Own the Knight: Knight & Six Swimmers Named All-America

GREENSBORO, N.C. –  The University of Kentucky women’s swimming and diving team earned seven All-America honors during the second night of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, which runs Wednesday through Saturday.
 
Competing in just the second big dance in her career, Kyndal Knight finished in 11th place on the 1-meter springboard with a final score of 297.55. While it marked her highest finish through four events at the national meet (2019 and 2020), she earned the second All-America Honorable Mention in just two appearances.
 
The junior squeaked into the “B” final after earning 15th place on a preliminaries score of 278.80. On her sixth dive (105B), Knight rallied 54.60 points to nudge her way into the consolation heat. There, she averaged 6.86 on her dives to finish third in the heat and 11th overall.
 
Lauren Poole also finished in 11th place on Thursday night, doing so in the 200 IM. The sophomore touched the wall in 1:56.75 to earn the first All-America Honorable Mention in her career. Sophie Sorenson followed behind her, finishing in 12th place in 1:56.75. The sophomore earned All-America Honorable Mention, too, just 24 hours after she earned All-America First Team and second place in the 800 freestyle relay.
 
Four Cats closed the night on an All-America Honorable Mention finish, as the 400 medley relay team finished in 10th place in 3:31.13. Swimming the backstroke leg, Caitlin Brooks touched the wall in 52.04. Gillian Davey followed in the breaststroke leg in 59.36, then Izzy Gati in the butterfly leg in 51.64. Riley Gaines anchored, swimming the freestyle leg in 48.09.
 
The meet will resume on Friday with the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 3-meter diving and 200 medley relay. The preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. ET and finals will begin at 6 p.m. ET.
 
ESPN3 will provide digital broadcast coverage for all sessions. A full schedule of the meet and direct links to watch the broadcast can be found here.
 
How It Works
In swimming and diving, the top eight from the preliminary round move on to the “A” final and the next eight move on to the “B” final. Those that finish 1st-8th and are touted as First Team All-America, while those that finish 9th-16th are named Honorable Mention All-America.
 
All-America First Team Count (4)
Izzy Gati, 800 free-r (2nd)
Riley Gaines, 800 free-r (2nd)
Sophie Sorenson, 800 free-r (2nd)
Kaitlynn Wheeler, 800 free-r (2nd)
 
All-America Honorable Mention Count (1)
Kyndal Knight, 1-meter (11th)
Lauren Poole, 200 IM (11th)
Sophie Sorenson, 200 IM (12th)
Caitlin Brooks, 400 med-r (10th)
Gillian Davey, 400 med-r (10th)
Izzy Gati, 400 med-r (10th)
Riley Gaines, 400 med-r (10th)
 
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.