Feb. 17, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. – The Kentucky swimming and diving teams enjoyed a great start to the 2010 Southeastern Conference Championships on Wednesday night in Athens, Ga. Kentucky’s relay teams and both divers notched valuable points for the Wildcats on the first night of competition.
Junior diver Lisa Faulkner participating in her first SEC meet notched a sixth place finish on the one-meter board with a score of 301.90. She improved over 20 points from her qualifying preliminary score of 287.30.
The UK women matched their sixth place finish with a sixth place tap in the 800-free later in the night. The quartet of senior Casey Miller (1:48.87); sophomore Chelsea Peterson (1:48.89); sophomore Mandy Myers (1:49.32) and junior Kayla Sergesketter (1:49.38) combined for an NCAA `B’ qualifying time standard of 7:16.46. The time is a new school record for the UK women, besting the 7:21.89 time set in 1999.
Kentucky’s men’s 800-freestyle relay posted a relay-best fourth place finish with an NCAA `B’ standard in the event. Reinhardt Strijdom opened the race with a split of 1:37.26, followed by Tyler Reed’s 1:36.26 time. Alex Forbes was the third leg and tapped in a time of 1:38.34, with Kyle Greene anchoring with a time of 1:36.23 for the final time of 6:27.02.
Freshman diver John Fox claimed points on the men’s side with a 15th place showing on the three-meter springboard in his first collegiate conference championship. Fox earned a score of 277.50 in his top-16 showing.
Between the lanes the UK women got off to a strong start with a sixth place finish in the 200-medley relay finishing with an NCAA `B’ qualifying time standard of 1:39.56, just missing out on setting a new school record (1:39.19). The quartet was comprised of juniors Chatham Penrod and Lindsey Graessle, senior Megan Pulskamp and sophomore Kelsi Hall. Penrod opened the heat with a 25.08 split in the backstroke leg. Graessle took the breaststroke and earned a split of 28.24. Pulskamp posted a split time of 23.41 in the butterfly leg, while Hall anchored the freestyle portion with a final split of 22.83 for the comprised time. Pulskamp’s butterfly split was the second fastest split in the butterfly portion of the race.
The men equaled the women’s sixth place finish and NCAA `B’ qualifying time standard. Freshman Zach McGinnis and seniors Eric McGinnis, Elvis Burrows and Forbes earned a time of 1:28.09. Zach McGinnis took the backstroke leg (23.10) with Eric McGinnis swimming the breaststroke portion in a time of 24.38. Burrows (21.09) was the butterfly leg and Forbes anchored with a split of 19.52.
Following the first night of competition the UK women are in sixth place with 65 points tallied through four events. The men are tied for seventh with a total score of 58 points.
For the most up-to-date information regarding the Kentucky swimming and diving squads please visit UKathletics.com.
