BLOOMINGTON, Ind.?The men?s and women?s swimming and diving teams both dropped their season opening meets against Indiana Saturday afternoon at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
The Hoosiers (1-0) topped the Wildcat men (0-1) 175-125. Leading the way for the Wildcats was sophomore diver Justin Smith. Smith captured first place finishes on both the one- and three-meter boards. On the one-meter Smith registered a 295.80 score and on the three-meter a 326.25 score.
Junior Grant Nelson touched first in the 200-yard butterfly. Nelson clocked in a time of 1:51.78 in the event. Sophomore James Batley turned in a second place performance in the same event touching in a time of 1:53.57.
Sophomore Mickey Malul took first in the 100-yard breaststroke and third in the 200-yard individual medley. Malul earned a 56.15 time in the 100-breast and a 1:58.07 finish in the 200-IM.
Appearing in his first collegiate meet, freshman Eric McGinnis turned in two second place performances. He began the day touching in second in the 50-fly in 21.29. He then grabbed second in the 100-free in 46.60. Sophomore Shane Eliason also earned two second place finishes. Eliason tapped in second in the 100-yard backstroke in 51.12 and in a time of 1:50.16 in the 200-back.
The men concluded the meet with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of freshman Alex Forbes, sophomore Warren Grobbelaar, McGinnis and Eliason clocked in a time of 3:04.14 to finish in the meet on a high note.
On the women?s side, Indiana (1-0) turned in a 171-127 victory over Kentucky (0-1). The Lady Cats were led by junior Jenny Bradford. Bradford topped the field in the 50-free and the 100-fly while also earning a second place finish in the 100-free. Bradford clocked in times of 23.07, 56.26 and 51.07 respectively.
Junior-transfer Lauren Willis and classmate Heather Bradford concluded the 1-2-3 finish for the Cats in the 50-free. Willis turned in a 24.21 performance and Bradford a 24.75 time.
Junior Lindsay Myhre grabbed second place in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-breast in times of 1:04.74 and 2:22.41 respectively.
On the boards, junior Kari Retrum paced Kentucky with second place finishes on both the one- and three-meter boards. Retrum earned a 317.55 score on the one-meter and a 288.07 on the three-meter. Kentucky returns to action Sat., Oct. 28 with a tri-meet against Tennessee and South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.
