Nov. 2, 2013
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Competing against two teams with both men’s and women’s squads ranked in the top ten nationally, the University of Kentucky swimming and diving team won five events but suffered losses to Indiana and Tennessee Friday afternoon at IU’s Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center.
The Wildcat men (1-5, 0-3 SEC) lost to the eighth-ranked Volunteers, 177-123 and fell to No. 9 IU 208.0-92.0. The UK women (2-4, 1-2 Southeastern Conference ) were defeated by No. 8 UT 214-84 and fell to the 10th-ranked Hoosiers 199-95.
“I thought we fought hard,” UK head coach Lars Jorgensen said. “We swam against two really good teams, and today was a reminder that we have a ways to go. There were some races that I was really pleased with. Eric Bruck, Christina Bechtel and Lucas Gerotto earned hard-fought victories, and Christa Cabot won both diving events, which was nice to see.”
Cabot won both the 1- and 3-meter diving events, the second time this season she has swept the diving competition. The junior has claimed five victories through the first four competitions this season.
Bruck claimed a victory in the men’s 50 yard freestyle event, while Bechtel won the women’s 100 yard butterfly competition. Gerotto rounded out UK’s wins with a first-place finish in the men’s 100 butterfly.
After three weeks off, the Wildcats return to the road for the Ohio State Invitational, Nov. 22-24 in Columbus, Ohio. In addition to UK and No. 11/19 OSU, the three-day meet will feature No. 2 Florida, Virginia and the Purdue women.
Cabot earned UK’s first win of the day in the 3-meter dive with a score of 297.10. She came in ahead of Indiana’s Kate Hillman, who posted a 286.00. In the 1-meter event, Cabot finished off the sweep with a 296.60, 5.70 points ahead of Tennessee’s Victoria Lamp. UK junior Lindsay Keahey finished fourth in the 3-meter competition and fifth on the 1-meter dive, with scores of 276.45 and 240.75, respectively.
Bechtel, who has five victories on the year, earned her sixth with a 53.32 in the women’s 100 yard butterfly. The UK junior also notched two third-place finishes and a fourth-place finish in her other three races in Bloomington.
Bruck, a senior, posted his fourth victory of the season, with a 20.04 in the men’s 50 yard freestyle, 0.42 seconds ahead of UT’s Luke Percy. Gerotto, also a senior, notched a 49.00 in the men’s 100 yard butterfly for his second win of the season. Bruck and Gerotto, in addition to George Greenhalgh and Maclin Simpson, also recorded a runner-up finish in the men’s 200 yard medley relay.
In addition to UK’s second-place finish in the medley relay, freshman Brandon Flynn posted a runner-up finish in the men’s 1,000 yard freestyle. The reigning SEC Male Freshman of the Week finished in 9:15.34, just 1.03 seconds behind Indiana’s Eric Ress.
For complete news and updates on the Kentucky Swimming and Diving program, go to UKathletics.com/SwimmingDiving. Breaking news, behind-the-scenes updates, photos and more can be found on Twitter at @UKSwimDive and Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive.
