Oct. 18, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both fell in their opening meet of the season to ranked foes in Indiana on Saturday. Senior Shane Eliason and junior Megan Pulskamp each claimed individual victories for the Wildcats to highlight the day for the Blue and White.
On the men’s side, Kentucky fell by a 189-108 margin. The Wildcats won both relay events and Eliason’s victory in the 100-backstroke.
To open the meet, Eliason, freshman Grant Cooksey, and juniors Elvis Burrows and Eric McGinnis tapped in a time of 1:32.03 to win the 200-medley relay.
Eliason bested the field with a 50.09 clip in the 100-back for his first win of the season. The senior from Sturgeon Bay, Wisc., then took the first leg of the winning 400-free relay joining sophomore Tyler Reed, junior Kyle Greene and McGinnis to finish in a time of 3:01.54. Eliason touched in second place in the 200-back, finishing with a split of 1:49.19.
Kentucky combined to take second place in 10 other events. Reed earned second in the 200-free with a time of 1:40.32. Greene tapped in just behind him for third place with a tap of 1:42.69.
Cooksey earned second in the 100-breaststroke clocking in at 58.12 in his first collegiate meet. He also took second in the 200-breast, finishing as the top UK swimmer, with a time of 2:10.74.
McGinnis scored two second place finishes for the Cats. He grabbed second in both sprint freestyle races with a 50-free time of 20.36 and a 100-free time of 45.64. Rounding out the top scoring finishes for the Blue and White was senior James Batley who placed second in the 200-fly with a time of 1:52.14. Junior Travis Muzzillo scored in second place the 100-fly with a clip of 50.87. Freshman Matt Russell took second in the 200-individual medley with a 1:56.51 time, and senior Justin Smith scored in second on the one-meter board with a 301.45 score.
On the women’s side, Pulskamp captured her first win of the season in the 100-fly with a time of 55.01. The junior was also in on three second place finishes to lead the Cats. Individually, she scored second in the 200-fly with a 2:02.63 time. Pulskamp then teamed up with freshman Claire Archibald, sophomore Lindsey Graessle and freshman Kelsi Hall to take second in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:44.34. Additionally, Hall, sophomore Kayla Sergesketter, freshman Mandy Myers and Pulskamp ended the meet with a second place finish in the 400-free relay tapping in at 3:29.72.
Senior Leah Harms took second place in two events to kick off her final season with the Blue and White. Harms tapped in 10:28.98 in the 1000-free and in 5:07.80 in the 500-free. Graessle and Sergesketter each earned two second place finishes for Kentucky. Graessle tapped in second in the 100- and 200-breast in times of 1:04.66 and 2:22.65, respectively. Sergesketter clocked in 1:53.13 in the 200-free and 52.53 in the 100-free.
Archibald in her first collegiate meet placed second in both backstroke events. In the 100-back she finished in 57.83 and in the 200-back in a time of 2:03.10. Hall was the top UK finisher in the 50-free placing second in a clip of 24.09, while junior Casey Miller finished second in the 200-individual medley with a 2:07.88.
Kentucky returns to the pool in two weeks. The men host Tennessee on Oct. 31, with the women hosting the Lady Vols on Saturday, Nov. 1.
