Feb. 24, 2013
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Junior diver Greg Ferrucci performed beautifully on Saturday at the 2013 Southeastern Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, totaling a sequence of dives ending with a score of 435.5 in the preliminaries of the event, as the junior kept up his remarkable performances in the championships.
Kentucky finished ninth on the men’s side overall in the SEC Championships, racking up 452.5 points overall during the five-day competition. Georgia was crowned the champions on the men’s side with 1,420 points during the week.
The Wildcats also finished ninth on the women’s side overall with a score of 368.5. Florida won on the women’s side with 1,038 points.
Michael Christian pulled out one of the best performances of the day for Kentucky, recording a 21st-place finish in the 200-backstroke with a 1:46.47. Christian shaved off just under a second of his preliminary time.
The women’s 400-freestyle relay team took home a top-10 finish as Megan Eppler, Mandy Meyers, Blair Kuethe and Laura Dawson went 3:22.35 in the finals to take home ninth.
Senior Travis Green contributed a strong finish in the 1650-freestyle, registering a time of 15:26.33 to score for Kentucky and pick up the fourth-best time in the event in school history.
Eppler also chipped in some additional points with a 23rd-place finish in the 100-freestyle, tapping in at 50.09, which is good for eighth-best in program history.
“We had some great swims today and throughout the week,” UK head swimming coach Gary Conelly said. “Mike Christian was great, and he cut almost four seconds off his 200 back time. I am very proud of both of the teams, especially the way the men performed after having to overcome a DQ in the 200 medley in the opening day. Our divers were the heart of both of our teams’ finishes. We had 20 top-10 finishes and 68 personal-best times.”
On platform, Ferrucci went 435.5 in the prelims of the platform diving competition, setting a new school record. In the finals of the competition, Ferrucci had a small mishap in his opening dive, as he finished in eighth as he recovered the final seven dives to put a very respectable performance together. Corey Cowger, John Fox, Colby Coleman and Zak Peterson finished 18th-21st respectfully.
“We had a mixed bag today on platform,” UK head diving coach Ted Hautau said. “We had a couple of guys who were off their game in the prelims and a couple who dived really well. Greg Ferrucci was spectacular in the preliminaries. I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to dive with his thumb injury, but he was brilliant. He couldn’t hold his handstand on the first dive in the finals, and failed that, but rebounded well and drilled the last ones. Such a terrific meet for a guy who was just cleared to dive after a month’s layoff. Great job by the team overall this week.”
Kentucky will compete in their last-chance meet next weekend in Knoxville as the teams will be looking to qualify for the 2013 NCAA Championships.
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