UK Women Snapped Four School Records on Saturday to Post Second-Best Team Total in Program History

AUSTIN, Texas – In the final night of the 2019 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday, University of Kentucky swimmers marked historical numbers that led to four new school records and three podium finishes, while collecting the second-most points at the national meet in school history.
 
Junior Asia Seidt became the ninth-fastest performer in the 200 backstroke in history on Saturday, when she reported a 1:48.65. Her lifetime best, it broke her own school record and earned a bronze medal. In the process, she became an eight-time NCAA First-Team All-America honoree, the most of any UK swimmer – male or female – in program history, three of which were earned in three straight 200 backstroke performances. By collecting a bronze medal, the junior earned the best finish of any UK individual swimmer this week.
 
In the process, the Louisville native tabbed NCAA First-Team All-America status in each of her three individual events this week in the national meet, the first time she has done so in her collegiate career. All the while, she reset her own school record in the 100 and 200 backstroke during the national meet. Her previous best of 1:49.24 in the 200 backstroke was recorded at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
 
In the same event, junior Ali Galyer touted eighth overall in the event on a time stamp of 1:51.62. It also marked her third straight appearance in the event’s top eight in the national meet. With that, she became a four-time NCAA First-Team All-American, three-time in the 200 backstroke.
 
Sophomore Bailey Bonnett reset her own school record on Saturday, swimming the 200 breaststroke with a touch-pad time of 2:06.91. In doing so, she earned a fifth-place finish overall in the event to become a two-time NCAA First-Team All-American in the 200 breaststroke. Her previous best of 2:07.17 was recorded at the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championships.
 
In her last swim of her collegiate career, senior Geena Freriks snapped a 20-year school record in the 1650 freestyle on Saturday. It marks the second time in two months the Ohio native has broken a school record of that tenure. By doing so, she holds the school record in four freestyle short-course yard events – 200, 500, 1000, 1650 freestyle.
 
Posting a 15:57.64 in the mile, it earned 11th overall to help Freriks become a first-time NCAA All-American in the event. Remarkably, it was only the second time in her collegiate career that she has swum the event. The 2018 SEC Championship in February marked her first.
 
The Wildcats wouldn’t leave the national meet without an ever bigger bang, and that they did. In the final race of the night, the 400 freestyle relay team, made up of freshman Riley Gaines, Seidt, Galyer and Freriks, broke a school record that was set at the 2019 SEC Championships. Producing a time stamp of 3:14.59, the relay members finished as honorable mention NCAA All-Americans on a 15th overall finish. It added four extra points to the team total, boosting it to over 100 points.
 
This morning,senior Courtney Clark competed on platform. In her final dives of her collegiate career, Clark generated 246.70 points to finish 19th, just three spots off from making the consolation field.
 
For the third straight year, the Kentucky women finished in the top 15 in team standings. Collecting 100.5 points across the four days, UK finished in 15th place. Just two years ago, in 2017, the UK women formed their best finish in school history, carding 106 points to finish 14th. Last year, the program also finished in 14th, but with 97 points.
 
Three swimmers and one diver competed in their final collegiate events on Saturday – Clark, Freriks, Kelly and McInerny.
 
The University of Texas at Austin is also host to the 2019 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships March 20-23 at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas. Two UK swimmers qualified for the meet individually, juniors Glen Brown and Wyatt Amdor. Senior Seb Masterton and freshman Danny Zhang also qualified, via diving. In addition, the men’s program qualified four relay events.
 
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