Kelly Pash Triples, Swims Two Lifetime Bests in Debut for Texas vs Kentucky

TEXAS vs KENTUCKY

• Friday, October 25th
• Lee and Joe Jamail Swimming Center, Austin, TX
• Short Course Yards
• Results

TEAM SCORES

WOMEN

1. Texas – 179
2. Kentucky – 109

MEN

1. Texas – 172
2. Kentucky – 127

Texas’s men and women downed Kentucky in the Longhorn’s first meet of the season on Thursday, October 25th. The Longhorn men won in a 179-109 decision, while the Longhorn women beat the Wildcats 172-127.

Women’s Recap:

Longhorn freshman Kelly Pash pulled of a triple in her first NCAA meet, earning wins in the 200 free, 200 fly, and 200 IM. Pash got the ball rolling early, speeding to a 1:46.42 in the 200 free. Pash beat out fellow Longhorn freshman Bridget Semenuk (1:47.49) thanks to a stellar 53.74 on the back half of the race. Pash then posted a lifetime best 1:56.82 to win the 200 fly by about 2.5 seconds. It was Pash’s first time under 1:57 in the 200 fly, shaving a little bit off her previous best of 1:57.15. Pash also swam a lifetime best in the 400 IM, touching in 4:10.79. That swim came in just under her previous best of 4:10.97, which had stood as her best since December of 2017.

Texas’ Evie Pfeifer, who came in 2nd to Pash in the 400 IM (4:11.47), was a double event winner, taking the 1000 free and 500 free. Pfeifer swam a 9:55.09 in the 1000, even-splitting the race with 500 splits of 4:57.18 and 4:57.91. She also was dominant in the 500, clocking a 4:45.14 to touch as the only swimmer in the field under 4:50.

Kentucky’s Bailey Bonnett swept the women’s breaststroke events, swimming a 1:01.75 in the 100 breast and 2:12.15 in the 200. Wildcat teammate Asia Seidt won the 100 fly and 200 back. In the 100 fly, Seidt swam a 54.22, touching out Texas’ Claire Adams (54.42), thanks to a 28.36 on the 2nd 50 compared to Adams’ 28.97. In the 200 back, Seidt again held off a Longhorn, clocking a 1:56.18 to Julia Cook’s 1:56.34. The biggest difference in Seidt’s race was the 3rd 50, where she swam a 29.75 to Cook’s 30.00. Additionally, Cook’s 200 back was her first since March of 2018.

Cook had already won the 100 back earlier in the meet, swimming a 52.71. The time stands as Cook’s 2nd fastest 100 back in a dual meet in her NCAA career, and was marginally faster than her first 100 back of last season (52.79).

Cook also led off the winning Texas 400 free relay in 50.14, and was followed by freshman Kyla Leibel in 49.94, Mary Smutny in 51.72, and Bridget Semenuk in 50.00 for a final time of 3:21.80. Lauren Case split 50.94 on the Texas B relay, meaning Texas’ fastest combination of swimmers from today was 3:21.02.

Men’s Recap:

Longhorn freshman Jake Foster kicked off his NCAA career with a win in the men’s 1000 free. Foster swam a 9:06.20, which stands as a personal best for the freshman. He also swam a quick 3:51.77 in the 400 IM later in the meet, which was the fastest time in the field, but Foster swam the event exhibition (not for points). The official winner of the men’s 400 IM was Kentucky’s Daniel Orcutt, who clocked a 3:58.18. Foster swam a third individual event, the 200 back, where he touched in 1:51.79 and was swimming exhibition.

Maxime Rooney Also got off to a quick start in his first official meet as a Longhorn. Rooney kicked off the meet with a 1:36.19 to win the 200 free. He was out quick flipping at 22.19 at the first 50 mark, then clocking splits of 24.56, 24.59, and 24.87 respectively. Rooney then swam exhibition in the 200 back, touching in 1:46.15, which was the 2nd fastest time in the field behind fellow Longhorn Ryan Harty (1:45.25), who also swam exhibition. Rooney then led off the Texas B 400 free relay in a quick 44.03, which was Texas’ 4th fastest split overall, even giving Rooney swimming it from a flat-start.

Texas posted a 1-2-3 punch in the men’s 100 back. Christ Staka was first into the wall, touching in 47.30, followed by Harty (47.60), and Jason Park (49.38). Staka also led the A 200 medley relay off in a speedy 21.98.

Daniel Krueger (Texas) won the men’s 50 free with an impressive dual meet time of 19.81. Krueger also swam the fastest time in the 100 free (43.70), but swam that race exhibition. Kentucky’s Peter Wetzlar was the official winner of the 100 free (44.15). Krueger then led off the A 400 free relay in 43.32, helping the squad of himself, Charlie Scheinfeld (44.75), Chris Staka (43.83), and Drew Kibler (43.83) to a quick 2:55.73 finish.

PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS MEN:

AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 2 Texas Men’s Swimming and Diving defeated No. 17 Kentucky, 179.0 to 109.0, to open the season at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on Friday night.

The meet marks the sole home meet for the Longhorns this season. The men finished with 12 first places finishes, winning both the 400 freestyle relay and the 200 medley relay (1:27.10). The team also honored 10 seniors on their annual senior night.

Up next, the Longhorns will face Texas A&M in College Station on Friday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.

MEET NOTES

• Jordan Windle won both the 3 meter and the 1-meter diving contests.
• The men went 1-4 in the 1-meter diving contest, with Windle in first, followed by Campbell, Cornish, and Harness.
• In his first swim as a Longhorn, Chris Stake won two events with the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke (47.30).
• Maxime Rooney (1:36.19) and Austin Katz (1:38.14) went 1-2 in the 200 freestyle
• Texas went 1-3 in the 1000 freestyle with Jake Foster in first, followed by Chris Yeager and Jack Collins

FINAL STANDINGS

• Texas – 179
• Kentucky – 109

PRESS RELEASE – TEXAS WOMEN:

AUSTIN, Texas – No. 8 Texas Women’s Swimming and Diving defeated No. 14 Kentucky on Friday night in the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center.

In their first and last meet at home this season, the Longhorns took home 11 first-place finishes to beat Kentucky 172 to 127. Texas honored seniors; Claire Adams, Lauren Case, Alison Gibson, Kennedy Lohman, Jordan Wheeler, and Nina Bortolussi on Friday night as well.

MEET NOTES

• In Kelly Pash’s first meet as a Longhorn, she finished with three wins in the 200 freestyle, 200 butterfly, and the 400 IM.
  • The 400 IM race featured four of the top five times in the country this season.
• Evie Pfeifer finished the night with wins in the 1000 freestyle and the 500 freestyle.
• The women took first place in both the 200 IM relay and 400 freestyle relay.
• Texas took 1-4 in the 50 freestyle, Bridget Semenuk took first, followed by Kyla Leibel, Grace Ariola, and Jordan Wheeler.
• The Longhorns went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle with Claire Adams in first and Kyla Leibel in second.
• The women went 1-5 in the 1-meter diving contest, Allison Gibson took first, followed by Paola Pineda Vazquez, Jordan Skliken, Janie Boyle, and Morgan Menninger.

FINAL STANDINGS

• Texas – 172
• Kentucky – 127

PRESS RELEASE – KENTUCKY:

AUSTIN, Texas – In the toughest test of the season, the No. 17/14 University of Kentucky swimming and diving program fell to perennial No. 2/8 Texas at the site of the 2019 NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, on Friday afternoon.

The No. 14 women’s team lost to No. 8 Texas, 172-127, and moves to a 4-1 record. The No. 17 men dropped to No. 2 Texas, 179-109, and are 2-2 on the season.

“I thought we competed against such an incredible program in Texas,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “They’re a traditional national power and they displayed that today. Our girls made it a good meet for a while, though we ran out of steam at the end. Bailey Bonnett had outstanding performances. I was pleased with Kaitlynn Wheeler stepping up. Kyndal Knight did great on the 3-meter board. We had to fire on all cylinders in order to win, and we came up a bit short toward the end.

“For the men’s team, Peter Wetzlar was sensational. He did great, and the last relay going 2:56.56 in the 400-yard freestyle relay is outstanding. Peter led the men’s team today, his lead off in the relay was outstanding. He’s a great swimmer.”

Sophomore Kyndal Knight outperformed the women’s 3-meter springboard field for the third straight time this season to finish in first place on 343.95 points. Unbeaten on that discipline this season, her score marks a career best on the 3m board, just seven days removed from accomplishing that same feat against Ohio and South Carolina (334.20) on Oct. 18.

Also making headlines on Friday was the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay team when they recorded the fourth-fastest time in the nation in 2:56.56. Led by senior Peter Wetzlar (43.86), followed by senior John Mitchell (44.38), then sophomore Lukas Kraft (44.58) and with senior Jason Head (43.74) closing the deal, the foursome earned second place, less than half a second behind Texas.

The Kentucky women earned a season-best time in the opening race, recording a 1:39.69 in the 200-yard medley relay to finish second. Freshman Caitlin Brooks led off the team with the fastest lead leg among the field for the third straight time this season, notching a 24.70 in the backstroke split. The foursome was just two tenths of a second from defeating Texas in the opening race. Notable, the Kentucky “B” relay team took third place in the event in 1:42.90, adding a couple extra points toward the team’s score.

Two-time SEC Freshman of the Week, Brooks set a new season best in the 100-yard backstroke for the third straight meet, finishing second in 53.02, the sixth-fastest time in the nation.

Junior Bailey Bonnett recorded Kentucky’s first event win of the evening, meanwhile leading two of her teammates to second- and third- place finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke. Bonnett posted a season-best 1:01.75 in the event to top the field. Freshman Gillian Davey also notched a season-best time in 1:02.71 to finish in second, while junior Jaclyn Hill recorded a 1:04. 26 to finish in third.

In that same order, the same threesome also took first, second and third place in the 200-yard breaststroke. Bonnett collected first in 2:12.15, Davey took second in 2:12.74 and Hill settled in third place on a timestamp of 2:17.36. Bonnet’s and Davey’s times are season bests.

On the men’s side, senior Wyatt Amdor took second place in the 100-yard breaststroke on his second-best time of the season in 55.77.

Kentucky had a few solid performances in the 200-yard butterfly. On the women’s side, sophomore Izzy Gati took second in 1:59.34, followed by senior Asia Seidt who took third in 1:59.46. Both times were season-best marks. On the men’s side, sophomore standout Mason Wilby grabbed himself a second-place finish, recording a season-best 1:47.78 in the men’s 200-yard butterfly, dropping nearly a full second off his season-opener time on Oct. 9.

Seidt added two first-place finishes to her esteemed resume, winning the 200-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly fields. Topping the 200 backstroke field on a season-best 1:56.18, it marks the 11th-fastest time in the nation. The Louisville native also collected gold in the 100-yard butterfly on a season-best 54.22.

Peter Wetzlar recorded a season-best time in the 100-yard freestyle, earning second place in 44.15, the 10th fastest time in the nation. However, his lead-off split in the 400-yard freestyle relay (43.86) ranks as the seventh-fastest time. The Zimbabwean is ranked in the nation’s top 10 in both the 50- and 100- yard freestyle after the dual meet.

The Kentucky men forced a pair of 1-2-3 sweeps in the dual meet, starting with the 200-yard backstroke. Senior Alex Taylor led the field in 1:49.57, followed by senior John Mitchell in 1:49.87 and senior Connor Blandford forced a third-place finish in 1:50.65.

Later in the meet, junior Hank Siefert led the men’s team in the 500-yard freestyle on a timestamp of 4:28.43. Freshman Jakob Clark followed in 4:34.83, while senior Trent Lakes took third in 4:40.43.

Next on the Schedule
The Kentucky swimming and diving program will return to Lancaster Aquatic Center to host Missouri, N.C. State and Arkansas, Nov. 7-8.

For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter and on Instagram, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.