TUSCALOOSA, Ala.? Senior swimmers Jenny and Heather Bradford placed second and third, respectively in the 50-freestyle during the second night of competition at the 2008 SEC Championships hosted by the University of Alabama, Thursday.
Jenny Bradford earned her third consecutive silver medal at the conference meet with a time of 22.18, while Heather Bradford claimed her first ever medal in the event with her third place showing. Heather Bradford notched a career-best clip when she tapped in 22.24. Both women?s times qualify them for competition in the event at the NCAA Championships.
The Bradfords teamed with senior Lauren Willis and sophomore Megan Pulskamp as they set a school-record in their second place swim in the 200-free relay. The quartet clocked in a time of 1:29.12, besting last year?s record setting time of 1:29.33 set at the NCAA Championships. Kentucky put forth a valiant effort in an attempt to reclaim its title they won a year ago, but Tennessee scored a 1:29.07 time to just narrowly escape with the first place finish.
Diver Kari Retrum, competing in the top-eight for the second consecutive night, placed sixth on the three-meter board with a score of 295.85. Freshman Jessie Snowden placed 11th overall, scoring points for the UK women for the second consecutive night. The freshman scored 274.15 n six dives on the three-meter to round out the scoring for the women.
On the men?s side, sophomore Eric McGinnis improved upon his sixth place seeding to take fourth in the 50-free with a career-best and the third best mark in school history when he clocked in a time of 19.88. McGinnis was just shades off of a medal in the event, but his finish tonight was easily the best of his young career. Junior Warren Grobbelaar took ninth in the event with his career-best clip, the fourth best in UK annals, when he touched in a time of 19.90. The time is also good enough to qualify as an NCAA ?B? mark. Sophomore Alex Forbes also took home valuable points for the Wildcats when he touched in 12th in a time of 20.23, a season-best time.
The trio joined sophomore Shane Eliason to form the fifth-place 200-free relay team. Kentucky tapped in an NCAA ?B? qualifying time of 1:19.39, a season-best time.
Freshman Tyler Reed scored his first career individual points for the Wildcats when he took 11th in the 500-free. Reed was the first UK athlete in action and came through with the third best time in Kentucky history when he tapped in a time of 4:21.26. The time is also good enough for an NCAA ?B? qualifying mark.
On the boards, Kentucky earned points from both junior Justin Smith and freshman Stephen Andrews. Smith and Andrews took ninth and 10th, respectively on the one-meter board. Smith scored 307.45, while Andrews scored 307.00.
After night two, stand in fifth place with 169 points. Florida retained their first night lead and have now combined a 272 score. On the men?s side, Kentucky stands in sixth after tallying 150 points. Auburn is ahead of the pack with 322 points, nearly 100 more than second place Florida.
The Championships resume tomorrow at 10 a.m. CST with the preliminary heats of the 400-individual medley, 100-butterfly, 200-freestyle, 100-breaststroke, 100-backstroke, and the men?s platform diving. Complete coverage of the UK swimming and diving teams can be found at www.ukathletics.com.
Additional coverage of the SEC Championships can be found at the host school?s website, www.rolltide.com or by visiting the SEC website at www.secsports.com.
Team Standings ? Through 16 events
Women
Florida ? 272
Auburn – 230
Tennessee ? 200.5
Georgia ? 187
Kentucky ? 169
LSU ? 139.5
South Carolina ? 118
Arkansas ? 105
Alabama ? 98
Vanderbilt ? 46
Men
Auburn ? 322
Florida ? 233
Tennessee ? 208
Georgia ? 169
LSU ?160
Kentucky ? 150
Alabama ? 140
South Carolina – 101
UK Results
Event 1 Women?s 1-Meter Diving
Kari Retrum ? 2nd
(Medalist)
? 313.95 (season-high score, NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score)
Jessie Snowden ? 4th ? 304.25 (4th in UK record books, career-best score, NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score)
Event 2 Women?s 200-Medley Relay
Kentucky (Southerlan (26.24), Myhre (28.30), H. Bradford(23.35), J. Bradford (21.44)) – 5th overall ? 1:39.33 ? (NCAA ?A? qualifying time, season-best time)
Event 3 Men?s 200-Medley Relay
Kentucky (Eliason (22.79), Vietti (24.10), Grobbelaar (20.90), McGinnis (19.35)) – 4th overall ? 1:27.14 ? (School record, NCAA ?B? qualifying time, season-best time)
Event 4 Men?s 3-Meter Diving
Stephen Andrews ? 10th ? 336.30 (NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score)
Justin Smith ? 13th ? 312.05 (NCAA Zone Diving qualifying score)
Event 5 Women?s 800-Free Relay
Kentucky (Miller (1:51.73), Kerns (1:49.88), Sergesketter (1:52.09), Sledge (1:51.73)) – 9th overall ? 7:25.43 ? (season-best time)
Event 6 Men?s 800-Free Relay
Kentucky (Reed (1:35.35), Greene (1:36.72), Strijdom (1:38.08), Eliason (1:38.57)) – 4th overall ? 6:28.72 (NCAA ?B? qualifying time, season-best time)
Event 7 Women?s 500-Free
Haleigh Kerns ? 25th ? 4:58.87
Leah Harms ? 31st ? 5:03.68
Event 8 Men?s 500-Free
Tyler Reed ? 11th ? 4:21.26 (NCAA ?B? qualifying time, third in UK history, career-best time)
Kyle Greene ? 20th ? 4:31.55
Marco Iemmola ? 24th ? 4:39.54 (season-best time)
Event 9 Women?s 200-Individual Medley
Casey Miller ? 33rd ? 2:06.53
Lindsay Myhre ? 38th ? 2:07.97
Jill Southerlan ? 40th ? 2:09.44
Blair Barrett ? 42nd ? 2:10.12 (career-best time)
Lindsey Graessle ? 43rd ? 2:11.36
Danielle Weiss ? 45th ? 2:19.59
Event 10 Men?s 200-Individual Medley
Shane Eliason ? 22nd ? 1:51.58
Grant Nelson ? 26th ? 1:52.79 (career-best time)
Kristian Outinen ? 33rd ? 1:55.20
Event 11 Women?s 50-Free
Jenny Bradford ? 2nd
(Medalist)
? 22.18 – prelim time – 22.00 (NCAA ?A? qualifying time, UK record, career-best time)
Heather Bradford ? 3rd
(Medalist)
? 22.24 (NCAA ?A? qualifying time, career-best time)
Lauren Willis ? 12th ? 23.03 (NCAA ?B? qualifying time, season-best time)
Megan Pulskamp ? 22nd ? 23.40 (seventh best time in UK history, career-best time)
Beth Parsons ? 26th ? 23.53 (ninth best time in UK history, career-best time)
Jenna Newsome ? 31st ? 23.83
Kayla Sergesketter ? 34th ? 23.89 (career-best time)
Kristina Sledge ? 45th ? 24.59
Event 12 Men?s 50-Free
Eric McGinnis – 4th ? 19.88 (NCAA ?B? qualifying time, fourth best time in UK history, career-best time)
Warren Grobbelaar ? 9th ? 19.90 (NCAA ?B? qualifying time, fifth in UK history, career-best time)
Alex Forbes ? 12th ? 20.23 (season-best time)
Colin Faris ? 18th ? 20.36 (career-best time)
Elvis Burrows ? 23rd ? 20.55 (career-best time)
Chris Richard ? 25th ? 20.64 (career-best time)
Reinhardt Strijdom ? 34th ? 21.13 (career-best time)
Travis Muzzillo ? 40th ? 21.45 (career-best time)
Will Vietti ? 44th ? 24.75 (career-best time)
Event 13 Men?s 1-Meter
Justin Smith ? 9th ? 307.45 (NCAA Zone qualifying score)
Stephen Andrews ? 10th ? 307.00 (NCAA Zone qualifying score)
Event 14 Women?s 3-Meter
Kari Retrum ? 6th ? 295.85
Jessie Snowden ? 11th ? 274.15
Event 15 Women?s 200-Free Relay
Kentucky (H. Bradford (22.60), Willis (22.53), Pulskamp (22.36), J. Bradford (21.63)) 2nd overall
(Medalists)
? 1:29.12 ? (NCAA ?A? qualifying time, UK school record, season-best time)
Event 16 Men?s 200-Free Relay
Kentucky (McGinnis (20.03), Forbes (19.75), Grobbelaar (19.82), Eliason (19.79)) 5th overall ? 1:19.39 ? (NCAA ?B? qualifying time, season-best time)
