Oct. 28, 2003
LEXINGTON – The University of Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming teams swept the UK Relay Invitational Tuesday evening at UK’s Lancaster Aquatic Center for the second time in as many seasons. The UK men captured 11 of 12 events while the UK women claimed all 12 events.
Though the event focused primarily on swim relay events, the Kentucky divers made quite a splash themselves. Freshman Joey Brown led the UK women with first-place finishes in the one and three-meter events, raising her scores from the Tennessee meet by over 20 points in each event. Redshirt freshman Jillian Becker raised her one-meter score by nearly 50 points and her three-meter count by almost 80 points.
The meet featured events that are a bit foreign to the collegiate-swimming landscape, such as 350-yard relays in each stroke. The lone event escaping the grasp of the Wildcats was the men’s 350-yard breaststroke relay, a victory the Cats relinquished via disqualification.
Nonetheless, UK Coach Gary Conelly was especially pleased with many of the performances turned in by some of his Wildcats.
“Daniel Farnham and Clay Gasparovich each swam really good 50-yard freestyle times and Jerram Chudleigh turned in a good swim in the 100-yard backstroke, as did Mark Doyle,” Conelly said.
Conelly once again saw strong performances out of sophomore Laura Graham, and freshman Sunny Gibson made good on a chance to shine.
“On the women’s side, you’ve got to look at Laura’s showing in the breaststroke. She may have swam her best time ever in the 200-yard breaststroke, and for her to do this in the first month of dual meets is pretty special. Sunny turned in a really nice swim in the 200-yard butterfly, and it appears she will step in and help us this season,” Conelly said.
The Kentucky men return to action this Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. against Indiana at the Lancaster Aquatic Center, while the UK women return Friday evening against Louisville and Houston, also at UK’s Lancaster Aquatic Center.
