CHAPEL HILL, N.C.?University of Kentucky freshman Tyler Reed bettered the field with an NCAA ?B? qualifying time of 4:25.57 in the 500-freestyle to highlight an impressive first night for the Wildcats at the Nike Cup hosted by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Thursday.
The freshman earned the top seed in the preliminary heat this morning and carried his way to the top spot in the championship-like final heat to claim the lone victory on the evening for the Blue and White, as well as the only individual NCAA qualifying time. The mark is also the sixth best in UK varsity annals.
Reed continued his night with 17th place in the 50-free with a time of 21.33, just a few shades off of his prelim time of 21.25. He was also the anchor leg of the second-place 400-medley relay team that tapped in a time of 3:20.69. Reed holding down the freestyle leg followed sophomore Shane Eliason in the backstroke leg, senior Kristian Outinen in the breaststroke and junior Warren Grobbelaar in the butterfly portion of the race.
Eliason capped an impressive evening as well with a personal-best and second-place finishing time of 1:50.81 in the 200-individual medley. The time is the sixth best in school history.
Grobbelaar finished fifth in the 50-free clocking in 20.48, as sophomore Alex Forbes took sixth in a time of 20.53. Both times are season-highs. Sophomore Elvis Burrows and freshman Colin Faris rounded out the scoring in the sprint free event with places of 18th and 19th, respectively. Burrows finished in a time of 21.35, after notching a career-best time of 21.13 in the prelim heat, while Faris needed 21.43 to finish.
Behind Reed?s stellar outing, is sophomore Kyle Greene who tallied a fifth best finish in the 500-free while notching a career-best time and Kentucky?s eighth best time in the event. Greene touched in a time of 4:27.94. Also scoring for the Wildcats in the mid-distance event was junior James Batley in 11th (4:36.49) and senior Grant Nelson in 13th (4:34.66).
The evening began with a third place finish in the 200-free relay for the UK men. Grobbelaar, Burrows, Forbes and Eliason needed just 1:21.46 to finish in the fast-paced race.
On the women?s side, the Blue and White ladies earned an NCAA ?B? cut in the 200-free relay. Senior Lauren Willis, freshman Jenna Newsome, sophomore Sydney Witzky and sophomore Megan Pulskamp placed fourth in a time of 1:33.39 to begin the evening.
Senior Lindsay Myhre notched the highest individual placement of any UK swimmer as she led a trio of individual medley participants in career-best times. Myhre tapped in fifth in a time of 2:04.99, sophomore Casey Miller finished 13th in 2:06.10, and senior Jill Southerlan?s time of 2:07.18 was good for 16th place. Myhre now holds the fifth best time in school history, while Miller takes over the seventh spot on the UK record books in the event.
Pulskamp earned a top-10 finish with a ninth place showing in the 50-free with a personal-best time of 23.54. Pulskamp?s time is also good for eighth all-time at UK.
Willis, Newsome and Witzky finished 12th, 17th and 20th in the 50-free, respectively. Willis clocked in 24.26, Newsome 23.80 and Witzky 24.31.
Rounding out the individual scorers was junior Haliegh Kerns who placed 11th in the 500-free with a time of 4:56.67. The junior tallied a career-best mark in the prelim heat with a time of 4:56.03.
Capping off the evening for the Lady Wildcats was a third place finish in the 400-medley relay in a time of 3:47.03. Southerlan took the backstroke leg, Myhre the breaststroke, Pulskamp the butterfly, while Willis anchored the freestyle leg.
Kentucky is back in action with Day 2 of the Nike Cup Friday. Preliminary heats begin at 10 a.m. EST, with the finals taking place at 6 p.m. Friday evening. Complete results of the Wildcats in the pool can be found at www.ukathletics.com.
