Kentucky Women Place Fourth, Men Ninth at SEC Championships
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Kentucky swimming and diving program wrapped up its run at the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championships on Sunday night.
The Kentucky women’s team finished fourth overall in the team standings with 877.5 points, while the UK men placed ninth with 575.5 points. Host-school Texas A&M claimed their third-straight women’s team title, and the Florida men won their sixth-consecutive championship.
“I thought we had a really good meet overall,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “Asia (Seidt) was outstanding again, winning her second SEC championship of the meet, so congratulations to her. Really pleased with our fourth-place finish on the women’s side. I thought we swam really well. On the men’s side, we moved up from last year. Our men’s divers were phenomenal. I think we got some more people qualified for NCAAs, so we’re really pleased with that. Now we’ve got to get ready for NCAAs.”
The final day was highlighted by sophomore Asia Seidt’s gold-medal performance in the 200-yard backstroke, as she defended her SEC title in the event with a time of 1:49.65. Seidt was joined in the final by her teammates Ali Galyer and Bridgette Alexander. Galyer won her first individual SEC medal in the race, placing third with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:50.63. Alexander was sixth overall with a time of 1:52.17.
Four Wildcats scored in the women’s 1,650-yard freestyle, led by junior Kathryn Painter, who placed fourth with a personal-best time of 16:09.91. Junior Paige Kelly was eighth overall in the race with a time of 16:12.90 and Meredith Whisenhunt placed 15th in 16:32.17. Freshman Payton Neff rounded out the scorers in the event, finishing 19th at 16:34.48.
Senior Jack Gunning was Kentucky’s top finisher in the men’s 1,650, placing 20th in 15:16.30, just ahead of freshman Hank Siefert who was 21st at 15:16.42.
In the 100 free, junior Geena Freriks finished tenth overall in the women’s 100 free with a time of 48.72. For the men, sophomore Peter Wetzlar finished 16th with a time of 44.01. John Mitchell was 19th in 44.22.
Freshman Bailey Bonnett qualified for her second championship final, where she finished fifth with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 2:07.17. Sophomore Madison Winstead finished tenth in the event, touching the wall in 2:08.71 and senior Morgan Belli was 12th with a time of 2:10.42. Senior Ann Davies was the final scorer for UK in the event, coming in 23rd in 2:14.65.
Glen Brown won the 100 breast C final for the men’s team, going 1:56.74 in the finals to place 17th overall. Austin Haney also scored with a 22nd-place time of 1:58.45 and Wyatt Amdor came in 23rd at 1:58.62.
Junior Courtney Clark scored in the women’s platform diving prelims, finishing 14th overall with a score of 233.75.
In the final event of the championships, the women’s team of Seidt, Freriks, Winstead and Galyer placed seventh in the 400 freestyle in 3:17.69, while Kentucky’s men’s team of Mitchell, Brown, Shane Anderson and Wetzlar placed sixth in the event with a time of 2:53.27.
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.
