Nov. 19, 2008
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On the opening night of the Tennessee Invitational the teams faced off in two relays–the 200-medley and 800-freestyle relay. The UK men placed second in both events, while the Kentucky women took second in the 200-medley and third in the 800-free.
To open things up for the Blue and White the men took off from the blocks in the 200-medley and earned a season-best time of 1:30.20 in the event. Tennessee claimed the meet’s first event with a time of 1:25.08.
Senior Shane Eliason opened in the backstroke leg tapping in with a split of 23.59. Freshman Grant Cooksey took the breaststroke leg and earned a split of 25.03, with junior Elvis Burrows finishing in a time of 21.91 in the butterfly leg. Taking the freestyle-anchor leg was junior Eric McGinnis who used just 19.67 seconds to finish things off for Kentucky.
The Wildcat men then placed second behind SEC-rival Tennessee in the 800-free relay with a time of 6:35.28. It was the first time this season the men had seen action in this event.
Sophomore Tyler Reed earned a team-best split of 1:37.14 in opening the race. Junior Kyle Greene was next and he touched in with a clip of 1:38.52. Freshman Morne’ Boshoff (1:39.20) and Eliason (1:40.42) brought it home for the Blue and White to end the night with 68 points. UK is four points ahead of third-place Virginia Tech. Tennessee earned 80 points on the opening night.
On the women’s side, UK also swam a personal best in the 200-medley on the women’s side. Junior Megan Pulskamp earned the best split time in the butterfly leg of any racer in today’s meet clocking in with a time of 23.91. As a unit Kentucky touched in a time of 1:43.15, just a mere second off of first-place Virginia Tech. Freshman Claire Archibald opened the race in the backstroke leg with a time of 27.06, followed by sophomore Lindsey Graessle with the breaststroke leg in a time of 29.37. Freshman Kelsi Hall helped Kentucky out-touch Tennessee with a freestyle leg tap of 22.85.
Kentucky touched in third behind the Volunteers and Hokies in the 800-free in their first race of the year. Archibald once again opened things up with a split of 1:51.36. Senior Haleigh Kerns (1:51.43), junior Casey Miller (1:50.45) and Pulskamp (1:52.05) followed. UK earned a time of 7:25.29 in the event.
After the first night of action Virginia Tech is in first place with 74 points, followed by Tennessee (72) and Kentucky (66).
UK returns to action with preliminary heats at 10 a.m. Finals will begin at 6 p.m. in Knoxville. Follow along each day Nov. 19-22 as UK wraps up its fall schedule.
