Feb. 23, 2013
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – At day four at the 2013 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, the night session proved to be the best time for the University of Kentucky swimming and diving team, as the Wildcats went faster in all six night swims than they did in the afternoon preliminaries at the Texas A&M Natatorium.
“We had a great night tonight,” UK head swimming coach Gary Conelly said. “Everyone went faster in the night session than in the prelims earlier today. Lucas Gerotto and Christina Bechtel are on the bubble for an NCAA slot. Lucas came out strong with a team record in the 100-backstroke and was within two tenths of the 200-butterfly record.”
On the diving slate, the only event as the championship winds down was the women’s platform competition. Christa Cabot was one of three Kentucky divers to finish in the top 17 as she qualified with the sixth seed for the night session finals with a tally of 267.35. In the finals, Cabot increased her score by some 35 points as she crossed the 300 threshold for a 303.80 and a fourth-place overall for the sophomore.
“Overall, a solid day,” UK head diving coach Ted Hautau said. “Fantastic job by Christa Cabot tonight. She competed like a veteran and dived well above her experience level. That was the best platform performance of her young career and she delivered it in the finals of the SEC Chasmpionships, which is impressive.”
“Christa Cabot was outstanding tonight,” Conelly said. “She moved up all the way to fourth, and just barely missed out on the podium for third. A very good day for us at a very fast meet.”
On the swimming side, the best finish of the night came from sophomore Lucas Gerotto in the 100-backstroke as he took home sixth place, tapping in at 47.29 in the ‘A’ final. Gerotto finished just 0.03 seconds from a top-five finish for the Wildcats. The winning time in the event was a 45.60 from Auburn’s Kyle Owens.
Another top-10 finish for the Wildcats was posted in the nightcap event as the 400-freestyle relay team of Ramon Walton, George Greenhalgh, Lucas Gerotto and Will Heidler went 3:13.57 to take seventh place overall and clinch 46 points for the Cats.
In the 200-butterfly, Kentucky placed 11th on both the men’s and women’s side as senior Tripp Crosthwaite and sophomore Christina Bechtel represented Kentucky well. Crosthwaite improved his time of 1:49.93 in the morning prelims to a 1:46.47 in the night swim to grab the 11th position.
Bechtel also went faster in the night swim setting the early trend of the night, as she went 1:58.57 in the morning session before coming back to place 11th in the consolation final tapping in at 1:58.44 in the night swim.
In the ‘C’ final of the men’s 200-butterfly, both Maclin Simpson and Matt Roman improved on their morning swims as well. Simpson tapped in at 1:47.50 in the prelims before taking a few tenths off his final time to finish 19th in the event with a 1:47.37. Roman went 1:47.70 in the morning before capping off his night with a 1:47.44 in the night session to take 20th overall in the event.
Kentucky also placed Ramon Walton in the top-15 in the 100-backstroke as senior Ramon Walton finished off his night with a 12th-place finish at 47.99 in the consolation final.
The men’s team currently sits ninth overall in the championships with 367.5 points, while the women are also in ninth place with 326.5 points.
The SEC Championships will continue on Saturday in the final day of the five-day event. The opening round of swims will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET in College Station, with the finals coming at 7:00 p.m. ET. The evening swims will air live on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app. Live scoring will be available on Texas A&M’s website and the SEC Digital Network.
Schedule of Events – Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013
– 1650 Freestyle
– 100 Freestyle
– 200 Backstroke
– 200 Breaststroke
– Men’s Platform Diving
– 400 Freestyle Relay
