Kentucky Targets Improvement to Start November Schedule
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Nine days after tabbing a pair of wins over LSU, the Kentucky swimming and diving program embarks on its November schedule in a couple of Southeastern Conference duals on Nov. 1-2 in Columbia, Missouri.
For the first time this year, the program will follow a 38-event schedule over a two-day period, hosted at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. Thursday is slated to begin at 3 p.m. ET, followed by a 10 a.m. ET start time on Friday. The men will go head-to-head with No. 22 Missouri, while the women will compete in a set of duals versus Missouri and No. 23 Arkansas.
The Tigers are providing a multitude of opportunities to keep up with the conference clash – live scoring, SEC Network+, and Meet Mobile.
“Missouri is a really good team,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “We faced them earlier this year unofficially, and we expect to see something similar to what we saw in Indiana. We’re just trying to get better. That’s out biggest goal right now, get better and show some good progression. We want to swim fast in two weeks at the Ohio State Invitational, that’s another big goal, and we’ll use this meet as an opportunity to prepare.
“Arkansas has much improved this year. They have a couple of impact freshman that are swimming well and an SEC Diver of the Year. Both in swimming and diving they’re good, so a great opportunity for our divers to compete against the best diver in the SEC and prepare them well.”
The No. 18 UK women garnered their first win of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 23 in a home dual versus LSU, producing a 12-point win, 156-144. The delayed victory came after a tough season opener that highlighted No. 9 Indiana and No. 19 Notre Dame.
Compiling two 1-2-3 sweeps in the LSU meeting, the women claimed nine gold finishes – one relay and eight individual – in 16 women’s events. A testament to the depth of the women’s team, winning performances were had by five Wildcats – sophomore Bailey Bonnett, senior Ali Galyer, junior Asia Seidt, freshman Sophie Sorenson and senior Meredith Whisenhunt. Bonnett, Seidt and Whisenhunt finished with two.
The men are relishing a two-meet winning streak after cruising past No. 19 Notre Dame in the season opener, and producing an 80-point win over LSU. The troop saw a stunning six 1-2-3 sweeps, found in the 1,000 free, 200 free, 200 fly, 100 free, 500 free and the 400 IM.
Kentucky and Missouri have already met once this season, a quad meet featuring Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Notre Dame, hosted in Bloomington, Indiana. The Wildcats and the Tigers did not officially compare scores ahead of the Nov. 1-2 matchup. It is Missouri men’s only competitive meet of the season, where they carded a 1-1 record. The Missouri women fell in both duals to start the season, but won on the road at Vanderbilt to boast a 1-2 record ahead of the Thursday-Friday meet.
For timely score updates during the meet, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter. For more on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow the Wildcats on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
