LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky swimming and diving opened their season with a dual meet against 3/10 Florida Gators, ultimately falling short on both the women’s and men’s sides, but showing glimpses of strong performances from returners and newcomers. The women fell to No.10 Florida with a score of 183 to the Wildcats 115 and the No.3 Gators men outscored No.20 Kentucky 194 to 103.

The Wildcats have a mix roster of 37 returners and NCAA qualifiers along with 16 newcomers. In the first dual meet of the season, Billie Sherratt, Devin Naoroz, and Hayden Perry had outstanding performances. The freshmen also showed out with Filippo Bertoni and Felix Dressel-de Bryun winning their first collegiate event and freshmen Gabrielle Idle-Beavers showing that she’s not phased by the large jump to collegiate athletics.

In the pool on Friday, swimmers started the night with the 200 medley relay. The sprint swimmers gave Kentucky its spark back, with senior Devin Naoroz taking the top spot in the 100 backstroke (46.45). Billie Sherratt took the top spot in the 200 butterfly (2:01.25) while Greinke (55.31) and Dressel-de Bruyn (55.34) finishing second, third in the men’s 200 butterfly.
Other notable performances came from Freshman Flippo Bertoni finishing first in the men’s 500 free (4:24.68). Along with newcomer Gabrielle Idle-Beavers who finished second in the 100 backstroke (1:02.24) for the women. Katy Jost (4:55.74) and Karrington Hansen (4:58.29) swam a competitive 500 free going second and third for the Wildcats. Hayden Penny (2:00.48) won the 200 IM in impressive fashion, along with Felix Dressel-de Bryun (1:50.88) taking two in the 200 IM. The Cats finished the meet with the Men’s 400 Free Relay A (2:56.15), just behind Florida Relay A (2:55.12).

On the boards, Avery Giese had a huge night. Giese finished first in the 1m dive with a score of 312.83 and Kristy Pfaff grabbed the third place finish (289.20). Giese also finished second in the 3m dive with 307.28 and freshman Gianna Kenrick shined scoring 275.70 for third place.

Despite falling to Florida, Kentucky will look to bounce back as the Wildcats turn their attention to their next meet against South Carolina in Atlanta for the Dual Meet Tournament at the McAuley Aquatic Center Oct.16-17.

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