Feb. 16, 2012
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – With a third-place finish in the one-meter diving competition, Greg Ferrucci was again in the spotlight for the University of Kentucky’s swimming and diving teams on Thursday, as they took part in day two of the Southeastern Conference Championships at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
“Greg (Ferrucci) was definitely the standout today,” UK head coach Gary Conelly said. “He made an amazing comeback on his last dive.”
Greg Ferrucci continued his stellar sophomore season with a third-place finish in the one-meter competition. Despite slipping off the board in his fourth dive of the six allotted, and falling to seventh overall with just one dive remaining, Ferrucci recovered brilliantly posting an event-best dive of 83.70 on his 405C dive.
“Greg Ferrucci was exceptional through most of the day,” UK head coach Ted Hautau said. “To come back from seventh to third place in his last dive was incredible.”
Ferrucci won the qualification preliminaries with a score of 384.30. Ferrucci was the only Wildcat to qualify for the finals, despite admirable performances in the prelims from Corey Cowger, John Fox and Zach Peterson.
John Fox finished just 12 points out of the finals, garnering a 16th-place finish scoring a 302.60. Peterson finished 18th in the preliminaries with a 302.60 with Cowger finishing in 22nd with a 278.95.
The Wildcats advanced two swimmers into the night session’s final rounds. Lucas Gerotto swam a 1:47.91 in the prelims of the men’s 200 IM and Tyler Reed continued his stellar senior season swimming a 19.94 in the men’s 50-free qualifications. Megan Eppler just missed out of the night session, finishing in 17th position in the women’s 50-free posting a 22.88.
In the finals of the men’s 200-IM, Lucas Gerotto finished 13th swimming a 1:47.96 while Tyler Reed finished 15th in the 50-free swimming a time of 20.06.
In the final event of the night, UK’s 200-free relay team of Kristen Wilson, Megan Eppler, Kelcy Perry, and Chelsea Peterson combined for a time of 1:32.46 for a 7th-place finish. The men’s team in the same event comprised of Chris Lott, Will Heidler, John Bullock and Jake Thomas finished 8th with a 1:19.89.
“On the swim side, it was one of our weakest days and we came up short in several swims.” Conelly said. “Lucas (Gerotto) had a great swim in the 200-IM and he looks like he is going to have a strong showing in the flys. Julia (Gerotto) will get her first races in tomorrow as well as Maclin (Simpson) and Lee (Duggins) so we are looking forward to some great swims tomorrow and some great dives on the tower.”
In the women’s three-meter diving competition, Kentucky continued to show improvement. Christa Cabot was the highest-finishing Wildcat with a score of 281.85 and finishing in 17th position. Lindsay Keahey finished 19th with Sarah Chewning finishing in 22nd position overall.
“Today was not as good of a scoring day as yesterday, but we had some good performances.” Hautau said. “John Fox and Zack Peterson had a lot of nice dives today but there is so much parity on the 1m that one slight miss will take you out of scoring contention. I hope we learned some valuable lessons for the postseason.”
Friday will be the third of this four-day championship hosted by the Southeastern Conference. Events that will be held include the 400-IM, 100-fly, 200-free, 100-breaststroke, 100-backstroke and the men’s platform diving competition.
ESPN, as part of its television contract with the SEC is proud to present the SEC swimming and diving championships on a tape-delay basis on ESPNU in two parts. The first part will air Monday, Feb. 27 at 5:00 p.m. ET. The conclusion of the event will also be shown on ESPNU beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb 28.
In the men’s overall event tally, Kentucky sits sixth while the women are in ninth place overall.
Team Standings (After Day 2 of 4):
Men:
1. Auburn 301 pts
2. Florida 276
T3. Tennessee 208
T3. Georgia 208 pts
5. LSU 168 pts
6. Kentucky 116 pts
7. South Carolina 95 pts
8. Alabama 67 pts
Women:
1. Georgia 274 pts
2. Tennessee 249 pts
3. Auburn 228.5
4. Florida 198 pts
5. LSU 176 pts
6. South Carolina 116 pts
7. Arkansas 113 pts
8. Alabama 110 pts
9. Kentucky 54 pts
10. Vanderbilt 46 pts
For continuing coverage of the 2012 season, log on to UKAthletics.com.
