KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Kentucky Swimming and Diving team ends the fifth day of competition with strong 500 freestyle performances from five Wildcat finalists, putting the men’s squad at eighth and women remain at twelfth. They now look towards the last day of competition on Saturday.

Starting the morning off with the preliminary rounds, the 200 breaststroke round was highlighted by the prelim performances of Cayden Pitzer (1:54.99) and Adomas Gatulis (1:55.17), both qualifying for the C-Final.

In the 50 freestyle, two Wildcats qualified for the B-Final. It was once again the freshmen, who have had an awesome SEC meet so far, Falemana Tuufui and Lysander Osman. Tuufui, the current program record holder (19.19), swam a 19.28 and Osman swam the third best program time at 19.30.

The six Wildcats that qualified for finals in the 500 freestyle included Katy Jost, who won her heat in a convincing 4:46.59, good for the C-Final. Madi McGlothen also qualified for the C-Final in 4:48.60. For the men it was junior Carson Hick swimming 4:15.09 for a B-Final along with C-Final qualifiers Levi Sandidge (4:19.52) and Caue Gluck (4:20.76).

On the boards, the duo of freshmen in Rock Sweet and Gabriel Perdigao gained the Wildcats some points for the men’s side.

Onto finals, it was Pitzer who highlighted the 200 breaststroke with a new program record of 1:54.14 in the B-Final, alongside Gatulis with a 1:55.15.

The 50 freestyle brought all the hype, with Tuufui finishing tenth and resetting his program record for the fifth time this year in 19.11. Behind him was the speedy freshman Osman with the program’s second-best time of 19.17.

In the 500 freestyle final, Jost finished 22 in 4:47.56 and McGlothen with 4:48.38 for 24. The men rounded things out with Hick finishing 12th in 4:15.11, Sandidge 19th in 4:17.72, and Gluck in 22th with a time of 4:20.39.

The fifth day ended in fitting note, with yet another relay program record. This time it was the 200 free relay in a 1:16.65, which was comprised of Tuufui, Osman, AJ Terry, and Justin Peresse. This smashed the previous record set in 2010, which was the oldest record in the book as of Friday.

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

Day five of the championship starts with swimming prelims at 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by women’s platform prelims at noon. Finals will start at 5:30 p.m. ET with the 200 IM, 100 free, 200 back women’s platform event, and ending the week with the 400 free relay. All sessions can be live streamed on SECN+.

Tomorrow’s Events:
• 200 IM
• 100 Free
• Women’s Platform Dive
• 400 Free Relay

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