Wildcats Fall Short Against Louisville on Senior Day
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky swimming and diving team
wrapped up its home slate on Sunday against in-state rival Louisville, falling just
short despite earning 10 first-place finishes throughout the meet. On the men’s
side, UK fell 176.5-123.5 with the women dropping a 167-133 decision.
The
meet also served as Kentucky’s senior day, honoring the program’s 14 senior
student-athletes: Tanner Anderson, Drew Aviotti, Kelly Berger, Kendal
Casey, Kendra Crew, Allyson Dupay, Brandon Flynn, Danielle Galyer, Sean Gunn,
Rebecca Hamperian, Kyle Higgins, Kate Kelly, Noah Richter and James Stevenson.
“We
came up a little bit short on a few things against a really good Louisville
team,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “I thought our seniors swam well today
so it was exciting. Obviously, we would like to beat Louisville. We made it a
meet for a while, but they were a little bit better at the end.”
The
Wildcats got off to an impressive start as senior diver Becca Hamperian earned
top finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events on her senior
day. Sophomore diver Seb Masterton followed suit, sweeping the same pair of
events. Freshman diver Kevin Frebel had an extremely successful meet for the
Blue and White as well, posting second-place finishes on both springboard
events to climb into UK’s top-10 performers in school history. Frebel’s 1-meter
score of 356.55 now ranks seventh, while his 362.18 on 3-meter ranks No. 8 in
school history.
Sophomore
Kathryn Painter posted the first top time on the swimming side of things,
touching the wall first in the 1,000-yard freestyle race with a time of
10:05.66. Fellow sophomore Meredith Whisenhunt also saw success in the race,
finishing third with a time of 10:10.57.
Freshman
Asia Seidt continued to dominate for the Wildcats, grabbing three top times on
the day to lead the team. Naturally, she earned top finishes in the 100 back
and 200 IM, two of the events the freshman ranks in the top 10 nationally in.
Seidt also showed her versatility in placing first in the 100 butterfly, a race
that she has not competed in much this season, with a time of 54.49.
“There
was a lot of hype up to this meet and personally I’m from Louisville, so to see
people I know and compete against them was really fun,” said Seidt. “It was
pretty exciting coming off a first-place win in the 100 back, I posted a pretty
good good time so I was happy with it. In a couple of our events we were
sweeping, so the energy got me excited. Just doing it for the team, I knew I
had to win.”
The
defending NCAA champion in the event, it was only fitting that senior Danielle
Galyer had the top time in the 200 back with a time of 1:56.72. Junior
backstroker Bridgette Alexander followed close behind her, touching in 1:58.21
for a second-place time.
“It’s
been a great journey,” said Galyer. “I couldn’t have asked for better teammates
and coaches. There are so many people behind the scenes that help us get to
where we are and I just think it’s been awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for
anything better.”
Senior
Kyle Higgins continued his success in the 200-yard butterfly race this season,
and was the only swimmer on the men’s side to produce an individual win on the
day. Higgins currently ranks No. 6 nationally in the event. Fellow Wildcats
Matthew Beach and Jacob Smith finished second and third in the race,
respectively to compete the sweep.
The
event served as the Wildcats first full dual meet since Nov. 5, after the
Virginia Tech meet was cut short due to a winter storm.
Kentucky
will look to bounce back on Friday, Jan. 27 when the Wildcats head to
Cincinnati for their final dual meet of the season against the Bearcats. The
meet is slated for a 5 p.m. start.
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.
