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Diving Sweeps Cards as Cats Fall on the Road to Top-13 Teams
University of Kentucky
divers claimed the top two scores in all four events, including three
events where the Wildcats swept the field, as UK suffered a defeat at
No. 7/13 Louisville Saturday afternoon.
Wins in three of the
first four events for the women gave UK a lead early over the
13th-ranked Cardinal, and helped set up a closely-scored meet halfway
through the competition. The Wildcats were unable to hang on for the
upset and lost 193-107. The men fell by a final score of 212.5-87.5 to
the Cardinals, ranked seventh nationally.
“The women’s race was
very competitive for a while,” UK head coach Lars Jorgensen said. “We
had a couple of really close races that we lost. Overall, I thought the
women competed well. We’ve made some progress, but we raced a really
good team. They have a great men’s team as well, they performed well
against us, but I thought some of our guys competed pretty well.”
Junior
Christa Cabot won both the 1- and 3-meter dive, while fellow junior
Lindsay Keahey placed second in both events to round out UK’s scoring.
On the men’s side, seniors Greg Ferrucci and John Fox won the 1- and
3-meter, respectively. Fox placed second in the 1-meter, while senior
Zack Peterson was second in the 3-meter. The Wildcats also claimed
third and fourth place in the 1-meter to sweep the competition.
Along
with four diving wins, freshman Kelly Berger won the 1,000 yard
freestyle and senior Kristen Wilson claimed victory in the 200 yard
freestyle. Berger added a second-place finish, while Wilson finished
third in three additional races.
“Wilson and Berger were great
for us today. Kristen in the 200 just put her hand on the wall first,
she trains hard and does a good job for us. Kelly is an emerging
freshman, but is a really good swimmer and has really improved a lot
since she got to Kentucky.”
The Wildcats host their final home
contest of the season, Feb. 1 at 12 p.m. ET against Cincinnati at the
Lancaster Aquatics Center. The senior day meet marks the end of the
regular season for Kentucky before the Southeastern Conference and NCAA
Championship competitions.
“It’s going to be fun,” Jorgensen
said of Saturday’s home finale. “It’ll be nice to be back at home and
recognize our seniors, who have given a lot to this program. We’re
looking forward to the opportunity to race another good team as we
prepare for the postseason.”
Cabot and Keahey got UK off to a
great start on the 1-meter event. Cabot claimed first with a 304.95,
while Keahey was right behind in second with a 255.75. The one-two
finish gave the UK women a lead heading into the first swimming event.
The
male divers also got the Wildcats off to a good start with a sweep of
the top four spots in the 1-meter springboard. Ferrucci placed first
with a 353.85, while Fox finished second with a 313.87. Not to be
outdone, UK’s other two divers, Peterson and freshman Noah Richter,
finished right behind their teammates in third and fourth with a 298.35
and a 276.82, respectively.
In the women’s second swimming
event, the 1,000 yard freestyle, Berger finished in 9:58.23 to win by
over six seconds. The only swimmer to touch the wall in less than 10
minutes, the freshman beat out a fellow first-year swimmer from U of L
and teammate Kendal Casey, who finished third in 10:04.94. Casey came
in just 0.34 seconds out of second place.
Wilson notched the
Wildcats’ fourth win in the 200 yard freestyle. A time of 1:50.42 gave
her the win in a tightly contest race that saw the top three finishers
all touch the wall within 0.44 seconds. Junior Abby Myers finished
third in 1:50.86.
Cabot tallied her second win of the day in the
3-meter dive. A 324.98 was good enough for the win, ahead of Keahey’s
293.40, who finished second.
UK’s final win came in the men’s
3-meter, where Fox posted a 349.81 to win the event. Peterson placed
second with a 333.30, while Richter was fifth with a 275.92. Ferrucci,
who hit the board on his final dive, recorded a final score of 272.17
to finish sixth.
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