UK Men’s Swimming and Diving Team Concludes 2019 NCAA Championships Placing 25th, Best Finish in Six Years
AUSTIN, Texas – Led by the career-capping performance of senior Seb Masterton, the University of Kentucky men’s swimming and diving team collected the most points and the best team finish at the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships under sixth-season head coach Lars Jorgensen, boasting a top-25 finish for the first time in six years.
In a season that included snapping seven school records, defeating Louisville for the first time in 12 years and spending half its season ranked in the CSCAA Top 25, the UK men’s team capped its season with 26 points in the national meet for a 25th-place finish. It is the most points collected and the best team finish since 2012-13 when the squad tallied 45 points for 22nd place.
Ending his season with his all-time best showing in the NCAA Championships, Masterton became a NCAA First-Team All-American for the first time in his career. The England native, who finished 12th on the 1-meter springboard just two nights ago, outscored 34 divers in the preliminary platform field on 340.70 points to earn the eighth seed and his first-ever trip to the championship finals. There, he recorded 321.30 points to finish eighth overall in the 2019 NCAA Championships on platform, his best finish of his career.
Masterton was the only UK male diver to book a ticket to the NCAA Championships on all three disciplines – 1-meter springboard, 3-meter springboard and platform. He is a four-time NCAA Championships qualifier, having earned three NCAA Honorable Mention All-America honors, and now named a NCAA First-Team All-American.
“I can’t say enough good things about Seb,” said head diving coach Ted Hautau. “It’s been a pleasure coaching him for four years. He has a tremendous heart, fantastic attitude, he’s a hard worker and a pleasure to be around on a daily basis. He’s been hurt almost every NCAAs, fought every year and scored no matter the situation, so I can’t say enough about his heart, family and upbringing. Really proud of the divers. For Danny (Zhang) to score in his first event after he just got to the country, that’s a lot of pressure and he handled it well, stayed steady and had a great attitude. Seb coming in here and scoring while not 100 percent healthy, he’s always contributed points to the team and he’s been a backbone of the team for four years.
“I’m really proud of our entire diving team. We’ve had some adversity this year, yet 100 percent of them scored at the conference meet, they scored in every event and everyone had a top-eight showing, and I want to give a testimony to the hard work they have put into it, and to our assistant coach David Morton.”
Remarkably, Hautau has led three of four of UK divers who qualified for the 2019 NCAA Championships to top-16 finishes. Last week, freshman Kyndal Knight earned 13th on the 3-meter springboard. This week, Zhang finished 11th on the same discipline. Masterton finished 12th and 8th on the 1-meter springboard and platform, respectively.
“I’m just really proud of how Seb dove all week,” Jorgensen said. “He has been a great competitor for four years and credit to him and Ted for developing him. I’m also really proud of our four boys in the final really too, to become All-Americans, and they will all return next year.”
Before Masterton performed in his preliminary bout this morning, the UK men were already off to a hot start. Swimming in the 400 freestyle relay, the junior foursome in Peter Wetzlar, John Mitchell, Jason Head and Glen Brown snapped a school record that was set by the same crew in February. On a time stamp of 2:51.28, the Wildcats claimed 15th place to earn a spot in the consolation finals. It marked the first and only finals appearance for the UK men swimmers. In the main event, the juniors posted a 2:51.53 to finish 15th overall and become NCAA Honorable Mention All-Americans – the first such honor for each of the men.
The national meet marked the end of the 2018-19 season for the Kentucky swimming and diving program. The women’s and men’s teams will celebrate their historical seasons in an end of the year banquet next weekend.
For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter and on Instagram, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
