COLUMBIA, Mo. – Taking full advantage of its two-day meet on the road, the Kentucky swimming and diving program accounted for each win possible on the tri-meet ballot in Columbia, Missouri, leaving the men and women with three-meet winning streaks ahead of an all-important Ohio State Invitational.
The No. 18 Kentucky women recorded two satisfying wins over Missouri (210-143) and No. 23 Arkansas (206-147), while the men posted a last-race victory that sealed the deal over No. 22 Missouri (184-167). Both squads led after the first day, generating enough momentum to finish victoriously on Friday.
“It was a great day for the Wildcats,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “It was a really exciting men’s meet, coming down to the very last relay. It was a team effort across the board. Peter Wetzlar was awesome, also Jarod Kehl winning the 1,000 freestyle. We won the medley relay in the beginning too, which kept the momentum going throughout the day. Again, a lot of people came out today. The 400 IM swimmers were fantastic. Daniel Orcutt and Connor Blandford were 1-2 in that, and that made a difference giving us a little cushion on the last relay.
“On the women’s side, we were pretty solid today as well – about the same as yesterday. We swam against two really good Arkansas and Missouri teams, who had great meets as well. Asia had a great day today. Riley Gaines picked up a really nice victory in the 200 freestyle, which I thought was a really good contribution. Bailey Bonnett swam fantastic in the 400 IM and 100 breaststroke. So, they came to play. They raced really well.”
The two-day meet, 38-event format, was contested in the Mizzou Aquatic Center Nov. 1-2. It marked the third meet on the Kentucky schedule.
A host of gold finishes were had by Wildcats in the two-day stretch. The UK women and men saw 11 winning finishes each, of 19 events per squad. The UK women posted 10 individual victories and one relay victory. The men saw nine individual wins, with two relay wins recorded in the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay, which finalized the meet.
Junior Asia Seidt put together the most individual wins in the tri meet, with four defeats – 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard butterfly, and 100-yard backstroke. The Kentucky native’s time in the 200-yard butterfly (1:58.99) will allow her to move into the ninth spot in the discipline, in Kentucky’s record book. She shed .29 milliseconds off her previously recorded time, which filed a No. 10 ranking.
Arkansas’s Anna Hopkin broke the Razorback’s school record in the 50 free with a 22.25, staying sixth in the country this year with that swim. Hopkin was really impressive on the Arkansas relays as she split 21.54 in the 200 free relay and 21.73 in the 200 medley. The junior from Great Britain also had impressive relays splits in the 100 free with a 47.85 to anchor the 400 medley relay and 47.77 in the 400 free relay. Hopkin also won the 100 free with a 48.66, sitting sixth in the country this season.
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