Kentucky Extends All-America Count by Five on Third Day of NCAA Championships
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INDIANAPOLIS – The Kentucky women’s swimming and diving team wrapped up its penultimate day at the 2017 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday evening having added 15 points to its team total. The Wildcats currently sit in 15th place with 61 points, while the field is led by Stanford.
The Wildcats earned five spots in the evening session to pick up as many All-America honorable mention honors. Kentucky’s highest finishes on the day came from freshman Asia Seidt in the 100-yard backstroke and senior Rebecca Hamperian on the 3-meter springboard. Seidt finished 12th overall, while Hamperian closed out her collegiate career with a 13th-place showing.
“We had a really good day overall,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “I think everybody moved up from where they were seeded. We came up a little short, instead of getting finals we got consolation finals, but overall I was really pleased with how everyone improved. Tomorrow is a big day. We had a great day at SECs as far as on the last day, so we’re going to have to have an even better effort tomorrow.”
Hamperian was the first to compete in the finals, where she posted a score of 312.10 to finish fifth in the consolation final of the 3-meter dive. As a senior, the performance was an emotional one as it marked the last of her career for the Blue and White. After missing out on Thursday’s finals on the 1-meter, she was determined to make an impact in her final dives on Friday.
“Yesterday was a rough day and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do better today, and I wanted to get out there today and have fun mostly,” said Hamperian.
With the inclusion of today’s All-America honorable mention distinction, Hamperian will leave Kentucky a five-time All-American, the 2015 SEC Female Diver of the Year and a three-time SEC silver medalist. A native of Lexington, she also owns the highest 1-meter mark in program history and ranks within the top four on all three disciplines.
“It’s been a good time here,” continued Hamperian. “I had a redshirt year and that kind of disrupted things a little bit, but I think overall it helped me come back stronger. I’ve had a lot of good teammates over the years that have been like family, and it’s just been a lot of fun. It’s shaped who I am.”
In the first event in the swimming portion of the night’s finals, sophomore Kathryn Painter made her first appearance in an NCAA final, finishing 16th overall in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:09.02. In the prelims, Painter swam a school-record time of 4:07.88.
Sophomore Geena Freriks earned her fourth All-America honor of the meet as she finished 15th overall in the 200 free with a time of 1:45.04.
In the Wildcats’ final appearance of the night, Danielle Galyer joined Seidt in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke to earn All-America honorable mention. Seidt went 51.59 in the race to finish 12th overall, while Galyer finished 14th touching the wall in 51.78.
Saturday will mark the final day of the 2017 NCAA Championships and will include the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay, 1650 free and platform diving prelims starting at 10 a.m. ET., with finals beginning at 6 p.m. in the same events.
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