And faster.

Hogs ready for final road test at Oklahoma on Friday

FAYETTEVILLE — Tenth-ranked Arkansas travels to Norman, Oklahoma, for the OU Quad meet against the top-ranked Sooners and top 15 teams Arizona State and Denver this Friday at 7 p.m.

“This is going to be a big challenge,” said coach Mark Cook. “It’s very competitive competition. This is one of the most competitive years I remember with teams 7-20 within a tenth or two of each other as far as the parity.”

The Razorbacks come into the week with a Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) of 196.660, the highest in team history.

Arkansas’ freshmen recorded seven scores over 9.800 last week against Arizona, the highest among Southeastern Conference programs last weekend.

Freshman Sarah Shaffer has continued her tear through her first full season as a Razorback, recording at least one score of 9.900 in each of the last six meets, the only freshman in the conference to do so.

Fellow freshman Sophia Carter is the highest-ranked individual on the team, coming in at No. 13 on the balance beam after she tied her own program record of 9.975 on the event last week.

Senior Amanda Wellick has regained her form since her return from injury this season, posting scores of 9.800 or higher in 82.7% of her routines.

“We’re feeling good,” said Cook. “We have Amanda back in the all-around and it’s been a bit of a boost to us, but we’re trying to make some adjustments here and there. The girls did really well last week.”

Friday’s meet is Arkansas’ third road trip in four weeks and first since recording its second highest road score in program history of 196.875 at No. 5 Florida Feb. 23.

It’s the Razorbacks’ second quad meet of the season, after placing fourth at GymQuarters last month.

After posting its record high 197.275 against Arizona, The Razorbacks have now scored multiple scores of 197 or higher twice in one season for just the second time in program history, joining the 2012 season.

Arkansas posted a 197.175 against Georgia earlier this season. Its the first time in program history that Arkansas has posted multiple 197’s during the regular season.

As a team this season, the Razorbacks have recorded event scores of 49.000 or higher 26 times, after recording similar scores just 18 times last season.

Friday’s meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The meet will be televised on Fox Sports Oklahoma and the Fox Sports Go app.

Fassi earns SEC Weekly honor as top women’s golfer

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas junior Maria Fassi has been selected as the SEC Women’s Golfer of the Week, the league office announced today.

Fassi has picked up back-to-back medalist honors this spring winning the Lady Puerto Rico Classic and earning a win last week at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.

The two wins brings Fassi’s victory total to four this year, making her only the second Razorback player to win four or more events in a single season (Stacy Lewis).

Fassi leads the team with a 69.67 stroke average, is ranked second in the SEC, fourth in Golfstat and fifth in Golfweek.

She currently ranks third on the ANNIKA Award Watch List and is the No. 1 player on the Arnold Palmer Cup selection list for international women.

At the Darius Rucker this week

• Fassi’s three-round 210 was the fourth best individual score in tournament history.

• She was one of just two players to shoot in the 60s in the final round.

• Fassi finished with a 2-under 69 on the final day and 3-under for the tournament.

• Fassi was the only player in the field to shoot par or better in all three rounds.

• Fassi defeated five top-10 players, eight top-25 players and 14 top-50 players in the field.

• Fassi’s win and score were the best in program history for a Razorback at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.

• Fassi’s win is only the fourth time in seven years that Arkansas has had an individual player in the top-10 at this event.

• Fassi’s performance paced Arkansas to a runner-up finish. That is the Razorbacks’ best showing at this event (previous was T-5 in 2013).

• Arkansas’ 874 is the program’s best score at this event (previous was 882 in 2016).

• Fassi has paced Arkansas to four team titles including one this spring at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, and six top-4 finishes in six events.

• Helped Arkansas defeat eight SEC teams and some of the top-ranked players in the conference and country at the Darius Rucker.

The third-ranked Razorbacks return to action on March 18-20 at the Evans-Derby Experience in Auburn, Alabama.

Arkansas travels to the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic April 13-15 in the final event of the regular season.

Razorbacks qualify third diver for NCAA Championships

FAYETTEVILLE — Senior diver Nicole Gillis became the third Arkansas diver to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships on Wednesday, finishing seventh in the platform at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships in Minneapolis.

Gillis started the day with an ninth-place showing in the prelims out of 20 athletes, scoring a 247.40. In the finals, she dove personal-best 262.10 to punch her ticket to the NCAA Championships with an overall score of 509.50.

It marks the first time in school history that Arkansas has sent three divers to the NCAA Championships and the first time since 1985 to send more than one diver.

Junior Marissa Green was the second Razorback that competed in the platform event on Wednesday. She finished 14th with a personal-best 219.40 in prelims to advance to the finals. In finals, she added 215.60 to finish with a total of 435.00, good for a 15th-place finish.

The NCAA Championships will take place will be held March 14-17 at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.

Schedule of Events/Results
Monday, March 5
One-Meter Prelim
4th – Brooke Schultz – 303.55
21st – Nicole Gillis – 258.85
23rd – Marissa Green – 257.50
30th – Maha Amer – 236.95
34th – Caroline Welch – 233.20

 One-Meter Final
4th – Brooke Schultz – 615.80*

Tuesday, March 6
Three-Meter Prelim
4th – Brooke Schultz – 336.25
6th – Maha Amer – 327.40 (personal best)
15th – Nicole Gillis – 301.00
22nd – Marissa Green – 282.35
40th – Caroline Welch – 229.95

Three-Meter Final
2nd – Brooke Schultz – 727.75*
9th – Maha Amer – 638.60*
13th – Nicole Gillis – 619.20

Wednesday, March 7
Platform Prelim
9th – Nicole Gillis – 247.40
14th – Marissa Green – 219.40

Platform Finals
7th – Nicole Gillis – 509.50*
15th – Marissa Green – 435.00

* NCAA Qualifier