Four Gold Performances Highlight First Night of Midseason Test
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the first night of the 14th annual Ohio State Fall Invite, the No. 21/15 University of Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams collected two new U.S. Olympic Trials cut times, recorded four gold performances and documented 10 NCAA “B” cut times.
Unique to the Ohio State Fall Invite, the invitational (Nov. 21-23) features a long-course meters format during morning prelims and a short-course yards format during the finals events. Kentucky didn’t waste time making their presence known among the strong field, claiming a pair of new 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials cut times in the prelim heats Thursday morning.
Freshman Gillian Davey, who already owns a pair of cuts in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events recorded last summer, earned a third qualifying mark in the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday morning. Finishing third overall in the 69-person field, Davey recorded a 2:15.94 in the prelim event to earn her third trials cut.
Freshman Beth McNeese, who already had a cut time in the 400-meter freestyle event, reset her cut time on Thursday morning in 4:16.37. McNeese claimed second place among 75-person field.
Kentucky’s initial success only continued into Thursday’s finals events where the program recorded four gold finishes and logged 10 NCAA “B” cut times.
UK topped the field in both the men’s and women’s 200-yard individual medley events. Senior Glen Brown claimed first place in the 40-person men’s field with a time of 1:45.07, less than two seconds off his school-record time (1:43.69). On the women’s side, senior Asia Seidt topped the 40-person field in 1:55.62, just barely more than two seconds off her school-record time (1:53.04).
In the final individual event of the night, senior Peter Wetzlar shocked the pavilion with his 50-yard freestyle performance. The Zimbabwean claimed gold in 19.73, just two-tenths of a second off his career best (19.49).
Closing the meet with an exclamation point, the UK women’s team placed first in the 400-yard medley relay with a nation-leading time of 3:31.67.
Freshman Caitlin Brooks swam the lead leg in 51.62, followed by junior Bailey Bonnett in 59.62, then Seidt in 51.23, with senior Ali Galyer swimming the anchor leg in 49.20. The time trumped second place by nearly four full seconds (3:35.01), and it leads the nation by nearly three full seconds (3:34.15).
Throughout the finals events, the Wildcats racked up 10 performances that earned NCAA “B” cut-time standards. Those are as follows:
500-yard freestyle
Ali Galyer 4:39.56
Beth McNeese 4:43.81
Kaitlynn Wheeler 4:46.15
Jackie Hill 4:46.53
200-yard individual medley
Asia Seidt 1:55.62
Bailey Bonnett 1:57.34
Gillian Davey 1:59.50
Glen Brown 1:45.07
50-yard freestyle
Peter Wetzlar 19.73
400-yard medley relay
Caitlin Brooks, Bailey Bonnett, Asia Seidt, Ali Galyer 3:31.67
Kentucky will return to action on Friday, competing in the 200 medley relay, 100 butterfly, 400 individual medley, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 free relay, along with the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard competitions. Prelim events will begin at 10 a.m., followed by finals events at 5 p.m.
The team scores through day one are as follows:
Women’s Day One Team Scores:
1. Ohio State: 752
2. Kentucky: 606
3. UCLA: 551.50
4. Notre Dame: 534
5. Virginia Tech: 388.50
6. Yale: 328
7. Buffalo: 295
8. Ohio University: 153
Men’s Day One Team Scores:
1. Ohio State: 640
2. Yale: 639
3. Notre Dame: 619
4. Kentucky: 611
5. Virginia Tech: 559
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.
