Seidt Becomes a Six-Time NCAA First-Team All-American
AUSTIN, Texas – Junior swimmer Asia Seidt highlighted the second day of the 2019 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships when she earned her sixth NCAA First-Team All-American honor, the most of any UK swimmer in program history, for finishing fifth overall in the 200 IM.
Tabbing a season-best 1:53.51 in the preliminary round, the junior swimmer gained the fifth seed in the “A” finals to become the only UK individual to advance to the final round on Thursday. In the final bout, Sedit reported a 1:53.54 to claim fifth place in the event and the sixth NCAA First-Team All-American.
Her finish and her time recorded in the national meet improved from one year ago when she finished seventh overall with a time stamp of 1:53.78 in the 2018 NCAA Championships. Seidt holds the school record in the event with her time of 1:53.04 recorded in the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championships.
Four Wildcats advanced to the 400 medley relay final round when they posted a 3:32.17 in the preliminary heat. The foursome was lead by junior Ali Galyer, followed by sophomore Bailey Bonnett, then Seidt, and anchored by senior Geena Freriks.
In the main event and with freshman Riley Gaines replacing Freriks in the freestyle stroke, UK finished 15th overall on a mark of 3:32.24. The swim helped Gained to become a first-time NCAA All-American.
Two UK swimmers competed in the 500 freestyle preliminary round on Thursday morning, seniors Freriks and Paige Kelly. Kelly, who recorded a career best in the event at the 2019 Southeastern Conference Championships on a time stamp of 4:42.24, finished 56th overall with a 4:49.47. Freriks, who earned the sixth overall seed in the preliminary round for her school record time of 4:37.04, finished 20th with a 4:40.64.
In the 200 individual medley preliminary round, sophomore Bailey Bonnett recorded a 1:57.77 to finish 37th overall.
In the swimming division, only the top 16 finishers from the preliminary round move on to the finals round. In finals, the top eight finishers will earn a podium finish and are pegged as NCAA First-Team All-Americans. The next nine through sixteen finishers are considered NCAA Honorable Mention All-Americans. It applies to individual and relay events.
In the diving division, only the top eight finishers from the preliminary round move on to the finals round, while the next eight finishers compete in a consolation round. The same NCAA All-America standards still apply.
The NCAA Championships will resume on Friday, with the preliminary bouts beginning at 10 a.m. ET and the finals bouts beginning at 6 p.m. ET. A full schedule can be found here.
Fans are encouraged to refer to the Meet Central page for the most up to date information, including a psych sheet, the schedule, live results, final results, broadcast information, and ticket and parking information.
ESPN will provide live linear coverage for both Friday and Saturday finals on ESPNU, as well as digital coverage on ESPN3 for Wednesday and Thursday evening finals. Events not streamed by ESPN will be available to watch here.
For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter and on Instagram, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
