Jan. 10, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. – The Kentucky relays dominated competition in a meet in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday afternoon. The UK women dueled with Arkansas and Missouri, while the UK men met the Tigers in neutral waters in the second meet in four days for the Wildcats.
UK’s men and women both took the opening and closing relay events to highlight their meets. Kentucky’s women notched a season-best performance with their opening win in the 400-medley relay. Freshman Claire Archibald, sophomore Lindsey Graessle, junior Megan Pulskamp and sophomore Jenna Newsome combined for a 3:46.13 time in the event.
On the men’s side senior Shane Eliason, freshman Grant Cooksey, and juniors Elvis Burrows and Eric McGinnis finished in a time of 3:20.12 to just out-touch Missouri which finished with a time of 3:20.27.
To conclude the evening, Kentucky’s team of freshman Kelsi Hall, sophomore Kayla Sergesketter, senior Haleigh Kerns and Newsome tapped in a time of 1:33.74 to edge out the Razorbacks and Tigers. For the UK men, McGinnis joined juniors Travis Muzzillo and Chris Richard and sophomore Colin Faris for a final time of 1:21.15.
Three Kentucky individuals had two victories for the Blue and White as Newsome, Eliason and McGinnis all earned first place in two events in today’s meet.
Newsome captured first in the 50- and 100-free events to lead the Cats. She clocked in times of 23.72 and 51.42, respectively. Her 100-free time is a season-best clip.
McGinnis scored first place in both freestyle events as well, out-touching classmate Alex Forbes in both events for the second consecutive meet. McGinnis used times of 20.50 and 45.57 in his victories.
Eliason took first in both the 100-backstroke and the 200-individual medley events. His 100-back time of 49.76 matches a season-best finish. He touched in 1:51.40 in his victory in the 200-IM. Additionally, the senior also clocked in second place in the 200-back with a time of 1:48.41.
Four other Wildcats won individual events including Archibald, Pulskamp, Burrows and diver Jessie Snowden.
Archibald notched first place in the 200-backstroke with a time of 2:02.18. Pulskamp was the first to finish in the 100-butterfly with a clip of 55.30 while Burrows finished first in the 100-fly for the UK men with a time of 49.73. Muzzillo placed second in the event, finishing just behind his teammate with a time of 50.08.
Snowden captured first place on the one-meter springboard with a score of 295.80, just a mere point off of her season-best score.
Kentucky returns to action in a week, when they return to Lexington for their first home meet of the 2009 calendar year. UK welcomes SEC-foe Alabama for a dual men’s and women’s meet at the Lancaster Aquatic Center. Meet time is slated for a noon start.
For all of your UK swimming and diving news and results please visit UKathletics.com, the official homepage of the Kentucky Wildcats.
