UK Swimming & Diving Wraps Up Day Two at SEC Championships

AUBURN, Ala. – The Kentucky Wildcats took to the James E. Martin Aquatic Center on Tuesday, competing in the second day of the 2024 Southeastern Conference Championships in Auburn, Alabama. After day’s end, the Kentucky men are in ninth-place with a score of 101, while the women occupy the 10th position with 98 points. 

Freshman Kristy Pfaff made her SEC Championship debut by placing 10th in the women’s 3-meter diving, finishing second in the “B-Final”. Pfaff tallied a score of 326.40 to earn the Cats 17 points. Senior Claire McDaniels also ranked in the top-24 of this event, and added two points to the team’s score. 

The 200 medley relay was the first scoring women’s swimming event of the championship, where Torie Buerger, Bridget Engel, Anna Havens Rice and Grace Frericks placed ninth with a time of 1:37.43, earning 40 points toward the team total. Soon thereafter, Jack Hamilton, Lance Johnson, Carter Ruthven and Drew Johnson combined for a time of 1:26.59 in the men’s race, placing them in 10th and adding 34 points. 

Kentucky’s day wrapped up with the 800 freestyle relay. Up first was the group of Frericks, Lauren West, Madi McGlothen and Kaelan Daly. The quartet recorded a 7:13.21 time, landing them in ninth place in the race, and earning the women 40 more points to close out the day. In the last event of the evening, Max Berg, Ryan Merani, Victor Martin Roig and Zane Rosely shaved over 5 seconds off their seed time, and posted a time of 6:19.80, which added 44 points to the UK score as a result of their eighth-place finish. 

The Women’s and Men’s Swimming & Diving teams look to day three of the championship, tomorrow. The third day of the championship starts with prelims for the 500 free, 200 individual medley and 50 free at 9:30 a.m. C.T., with the men’s 3-meter preliminary round to begin at noon and B-Finals to follow directly after. Finals for the 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free and men’s 3-meter will start at 5:30 p.m. to close out the day. All sessions can be live streamed on SECN+, and live stats can be found here.

For the latest on UK Swim & Dive, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @UKSwimDive, and on Facebook at Kentucky Swimming and Diving.