Wildcats Primed for 2017 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships

INDIANAPOLIS – Coming off its most successful postseason start in program history, the Kentucky women’s swimming and diving team is set to compete in the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships this week in Indianapolis.

The championships will be held from March 15-18 at the IU Natatorium on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The meet will kick off Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. ET with the 800-yard freestyle relay finals, with the remaining days following a consistent schedule of preliminary races at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.

“We have a good group of people this year,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. ”They’ve all been training so well together and having a full group at NCAAs helps bring great energy. We just need to finish up the week. This week is huge and this is what the whole season comes down to, but I think they’re ready. I think they’re fired up. We’re excited to swim and see what we’re capable of at the national level.”

The Wildcats qualified 10 individual athletes as well as four relay teams for the meet, an increase from last season’s NCAA roster which featured eight individual qualifiers and two relays. Since Jorgensen took the reins four seasons ago, the Wildcats NCAA qualifiers total has increased each year.

Representing Kentucky at the 2017 NCAA Championships will be seniors Kendal Casey, Kendra Crew, Danielle Galyer and Rebecca Hamperian; junior Bridgette Alexander; sophomores Geena Freriks and Kathryn Painter; and freshmen Ali Galyer, Asia Seidt and Madison Winstead.

Last season saw Kentucky crown its first national champion swimmer as then-junior Danielle Galyer touched the wall in 1:49.71 in the 200 backstroke. Overall, Galyer became UK’s second national champion as Taryn Ignacio accomplished the feat in the 2006 platform dive. 

Kentucky looks to improve upon last season’s finish at the national meet, as they finished 22nd overall with 40 points. UK’s best finish under Jorgensen came in 2015, coming in 16th with 95 points.

The Wildcats raked in 11 medals at last month’s SEC Championships, including two gold-medal peformances. Freriks brought home Kentucky’s first gold medal in the 200 free at the meet since Kelly Heath in 1995, while Seidt won gold in the 200 back, followed closely by Danielle Galyer who picked up the silver.

Seidt is one of four Wildcats to rank within the top 20 seeds in the 200 back, as her time of 1:50.22 at the SEC Championships gives her the No. 5 seed heading into the national championships. Danielle Galyer is seeded 10th, followed by Ali Galyer in 16th and Alexander in 19th.

ESPN3.com will stream the championships finals sessions live on Friday and Saturday. All other sessions will be streamed live on NCAA.com and indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd. Additionally, ESPNU will air a two-hour broadcast via tape delay at 7 p.m., on March 28. Live results for the championships will be available on NCAA.com.

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