Sun Shall Shine on Friday for Kentucky Swimming

LEXINGTON, Ky. – What would normally be a routine race-format practice for the Kentucky swimming team has turned into the home event of the season, centered around future Wildcat and current Paul Laurence Dunbar High School standout Madison Winstead.  The Lexington native was recently granted a waiver by the NCAA to participate in the Blue-White Meet, making an appeal to swim in the meet so her mother, Shane, would be able to see her daughter swim in a UK cap after a stage four colon cancer diagnosis in January 2015.  

Madison will have her opportunity to swim in front of her mother this Friday, April 22.  The meet, which for this year will be known as the Sun Shall Shine Blue-White Meet in honor of Shane’s mantra since being diagnosed, will begin at 4 p.m. inside Lancaster Aquatic Center, and the community is encouraged to come out to LAC for the Winstead family’s celebration.  

For the full story on the Winstead family, please read “Sun Shall Shine:  Mother’s Cancer Battle Inspires UK Swimming Signee” on UKathletics.com.

This year’s spring scrimmage will be in a nontraditional format in the collegiate sense, as the Wildcats will be pitted against each other in long course meters (LCM) races.  The NCAA competes in short course yards (SCY), but with the conclusion of the collegiate season and the approach of the 2016 US Olympic Trails at the end of June, the pool will be flipped to LCM to better serve the purpose of Kentucky’s summer training.  The meet will be an opportunity for fans to see the Wildcats, including the 2016 national champion in the 200-yard backstroke, Danielle Galyer, in action before the 25 swimmers who have made Olympic Trials cuts make the trip to Omaha, Neb.

650 tickets have been made available free to the public to attend the event.  To inquire about available tickets, contact the UK Swimming & Diving office located in Lancaster Aquatic Center.  

Fans can park in Parking Structures No. 1 and 7, which are both within walking distance of Lancaster Aquatic Center.  PS1 is located on the corner of University Drive and Cooper Drive, while PS7 is on the corner of Complex Drive and Sports Center Drive.  A map of the parking structure locations along with marked entrances for ticket numbers can be found here.  

For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter, on Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive, and on the web at ukathletics.com.