Oct. 16, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky swimming and diving teams opened the season with a split as the women’s team throttled Southern Illinois 207-89 and won a tight meet over Missouri 152-147. The men’s team dropped both meets against the Salukis and Tigers.
The women’s team dominated the sprint freestyle events, capturing first, second and third place in both the 50- and 100-freestyle.
Megan Eppler, a sophomore from Exeter, Calif., won the 50-free with a personal best time of 24.01. She was followed closely by Jenna Newsome (24.06) and Chelsea Peterson (24.14).
Peterson led the Cats in the 100-free with a time of 51.91. Jenna Newsome earned a second place finish with a time of 52.27, and Kristen Wilson touched in third at 52.73.
In the 100-butterfly, Kelcy Perry swam to a first place time of 56.20, followed by Anna Mattox (56.89) in second place.
Perry was also victorious in the 200-fly after swimming to a time of 2:04.93. Diana Norkus finished in third in the event (2:06.54).
The women were also victorious in the 200-medley relay. The women’s team, consisting of Chatham Penrod (26.59), Jenna Willis (30.27), Kelcy Perry (25.04) and Newsome (23.17), clocked in at 1:45.07.
The men’s 200-medley relay team finished in second place. Tripp Crosthwaite (24.51), Matt Russell (25.50), Grant Cooksey (22.95) and Colin Faris (20.84) clocked in a time of 1:33.80.
The women’s 400-free relay team of Kristen Wilson (52.69), Peterson (51.22), Eppler (51.31) and Newsome (51.42) was also victorious on the day after clocking in with a time of 3:26.64.
The men’s 400-free relay team of Faris (47.43), Jake Thomas (48.08), Pat Kemme (47.40) and Reinhardt Strijdom (46.18) finished in second place with a time of 3:09.09.
Faris was also victorious in the 50-free. A Maysville, Ky., native, Faris won the 50-free with a time of 21.01, followed by Russell in third place with a time of 21.24.
Lisa Faulkner earned a score of 294.52 in the one-meter diving event which was good enough for first-place honors.
On the men’s side, Zack Peterson earned second place finishes in the one- and three-meter diving event with scores of 264.15 and 271.35, respectively.
The men’s and women’s teams each earned second place finishes in the 200-individual medley. Claire Archibald clocked in at 2:08.13, while Russell finished in a time for 1:54.79 for the men.
The men and women also each earned second place marks in the 200-free. Strijdom finished with a time of 1:44.09 for the men, while Kristen Wilson clocked in at 1:53.44 for the women, followed closely by Chelsea Peterson (1:53.62) who came in third.
The Cats will be back in action Oct. 23 against Indiana in Bloomington, Ind. The meet will begin at 10 a.m.
Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for more news on the Kentucky swimming and diving teams.
