UK Swimming & Diving Hosts Three Programs for Quad Meet
LEXINGTON, Ky. – In their last home appearance in the 2019 calendar year, the No. 17/14 University of Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will host Arkansas, No. 4/9 Missouri and No. 3/7 NC State for a quad-meet at the Lancaster Aquatic Center, Nov. 7-8.
“We are just excited to welcome some really elite programs to our facility and pool this week,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “It’s probably the biggest meet we’ve hosted in a long time. I think there will be some nation-leading times from all of the teams participating, and hopefully we step up to the challenge.”
Featuring four diving events and 34 swimming events, the quad-meet schedule will be split amongst two days of competition with Thursday’s events beginning at 4 p.m. and Friday’s event slated for 10 a.m. Women’s events will proceed men’s events in both disciplines.
Thursday
Women’s 1-meter diving
Men’s 3-meter diving
200 freestyle relay
200 individual medley
500 freestyle
100 breaststroke
200 backstroke
100 freestyle
200 butterfly
400 medley relay
Friday
Women’s 3-meter diving
Men’s 1-meter diving
200 medley relay
1000 freestyle
50 freestyle
100 backstroke
200 breaststroke
100 butterfly
200 freestyle
400 individual medley
400 freestyle relay
Each swimmer will be permitted to compete in up to eight events, not exceeding five individual entries. Each event could feature up to three heats in the women’s division and up to two heats in the men’s division, though all relay events will include just one heat.
The women’s team boats a 4-1 record this season, including two upsets over then-No. 9 Indiana and then-No. 16 Notre Dame. Their solo defeat of the season came on the road to No. 8 Texas, though UK collected five first-place finishes in the meet to stay within reach of the highly ranked Longhorns.
Putting together a remarkable reel of performances this season is sophomore Kyndal Knight. The reigning co-Southeastern Conference Female Freshman Diver of the Year has earned five first-place finishes in six events this season, including going undefeated on the 3-meter springboard.
On Oct. 25, she reset her career high on the 3-meter springboard for the second straight meet with 343.95 points, booking the seventh all-time best 3-meter performance in program records. The undergraduate from Stanley, North Carolina, leads the nation in average-optional score on 3m with 56.30 points through her first three meets this season.
“We are looking forward to having NC State in Lancaster,” said head diving coach Ted Hautau. “It’ll be the first time we have had them at the pool, and we look forward to having a different conference in town. They have a few great divers – some Atlantic Coast Conference champions on platform. Missouri has some good international kids, so we look forward to having a good competitive competition this week. The freshman have been developing, so it’ll be nice to see what they do at the meet.”
On the men’s side, Kentucky has put together a 2-2 mark on the season, upsetting then-No. 12 Notre Dame in their season opener. The freestyle events reign supreme for the group of men, charting the fifth-fastest time in the nation in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay on a time stamp of 2:56.56, recorded at Texas on Oct. 25.
In the process, senior Peter Wetzlar swam a lead-leg time of 43.86 to put him within the top-10 fastest times in the nation this season. The Zimbabwean also boasts a No. 13 ranking in the nation in the 50-yard freestyle on a 20.01 mark.
Live results can be found here, or on the Meet Mobile app.
Tickets, Promotions and Parking
There is no admission cost and fans are encouraged to attend. Parking will be available for $2 an hour at parking structure No. 7, located on Sports Center Drive across from the E.J. Nutter Training Facility. The first 200 fans will receive a limited-edition Kentucky swimming and diving rubber duck.
Next on the Schedule
The program will take a two-week hiatus from competition before traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State Invitational, Nov. 21-23. The meet annually attracts a competitive field as teams go head-to-head in a long-course format.
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.
