Seniors Collect Two Medals, Break Two School Records on Second Night of SEC Championships

AUBURN, Ala. – The University of Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams brought their medal count and school record count to four each on Wednesday night, after four seniors – two women, two men –collected two more medals and broke two more school records on the second night of the Southeastern Conference Championships in Auburn, Alabama.
 
Silver Medalist
Women’s 500-yard freestyle
Ali Galyer has stepped up all season in an event that isn’t in her traditional rotation, and tonight it paid off. Swimming in the 500-yard freestyle, the senior recorded the second-fastest time in school history on a career-best 4:38.40 to earn a silver medal in the event. Finishing in second place in the 57-person field, it marked her first podium finish in that event at the conference championships.
 
The 2020 Team New Zealand Olympian has already collected two silver medals and broke a school record thus far at the meet. Last night, Galyer helped the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay to a second-place finish with a time of 6:18.11. Swimming the lead split in the foursome, Galyer broke a 200-yard freestyle school record with a time of 1:43.99.
 
Bronze Medalist
Women’s 200-yard individual medley
Asia Seidt earned her second piece of hardware of the 2020 SEC Championships, winning a bronze medal in the 200-yard individual medley out of a 63-person field. In her finals appearance, Seidt recorded a time of 1:53.70 to claim third place. Meanwhile, she posted the fastest backstroke split of the field, swimming the first leg in 24.37.
 
Seidt holds the school record in the event, earning a silver medal in 1:53.04 at the 2018 SEC Championships.
 
School Records
Men’s 50-yard freestyle
Peter Wetzlar snapped a 15-year-old school record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 19.27 in his finals appearance Wednesday night, meanwhile finishing fourth in the conference out of a 56-person field. The previous school record was posted in 2005, when Tim Patrick touched the wall in 19.38.
 
Before setting the school record in finals, the senior had already reset his career best in preliminaries. The Zimbabwean recorded a time of 19.43 in preliminaries, which was the third-best performance in school history before he set the school record. The event is the only individual school record Wetzlar owns, though he holds two school records in relay events (400-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay).
 
Men’s 200-yard individual medley
Glen Brown broke his own school record in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing fourth out of 49 swimmers with a time stamp of 1:43.47. His previous career best and school-record time was 1:47.69, posted at the 2019 Bulldog Invitational.
 
Rattle the Record Book
Fifteen Wildcats improved their position on the record book’s all-time, top-10 performance list with career marks during the second night of the conference championships – Ali Galyer, Beth McNeese, Kaitlynn Wheeler, Sophie Sorenson, Bailey Bonnett, Izzy Gati, Lauren Poole, Glen Brown, Connor Blandford, Kyle Barker, Mason Wilby, Peter Wetzlar, John Mitchell, Jakob Clark and Danny Zhang.
 
Medal Count: 4
Silver: 3
Bronze: 1
 
School Record Count: 4
Men’s 800-yard free relay (6:18.11)
Women’s 200-yard free, Ali Galyer (1:43.99)
Men’s 200-yard individual medley, Glen Brown (1:43.47)
Men’s 50-yard freestyle, Peter Wetzlar (19.27)
 
Team Scores
Women’s team results

 
Men’s team results

 
The conference championships will resume on Thursday, Feb. 20, with preliminaries scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET and finals scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to visit meet central for a list of streaming and live scoring options per event.
 
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.