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Bechtel Swims to School Record on Second Day of OSU Invite
Bechtel’s 51.36 in 100 butterfly final is a school record and NCAA A qualifying time
 COLUMBUS,
Ohio – Junior Christina Bechtel swam to a school-record 51.36 in the
100 yard butterfly final as the University of Kentucky swimming and
diving team raced to eight individual event top-10 finishes in the
second day of competition at the Ohio State Invitational at the
McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
Bechtel’s 51.36 in the A Final is the
best time in the 100 yard butterfly in UK history and gave her a
second-place finish in the event and an NCAA A qualifying time. It came
on the heels of a 52.06 in the prelims, which stood as both the school
and OSU Invite record for a matter of hours before it was broken again.
Prior to Saturday’s competition, a 52.10 set in 2009 by Megan Pulskamp
was the fastest time in the event in Kentucky history.
“Christina
was awesome,” UK head coach Lars Jorgensen said. “A school record, that
was world-class swim from her. All around, today was a great day, I
thought our freshman swam well, which is exciting. Our depth was good
too. We had some good swims in the 400 individual medley and the 100
butterfly. Abby Myers continues to get better and swam really well,
Lucas Gerotto had a really nice 100 fly for the guys. It really kept
going from there. We made some nice strides and want to keep working to
get better.
Bechtel, who notched two top-six
finishes and an 11th-place finish in the first day of competition, now
owns the fastest two times and three of the top four times in school
history in the women’s 100 yard butterfly event.
“I’m
excited about it,” Bechtel said. “Going into finals I was really
excited and pumped up. Setting the record was one of my goals this
year, so it feels good to accomplish that. Hopefully I can continue to
break the record this year, because I definitely want to keep getting
faster.”
Three divers notched top-five finishes to go along
with Bechtel’s runner-up finish. Senior Greg Ferrucci finished second
in the men’s 3-meter springboard with a 355.40, while fellow senior
John Fox placed fourth with a 338.75. In the women’s 1-meter
competition, junior Christa Cabot placed fifth with a 285.85.
Through
the second day at the Ohio State Invitational, the UK women have 275
points, behind No. 5 Virginia, No. 3 Florida, Purdue and No. 14 Ohio
State. The Wildcat men have 341 points and trail No. 11 Ohio State, No.
1 Florida and No. 10 Virginia.
Saturday’s
competition featured eight individual events, with prelims in the
morning and the top 30 finishers advancing to A, B or C finals in the
evening session. Four relay events and two diving events were also
contested, though no prelims were held for the relays. The OSU Invite
concludes Sunday, and live results can be found on
OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
In addition to Bechtel in
the women’s 100 butterfly, junior Abby Myers placed sixth with a time
of 53.69 and earned an NCAA B qualifying time. Myers finished 0.25
ahead of seventh place. Bechtel’s time of 51.36 was 0.23 shy of first
place and over one second ahead the third-place finisher.
The
Wildcats also placed sixth in the men’s 100 butterfly and women’s 200
freestyle. Senior Lucas Gerotto’s 47.89 in the 100 fly is an NCAA B
qualifying time. The 47.89 sat just 0.08 out of the top five and 0.10
ahead of seventh place. In the 200 free, freshman Kendal Casey notched
a 1:48.02, nearly a half second faster than her split time and 0.24
ahead of the seventh-place finisher.
Kentucky posted a trio of
sixth-place finishes in relay competitions. In the men’s 200 medley
relay, freshman Kyle Higgins, junior George Greenhalgh and seniors
Lucas Gerotto and Eric Bruck touched the wall in 1:28.58, a time half a
second faster than OSU’s relay in seventh place.
In
the day’s final events, UK finished sixth in both the men’s and women’s
800 free relay. Myers, along with freshman Kendal Casey and juniors
Blair Kuethe and Kristen Wilson finished in 7:16.75. In the men’s race,
senior Will Heidler, freshmen Grimmett-Noris and Brandon Flynn and
sophomore Scott Crosthwaite placed a time of 6:41.71.
Greenhalgh
registered another B qualifying time and a top-10 finish in the men’s
100 yard breaststroke, with a 55.06 to finish eighth. His time was an
improvement by 0.09 seconds over his prelim time and just 0.01 seconds
shy of seventh place.
Rounding out UK’s top-10
finishes in individual events was Flynn. The freshman, who finished
13th in the 500 freestyle yesterday, placed 10th in the men’s 400 yard
individual medley with a time of 3:52.53. His time earned him an NCAA B
qualifier.
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