ATLANTA — Kentucky swimming and diving narrowly fell to South Carolina, 393-390, in a hard-fought dual meet Saturday at The Dual Meet Tournament, grabbing fourth place out of eight in the event. The Wildcats’ performance featured several individual victories, including junior Hayden Penny tying the 10th-fastest time in program history in the women’s 200-yard individual medley.

Penny won the 200 IM race in 1:58.49 seconds, narrowly edging South Carolina’s Delaney Franklin, who finished in 1:58.57. Penny’s time tied the 10th-best mark in Kentucky history in the event for the second meet in a row.

The Wildcats opened the meet with victories in both freestyle relays. The women’s 200 freestyle relay team of Zea Wetzlaugk, Laura Revilla Garcia, Valeria Tarin and Gabrielle Idle-Beavers finished in 1:30.51, edging South Carolina by one-hundredth of a second. The men’s team of Lysander Osman, Falemana Tuufui, Justin Peresse and AJ Terry won in 1:17.42.

Kentucky continued its strong performance with individual victories from Devin Naoroz in the men’s 100 backstroke (46.07 seconds), Tuufui in the men’s 100 freestyle (42.37) and Wetzlaugk in the women’s 50 freestyle (22.54). Osman added a win in the men’s 50 freestyle in 19.65.

The Wildcats also swept the top two spots in the men’s 200 butterfly. Javier Lopez-Guillen won in 1:46.51, followed by Levi Sandidge in 1:49.31. Felix Dressel-de Bruyn captured the men’s 200 IM in 1:47.74, with Sandidge finishing second in 1:48.99.

On the boards, Avery Giese won the women’s 1-meter diving competition with a score of 150.90, while Kristy Pfaff placed second in the women’s 3-meter event with 142.65.

Kentucky closed the meet with a victory in the men’s 400-yard medley relay. Osman, Adomas Gatulis, Lopez-Guillen and Tuufui combined for a time of 3:07.45 to finish ahead of South Carolina’s top relay team.

The Wildcats’ three-point loss reflected a tightly contested meet, with Kentucky’s event victories and Penny’s performance in the 200-yard IM highlighting a strong showing against the Gamecocks.

UK will now head back to Lexington and get some rest after a busy weekend. They will look forward to preparing for the next meet on Friday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. ET in Bloomington, Ind. to take on the Indiana Hoosiers and Southern California Trojans.

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