Back-To-Back: Asia Seidt Defends SEC Title in 200 Back
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Kentucky sophomore Asia Seidt made Kentucky history on Sunday night at the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championships, winning her second-consecutive SEC crown in the 200-yard backstroke and becoming the first-ever Wildcat swimmer to win back-to-back conference titles in a single event.
The Louisville, Ky., product swam a season-best time of 1:49.65 to earn the victory, edging out Texas A&M’s Lisa Bratton by .18 seconds. Seidt’s time was just off her school record of 1:49.63, which she swam at last season’s NCAA Championships to finish third in the event.
With the win, Seidt completed the sweep of the backstroke titles at the 2018 SEC Championships, having won the 100 back title on Saturday evening. Seidt is just the third Wildcat swimmer to win multiple conference titles in a single season, joining Rachel Komicarz who won both the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle events in 1999 and Roger Messick who claimed SEC titles in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events in both 1955 and 1957.
Seidt was joined in tonight’s final by two of her Kentucky teammates: Ali Galyer and Bridgette Alexander. Galyer won the bronze medal in the event with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:50.63, while Alexander finished sixth overall with a time of 1:52.17. The trio combined to add 83 points to Kentucky’s team total.
Kentucky has now accounted for three of the last four SEC titles in the 200 back as Danielle Galyer claimed the title in 2015.
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