Swimming & Diving

The Kentucky swimming and diving team dominated Louisville Saturday on the road at the Cardinals? Ralph Wright Natatorium. The women had an impressive outingdefeating UL 172-119 and the men scored a resounding 160-125 victory over their intrastate rival.

The women (7-3, 4-2 SEC) claimed victory in 11 of the 16 events they competed in.

Senior Shantel Commander, as well as sophomores Jill Southerlan and Jenny Bradford each notched two victories apiece. Commander claimed victory in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. Southerlan swept the 100 and 200 backstrokes while Bradford continued to be dominant in the freestyle events winning the 100 and 200. The native of Groveport, Ohio, finished first in the 100 freestyle for the second consecutive meet.

The lady divers were led by junior Taryn Ignacio who swept both diving events. The reigning Southeastern Conference one-meter champion scored a 294 in the one-meter event and notched a 324.68 to take the three-meter dive.

The 18th-ranked men (6-3, 3-2 SEC) received a number of strong performances as they to claimed 11 of 16 events. Senior Daniel Farnham finished first in front of his brother, Jon Farnham of Louisville, in the 100 freestyle event. The returning All-America also set a season-best in the 100 backstroke when he finished in first with a score of 00:50.69.

Sophomore Kristian Outinen also notched a pair of victories. The native of Copenhagen, Denmark, finished first in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.

Freshman Shane Eliason set a career-high in the 200 backstroke with a score of 1:49.84. Senior Steven Manley set another season-best for the Cats when he swam the 200 freestyle in 1:37.72.

Kentucky also received a strong effort from junior Eric Weber who finished first in the 1650 freestyle event for the first time this year. Weber set a season-high with a swim of 15:38.95. Freshman James Batley also had a strong showing in the same event finishing second with a score of 15:42.03.

?Overall it was a really solid meet,? head coach Gary Conelly said. ?We were really impressed with the swims we received in the 1650 (freestyle) from Eric Weber and James Batley. ?On the ladies side, we got some really good times from Jenny Bradford in the freestyles.?

The Cats will take the next week off and will return to action on Feb. 4 at home against Cincinnati on senior day.

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