Feb. 18, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. – The men’s silver-medal winning 200-freestyle relay squad highlighted an impressive evening for the Kentucky swimming and diving teams competing at the 2010 Southeastern Conference Championships Thursday night.
The men’s second place finish highlighted an evening where the Blue and White had nine individuals place in the top-16 in the finals heat after earning qualifying spots earlier in the day.
Seniors Eric McGinnis, Alex Forbes, Elvis Burrows and Kyle Greene charted a time of 1:17.76 in their runner-up finish in the 200-free relay. The time is an NCAA `B’ qualifying time standard and just missed UK’s 1:17.48 school record time. McGinnis opened the heat with a split time of 19.85, followed by Forbes taking the second leg in a split of 19.17. Burrows was the third leg and tapped in a time of 19.29 with Greene anchoring with a time of 19.45 for the exciting finish.
On the women’s side, the quartet of sophomore Kelsi Hall (23.42), senior Megan Pulskamp (22.20), and juniors Kayla Sergesketter (22.67) and Jenna Newsome (22.53) scored a sixth place finish in the 200-free relay with a time of 1:30.82 and an NCAA `B’ provisional mark.
McGinnis earned the highest individual finish of the night when he captured a bronze medal in the 50-free with a finals time of 19.39 and a personal best mark. The time bests his previous time of 19.50 and narrowly missed out on Tim Patrick’s school record 19.38 time.
Greene tapped in sixth to earn valuable points for the Blue and White in the event. He clocked in a career-best time of 19.68 to get to the finals and scored a 19.70 time in the final heat. Forbes placed ninth overall with a clip of 19.89, while junior Chip Aplin tapped the wall in 14th place with a time of 20.09 after earning a 19.99 clip to get into the finals. All of UK’s men in the event earned NCAA `B’ qualifying time standards.
Two women placed in the top-16 in the 50-free as Pulskamp scored an eighth place tap with a time of 22.79. Hall was 16th after clocking in with a 23.35 time. Pulskamp’s time is good for an NCAA `B’ qualifying mark.
Junior Tyler Reed claimed an eighth place tap in the 500-freestyle with a time of 4:23.00 and an NCAA `B’ time standard clip.
On the boards both junior Lisa Faulkner and freshman John Fox scored top-16 finishes for the second consecutive night. Fox was 15th on the one-meter springboard with a score of 283.90, while Faulkner scored 275.50 in her 14th place finish on the three-meter.
Kentucky returns to action at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning for preliminary heats with final events to be held beginning at 6 p.m. ET.
For the most up-to-date information regarding the Kentucky swimming and diving squads please visit UKathletics.com.
