FEDERAL WAY, Wash. ? Freshman Tyler Reed and junior Warren Grobbelaar each qualified for the consolation finals in tonight?s competition of the 2008 NCAA Men?s Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by the University of Washington.
Reed earned the highest seed of any UK swimmer with a 13th place finish in the 200-freestyle in the morning?s races. Reed clocked in a time of 1:35.28 which matched his career-best time. The freshman swimmer will automatically earn All-America honorable mention honors in his first individual event on the national stage of his career.
Grobbelaar also claims his first career individual All-America honorable mention accolades by taking the final spot in the top-16 in the morning?s preliminary heats of the 100-butterfly. Grobbelaar topped his own career-best and UK school record in the 100-fly by tapping in a time of 46.92. His previous best swim was 47.09 which became the school record at the 2008 SEC Championships.
Kentucky?s 200-medley relay qualified for the consolation heat of the top-16 this evening when they finished 15th this morning. The quartet touched in a time of 1:27.34 to qualify for additional points. Junior Shane Eliason began the race in the backstroke leg and earned a 22.67 split time. Senior Will Vietti in the breaststroke leg finished in 24.49. Grobbelaar took the butterfly leg finishing in 21.00. Sophomore Eric McGinnis anchored the race in the freestyle swim in a time of 19.18. All four swimmers are guaranteed All-America honorable mention distinctions.
Vietti was also in action in the 100-breast as an individual and placed 27th overall. The senior clocked in a time of 54.23 in the shorter breaststroke event.
A night after placing in the top-eight on the one-meter, freshman diver Stephen Andrews took 25th overall on the three-meter board in today?s event. Andrews scored 296.50 points on the taller springboard. He is among the field in tomorrow?s platform event in which he took third at the SEC Championships earlier this season.
Action resumes tonight at 7 p.m. Pacific Time, or the equivalent of 10 p.m. Eastern Time with the second day of finals competition.
Complete coverage of the UK swimming and diving team can be found by visiting www.ukathletics.com.
