Feb. 20, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. – The Kentucky men’s swimming and diving team earned its second medal of the weekend in a freestyle relay when the men’s 400-freestyle squad posted a third place finish in the event on the final night of competition. The squad also claimed a new school record with the 2:51.64 time.
The quartet of seniors Eric McGinnis and Alex Forbes, junior Tyler Reed and senior Kyle Greene also captured UK’s first NCAA `A’ time standard of the weekend with the clip of 2:51.64 in the event. The time bests the previous school record of 2:51.72, set just last season.
McGinnis took the first leg with a time of 44.01, followed by Forbes’ split of 42.69. Reed was the third leg of the race and earned a time of 42.50. Greene anchored the race and finished with a split of 42.44 for the third place finish.
Greene capped his incredible senior campaign with his third top-eight finish of the meet when he led all UK scorers in the 100-freestyle. Greene touched in fifth place in the event and earned a time of 43.24 and an NCAA `B’ mark with the finish. McGinnis claimed seventh and Reed was eighth as the UK men tied Auburn for the most swimmers finishing in the top-eight of the event. McGinnis tapped in a time of 43.75 and Reed in a clip of 43.90 both of which are NCAA `B’ time standards. Forbes rounded out the scoring for the Wildcats in the event with a 13th place showing with a time of 43.88 and the fourth NCAA `B’ mark of the event for the Wildcats.
Junior Chatham Penrod captured 13th place and freshman Megan Eppler was 15th in the 200-backstroke. Penrod clocked in a time of 1:58.35 which is her second individual NCAA `B’ time standard of the meet. Eppler posted a clip of 1:59.00 which is also an NCAA `B’ provisional mark. Previously in the day, Penrod earned a time of 1:57.68 in the preliminary heat which set a new UK school record in the event. Eppler’s preliminary time of 1:58.40 ranks as the third best time in school history.
Diver Lisa Faulkner earned her third top-14 finish and second top-10 placement when she totaled a ninth place showing on the platform on the final night of competition. Faulkner scored 235.45 points in the event for the ninth place finish.
Senior Megan Pulskamp captured her third individual top-16 finish of the conference meet with an 11th place touch in the 100-freestyle. Pulskamp scored a time of 49.63 and another NCAA `B’ standard for UK.
Sophomore Grant Cooksey earned valuable points for the Wildcats with his 14th place finish in the 200-breaststroke. Cooksey clocked in a time of 2:00.69 for his top-16 finish. Cooksey’s time is a personal best mark and ranks fourth all-time in UK’s record books.
Freshman Travis Green captured his first top-16 finish at the SEC Championships when he placed 15th in the grueling 1650-freestyle. Green tapped in a time of 15:39.35 for the top-16 finish. It is his best time of his young career and ranks seventh all-time at Kentucky.
To conclude the meet UK’s 400-free relay squad of Pulskamp, sophomore Chelsea Peterson, junior Kayla Sergesketter and senior Casey Miller clocked in a time of 3:22.15 and a sixth place finish. The time qualifies as an NCAA `B’ mark. Pulskamp took the first leg with an opening split of 49.76, followed by Peterson’s 50.16 mark. Sergesketter took the third leg and earned a split of 49.92 and Miller anchored with a finishing time of 49.87.
The UK men concluded the meet with a sixth place finish after scoring 320 points for the week. The Kentucky women finish in eighth place with 204 points scored.
This concludes action at the 2010 SEC Championships. Kentucky will await the NCAA Championships seeding and next be in action at the national meet in the middle of March.
For the most up-to-date information regarding the Kentucky swimming and diving squads please visit UKathletics.com.
