The Wildcats Conclude Opening Day of Miami Invitational, U.S. Open
ATLANTA and OXFORD, Ohio – Five-hundred miles separated the University of Kentucky swimming and diving program Thursday, as the divers competed at the Miami (Ohio) Invitational in Oxford, Ohio, and swimmer Peter Wetzlar competed at the Toyota U.S. Open Championships in Atlanta.
Senior Wetzlar took the reins Thursday morning, competing in the 50-meter freestyle preliminaries. He entered the race as the No. 34 seed, among a 164-person field, with an entry time of 22.77. The senior touched the wall in 23.05 to finish the race in 36th place.
The top 24 swimmers will advance to the finals Thursday evening. The top time from preliminaries was 21.59, recorded by 30-year-old Bruno Fratus of Brazil. Fratus placed fourth in the same event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in 21.67.
Next up, Wetzlar will compete in the 100-meter freestyle preliminaries Saturday morning, his final event of the meet. He is the 66th seed in the event with a seed time of 50.50.
In Ohio, two Wildcats competed on platform at the Miami Invitational. Sophomore Danny Zhang took bronze on the discipline with 322.45 points. He placed third behind two Guangdon Diving athletes and in a nine-person field. It marked just the second time Zhang has competed on platform in his collegiate career. He recorded 332.45 points, his career high, at the Ohio State Fall Invite on Nov. 23.
Junior Cara Hudson set a season high on platform, forming a score of 203.90 points to finish in eighth place among the 15-person field. It marked her second-best score on platform in her career, just 18.48 points off her career-high mark of 222.38 recorded against Cincinnati last season.
The divers will resume action Friday afternoon, as the women’s team competes on the 3-meter springboard and the men’s team competes on the 1-meter springboard. Preliminaries are slated for 1 p.m. and finals are schedule for 6 p.m.
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.
