Nov. 24, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Junior Christina Bechtel registered a school-record time for the second consecutive day and junior Christa Cabot won the platform diving title as the University of Kentucky swimming and diving team competed in the final day of the Ohio State Invitational Sunday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
Bechtel, who claimed a school-record 51.36 for a runner-up finish in the 100 yard butterfly yesterday, backed it up with a first place showing in the 200 yard butterfly Sunday. Her time of 1:54.21 is the fastest time in UK history by over four seconds and is the record time in the eight year history of the OSU Invite. Bechtel finished just ahead of teammate and fellow junior Abby Myers, who touched the wall in 1:56.59, 0.39 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.
Cabot earned a first-place finish in the platform diving competition for UK’s second victory of the day. She posted a final score of 283.50 after finishing in the top five in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard events on the first two days of the Invite.
“It was a really good day for us,” UK head coach Lars Jorgensen said. “Highlighted by a 1-2 finish in the women’s 200 butterfly and Christa’s win on the platform. Christina set another school record and Abby finished second, which was a fun race. Christina’s time is an NCAA A qualifying time, and Abby’s is a B time, which is awesome. Both those girls work so hard and work hard together and I couldn’t be more proud. Representing the Cats at NCAA will be fun. We had a lot of other good swims today and a few more top-10 times. I am really pleased with how we performed this weekend for both the men and women. We have a lot of work to do over the next few months as we prepare for the SEC Championships, but it was great to end the fall season on a great note.”
Kentucky notched 11 additional top-10 times to go along with Bechtel, Cabot and Myers. In addition to Bechtel and Myers earning NCAA A and B qualifying times, four other Wildcats posted times that were B qualifiers.
Freshman Kendal Casey finished 12th in 16:25.78 in the women’s 1,650 freestyle, freshman Brandon Flynn placed ninth in 15:22.51 and sophomore Hector Tricas 11th in 15:26.72 in the men’s 1,650 freestyle and freshman Danielle Galyer swam the women’s 200 backstroke in 1:57.65 for a seventh-place finish.
In the final team totals, the UK women registered 418 points over the three days, behind No. 3 Florida, No. 5 Virginia, No. 14 Ohio State and Purdue. The Wildcat men racked up 476 points and were defeated by No. 11 Ohio State, No. 1 Florida and No. 10 Virginia. The UF women had 1,099 points, while the OSU men accumulated 1,137.
Sunday’s third day of competition featured 12 individual events and two relays. Prelims were held in the morning and the top 30 finishers advanced to A, B or C finals in the afternoon session. No prelims were held for the relay and diving events in addition to the men’s and women’s 1,650 freestyle race.
In the men’s platform diving, senior Greg Ferrucci scored a 341.15 to finish third, which capped a weekend that saw him place third twice and second once in three events. Fellow seniors John Fox and Zachary Peterson placed sixth and seventh, respectively, with scores of 288.10 and 286.65.
After Cabot on the women’s platform, junior Lindsay Keahey placed fifth with a score of 236.90.
UK recorded a seventh-place finish in the women’s 400 freestyle relay. The team, which included Bechtel, Casey, juniors Kristen Wilson and Blair Kuethe, posted a 3:22.06 to finish over 1.5 seconds ahead of Virginia’s eighth-place team.
Senior Eric Bruck, who finished third in the men’s 50 freestyle on Friday, placed ninth overall in the 100 yard freestyle Sunday with a time of 45.12. He finished just 0.07 out of eighth place but 0.72 ahead of the 10th-place finisher.
In the very next event finals, freshman Kendra Crew continued a strong showing from the Wildcat first year swimmers with a 2:19.51 in the women’s 200 breaststroke to place ninth. She finished over 2.5 seconds ahead of 10th place. In the men’s 200 butterfly, fellow freshman Chris Grimmett-Norris placed 10th in 1:49.68.
The relay team of seniors Eric Bruck, Chris Lott and Will Heidler and sophomore Scott Crosthwaite finished in 3:01.95 to secure a top-10 finish by nearly 1.5 seconds in the men’s 400 freestyle relay.
For complete news and updates on the Kentucky Swimming and Diving program, go to UKathletics.com/SwimmingDiving. Breaking news, behind-the-scenes updates, photos and more can be found on Twitter at @UKSwimDive and Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive.
