Border Battle: RV/No. 12 Kentucky Hosts No. 14/No. 7 Tennessee
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the first time since 2016, the RV/No. 12 University of Kentucky men’s and women’s swimming and diving program will host No. 14/No. 7 Tennessee for a border battle inside Lancaster Aquatic Center. The women’s teams will square off on Thursday, October 29, while the men’s teams will compete on Friday, October 30, with both dual meets scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET.
The program has adopted a player guest and coach guest pass list attendance plan for the dual meet, and UK Athletics will continue to evaluate this plan as the season progresses. Fans are encouraged to follow along through live scoring or tune into SEC Network+.
“We are excited to host Tennessee this week and compete against the defending conference champions in the Tennessee women’s team,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “Tennessee has a great swimming and diving program, and we will have our work cut out for us early in the season, but we look forward to and are grateful for the opportunity to compete at home against another conference opponent!”
The Tennessee women’s team won the Southeastern Conference Championships for the first time in program history in February 2020, while its men’s team finished in sixth place at the league meet. Kentucky wasn’t far behind either team in the final standings, as the UK women’s team finished in third place, just 120.5 points off from Tennessee, while the UK men’s team finished in seventh place, less than 100 points off from the Orange and White.
The Wildcats graduated two of their leading scorers from the SEC Championships in Ali Galyer and Asia Seidt, but the women’s team still returns eight of its 10 NCAA Championship qualifiers, not including Kyndal Knight, the defending SEC Champion on the 3-meter springboard. Meanwhile, the newcomer class includes five swimmers and two divers ranked as top-10 recruits from their respected home states. One of those newcomers, Kaylee Williams, was named the SEC Female Freshman of the Week after recording a 10:13.91 in the 1,000 freestyle in the season opener against Vanderbilt.
During that meet, the women’s team collected 11 first-place finishes of 12 possible. Riley Gaines, a junior from Nashville, Tennessee, collected her first victorious finish of the season in the 200 butterfly, touching the wall in 1:58.14 to earn a quick NCAA “B” cut. Meanwhile, Gaines also earned a personal best in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall in 53.85 to earn first place.
This week’s dual meet will mark the first time the men’s team and the diving group has competed this fall, after scrimmaging twice to begin the season, once at the Blue and White meet and a second time while the women’s team hosted the Commodores.
The Kentucky men’s team graduated a handful of top scorers in May 2020, but looks forward to the return of nine swimmers and divers that contributed points to last season’s league meet and nine strong newcomers, including a pair of advanced divers in Sam Duncan and Rodrigo Romero.
Daniel Orcutt returns for his senior season, the highest individual scorer returning to the men’s swimming group. Last year at the league meet, he finished in 10th place in the 100 butterfly and 12th place in the 200 IM. On the diving side, defending SEC Champion on platform Danny Zhang is back for his junior season. In just two years at the league meet, Zhang has collected one gold medal (platform), one silver medal (3-meter springboard) and one bronze medal (3-meter springboard).
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.
