Seidt, Bonnett Earn SEC Swimmer of the Week Honors

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – After helping Kentucky women’s swimming and diving to its historic win at the Ohio State Invitational over the weekend, sophomore Asia Seidt and freshman Bailey Bonnett were recognized by the Southeastern Conference on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Seidt was named SEC Female Swimmer of the Week after winning all three of her individual events on the weekend, posting two school records, two individual NCAA automatic qualifying times and one meet record to help lead the Wildcats to their first ever team title at the Ohio State Invitational. The Louisville, Ky., native’s first individual win of the meet came in the 200 IM with a time of 1:53.84, which was a meet record, school record and NCAA ‘A’ cut. The mark bested her previous school record of 1:55.02, set last season.
 
Seidt went on to sweep the backstroke events, breaking the school record in the 100 back in 51.17 and receiving her second NCAA automatic bid in the 200 back with a time of 1:50.67. The defending SEC champion in the event, Seidt led Kentucky in a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 back. Her time is currently the fourth-fastest in the country.
 
After sweeping the breaststroke events and setting two school records in the process, Bonnett won her third SEC Freshman of the Week honor. In the 100 breast, Bonnett went 59.60 and was the only swimmer in the meet to go under a minute in the event. The freshman joined an elite group of just 12 swimmers in Division I to have gone under one minute in the event this season. Bonnett won the 200 breast by more than one full second to lower the school record to 2:07.83. The second-place finisher was in at 2:09.14. The freshman’s time in the event is the fifth-fastest in the nation this year.
 
Both swimmers contributed to Kentucky’s NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 400 medley relay, teaming up with Bridgette Alexander and Geena Freriks to win the race in 3:32.31.
 
While the full team won’t be back in action until 2018, select Kentucky student-athletes will head back to Columbus, Nov. 29-30, for the USA Swimming Winter Nationals. Additionally, the Kentucky divers will travel to Oxford, Ohio, for the Miami Diving Invitational Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
 
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.