Knoxville, Tenn. – Senior Steven Manley became the second Kentucky swimmer in two years to win a Southeastern Conference title when he finished first in the 200 freestyle event with school-record time of 1:35.06 Friday in Knoxville, Tenn. Manley?s victory helped the men move to fifth place while the women rest 54 points behind Florida in fourth at the SEC Championships.
Manley, a native of Dublin, Ireland, has been having a tremendous final year at Kentucky. Manley posted 14 victories in individual events during dual match season and qualified against Cincinnati for an NCAA A cut in the 200 freestyle. After finishing second in the morning’s preliminary round with a time of 1:36.31, the returning All-American shaved off over a full minute in the finals and beat Georgia?s Matthew Owens by 0:0.53.
“It seems kind of weird that I actually won an SEC title,? Manley said. ?Four years ago, I didn’t even think I could get to this point, so to win it seems surreal. I’m so excited. It is one of the first times in my life where I have been speechless, and anybody who knows me knows that isn’t often.”
Manley?s victory was the first by a Kentucky swimmer in a freestyle event since 1957 when Roger Messick won both the 50 and 100-yard freestyles. Last season, senior Daniel Cruz captured the Cats? first SEC swimming title in 48 years by winning the 200 butterfly.
While Manley?s win was the headliner, UK received several strong swims to help the team climb to the fifth place spot.
Sophomore Kristian Outinen, freshman Mickey Malul and sophomore Will Vietti totaled 55 points for the Cats with their third, sixth and seventh place finishes respectively in the 100 breaststroke.
The men?s 400 medley relay team consisting of Outinen, Vietti, freshman Warren Grobbelaar and senior Daniel Farnham also scored another 38 points with a fifth place finish.
The women enter Saturday’s final round looking for their highest SEC finish (third) since 1998-99. Senior Laura Graham and sophomore Heather Bradford helped keep the Cats on the heels of Florida with a pair of top-5 swims. Graham, a returning All-American, came in fourth with a time of 1:02.50 in the 100 breaststroke while Bradford finished fourth in 100 butterfly with a time of 0:53.81.
?We had a really good day overall,? head coach Gary Conelly said. ?We started out well in the morning preliminarily rounds and continued to perform strong at night. The highlight of the day had to be Steven Manley. He was dominant (in the 200 freestyle) from start to finish. His swim really rallied our team and we had some really good times after his victory.?
The SEC Championships will continue tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST at the UT Aquatics Center with the 200 backstroke. Fans can check ukathletics.com for a complete recap of the day?s action.
