Men’s Squad Sits in Sixth After Four Days of Competition

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Kentucky Swimming and Diving team completed the fourth day of competition at the 2026 SEC Championship, ending the day with B-Final 400 IM wins by seniors Levi Sandidge and Fernanda De Goeij. The men end the day in ?? place, while the women remain in eleventh place as they head into the back half of the week.

The preliminary rounds began with the 100 butterfly, where Javier Lopez-Guillen led the way. Lopez-Guillen swam a school record 46.00, which ended up being good for a B-Final. Freshman Falemana Tuufui qualified for a final of his own, with the program’s second-best time of 46.22, sending him to the evening C-Final.

Moving on in prelims, all six Wildcats qualified for the finals in the 400 IM. The women were represented by Fernanda De Goeij (4:12.70), Hayden Penny (4:15.20), Paige Housman (4:15.72), and Marie Belli (4:15.79). Goeij qualified for the B-Final, with the other three C-Final bound. The men had Sandidge (3:43.19) qualify for the B-Final and Ryan Merani (3:49.22) the C-Final.

Onto finals, the Wildcats saw a new program record by way of Javier Lopez-Guillen, who swam a 45.71 in the B-Final. In his second time breaking the record on Thursday alone, Lopez-Guillen marked himself as the first Wildcat in program history to break 46 second mark. In the C-Final Tuufui swam the program’s second-best time in 46.44.

In the 400 IM finals, De Goeij highlighted the fun with a B-Final win in 4:10.17. In the women’s C-Final, Housman finished in 4:12.22 for second with Belli right behind in 4:13.89 and Penny in 4:16.13. On the men’s side, Sandidge also secured the B-Final win with the second-best time in program history, 3:41.34. The other senior, Merani, finished the C-Final in second place with a comeback 100m freestyle run to end in 4:16.13.

To cap the day, the men’s team yet again set a new record in the 400 medley relay. The squad made of Lysander Osman, Adomas Gatulis, Lopez-Guillen, and Tuufui let loose to swim a 3:03.13 and reset the program record that was set last year at SECs. Osman also added a 44.56 back split, marking a program record in the 100 back yet again.

The Wildcat men end the day in seventh place, with just two full points separating five through seven. The women stand in eleventh currently after day four.

Day five of the championship starts with swimming prelims at 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by men’s platform prelims at noon. Finals will start at 5:30 p.m. ET with the 400 IM, 200 Free, men’s platform event, and ending with the 400 Medley Relay. All sessions can be live streamed on SECN+.

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