Feb. 21, 2003
Auburn, Ala. – The University of Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming and diving team completed the third round of competition in the Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championship at Auburn’s James E. Martin Aquatic Center on Friday, Feb. 21. The men finished the day in seventh place with 163 points and the women finished in ninth with 133 points.
The highlight of the day for the men was when senior All-American diver Clayton Moss won his first SEC 3-meter springboard title. Moss finished the competition with an astounding 624.24, 24.10 points ahead of Auburn’s Caesar Garcia. With the win, Moss prevented Tennessee’s Phil Jones from repeating as SEC Champion and ended UT’s seven-year run as 3-meter champion.
“It was pretty cool to win,” Moss said. “But to win in my senior year is special. This championship brings on a lot of pressure. I just wanted to relax and go out and help my team.”
In other men’s action, junior Joey Faltraco finished fifth in the 400-IM with a 3:47.41, which was good enough to break his own UK record of 3:49.81, set in 2002. Senior Roger Watkins also turned in a record breaking performance in the 100-breast. Watkins’ preliminary time of 54.34 was on-half second faster than his time of 58.84 in 2001. Watkins finished eighth in the finals with a time of 54.61. Watkins and Faltraco’s times were each below the NCAA “B” standard in their respective events. Freshman Steven Manley continued his stellar performance with a final time of 1:36.68 in the 200-free. Manley’s time was also below the NCAA “B” standard.
The highlight for the women was in the 100-breast where freshman Laura Graham finished in 10th place with a time of 1:03.49. Fellow freshman Shantel Commander finished 13th with a time of 1:04.27. Graham’s time was within the NCAA “B” standard.
Events for Saturday will be the men’s and women’s platform diving, 200-back, 100-free, 200-breast, 200-butterfly, 400-free relay and the 1650. Preliminaries begin at 10:30 a.m. CT and the finals begin at 6:30 p.m. C.T.
