March 8, 2002

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky swimming team will send 19 men to the Indiana Open in Bloomington, Ind., on Saturday, March 9, as the Wildcats take one final chance at collecting NCAA automatic qualifying times for the 2002 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships being held March 28-30, in Athens, Ga.

Junior co-captain Roger Watkins and sophomore Joey Faltraco are the only two UK men to have recorded NCAA provisional times to date and are looking to improve their times to the automatic standard. Watkins’ provisional times are in the 100 breaststroke (54.85) and the 200 breaststroke (1:59.86). The 100 time is just .34 seconds away from the automatic qualifying time while his time in the 200 is 2.18 seconds away from an automatic invitation to the championships. Entering the week, his 100 time is the 22nd-fastest time recorded in the country and his 200 time is the 27th-fastest time.

Faltraco’s times are equally impressive as all four of his provisional times are UK records in this his first season as a Wildcat. His 200 backstroke time (1:45.33) is the 16th-fastest time in the country to date and is 1.03 seconds away from an automatic qualifier. His 200 butterfly time (1:46.82) is the 28th-fastest time in the country and is 1.89 seconds away from the automatic qualifier while his 400 individual medley time (3:52.63) is 5.34 seconds away from the automatic time and the 32nd-fastest time in the country. Faltraco’s final provisional time is in the 200 individual medley (1:49.17) where he is 2.04 seconds away from the automatic time with the 51st-fastest time in the nation.

Joining them at the Indiana Open will be seniors David Kuendig and Derek Perkins, juniors Cody Nath, Matt Nilson and Tom Vogt, sophomores Fernando Barros, Darron Berquist, Jamie Peterkin, Russ Throckmorton and Eddie Wolling and freshmen Ryan Bowman, Chris Collins, Clay Gasparovich, R.J. Gurney, Cameron Moore, Evan Morris and Dave Roberts.

-UK-