Oct. 21, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky swimming and diving teams will begin the 2011-12 season Saturday as the Wildcats will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to compete in a double-dual meet featuring the University of Tennessee, and Indiana University beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET.
The meet will be the first of an eight-meet regular season for Kentucky, as the Wildcats will be making their first of four scheduled trips to the state of Tennessee, which will conclude with the Southeastern Conference Championships in mid-February.
“We are all very excited about our first competition,” said UK head coach Gary Conelly, who will lead the Wildcats for his 21st-consecutive season. ”Indiana and Tennessee are both very good teams. Indiana and Tennessee’s men’s and women’s team should be in the top-20 this year, and are certainly capable of being top-10 teams. This will be a great test for us.”
UK will feature a roster that includes over 20 swimmers new to the UK program, with most of them being freshmen. “We are a very young team on both the men’s and women’s side so it will be a lot of fun to see how all the new swimmers and divers perform in the heat of battle,” Conelly said.
Many swimmers and divers have already qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb., however many more Wildcats will be looking to punch their ticket to Omaha with this being an Olympic year. The most notable Wildcat to qualify for the trials is Tyler Reed, who broke the 50-second mark at USA Swimming Nationals in the 50-freestyle in mid-August, posting a 49.88, making him one of the few swimmers to ever break the 50-second barrier in the world.
UK will also return sophomore diver Greg Ferrucci, who will look to improve on a record-setting freshman year. Ferrucci was named the SEC Freshman Diver of the Year a year ago, and in just one year, posted scores that place him in the top three of all three major diving events at UK.
“This first meet will establish where we are as a team and what we have to do to get into the top 20 in the nation,” Conelly said.
Check out UKathletics.com for complete up-to-date information on the UK swimming and diving teams.
