Leaving the competition in their wake: UK swimming and diving has speed, experience in their favor this season

Sophomore Chelsea Peterson swims a lap during the UK swimming and diving team practice at the Lancaster Aquatic Center on Thursday, October 22, 2009. Photo by Britney McIntosh | Staff

By Brandon Mattingly

The UK swimming and diving teams are going to let you know who they are.

Some of the fastest swimmers in the country can be found at UK.

A gold medalist, another Olympian and the owner of one of the 50 fastest butterfly times in the world are included on UK’s 2009-10 men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams.

Gary Connelly has been the swimming head coach at UK since 1991 and said this is one of the better women’s teams he has had. He gave even higher praise to what the men’s team could accomplish this season.

“This could potentially be our best men’s team ever,” Connelly said.

Those are high accolades for a team that finished in the top 20 in the NCAA Championships last season.

Elvis Burrows is a fifth-year senior who represented the Bahamas in the 2008 Olympic Games as well as this past year’s World Games.

Burrows has the 44th fastest men’s 50-butterfly time in the world.  He currently holds the team record in the butterfly, surpassing fellow fifth-year senior and All-American, Warren Grobbelaar.  Connelly regards both swimmers as among the best sprint butterfliers in the nation.

Senior leader Kyle Greene led the team with All-American honors in four events as a junior and is looking to continue a leadership role with fellow seniors Burrows, Grobbelaar and Eric McGinnis.

McGinnis comes into the season on an emotional high after winning a gold medal in this past summer’s World University Games.

He was on a team that took gold in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay.

“That was definitely the biggest thing that I’ve ever been a part of,” McGinnis said. “Bringing a gold medal to the United States was something real special.”

Junior Tyler Reed is one of the premier men’s 200-freestylers in the country and credits much of his success to Connelly.

“Training under Gary has been a huge benefit as he was also a 200-freestyler and an Olympian and can give insights many others can’t,” Reed said.

The women’s team does not have as much depth as the men’s team but they do have a solid balance of experience and young talent.

Senior Megan Pulskamp and junior Chatham Penrod are looking to make their third appearances at the NCAA Championships. Junior Jenna Newsome and sophomore Kelsi Hall have gotten off to hot starts this season and should be in the running for NCAA berths this year as well.

Many swimmers on the women’s side have had to expand their roles because of a lack of depth.  Junior Kayla Sergesketter is a prime example.

When Sergesketter arrived at UK, she was strictly a sprinter. Now, as a junior, she has been asked to take on events of all distances.

Connelly commended her ability to take on any task.

“She is probably the hardest worker in practice on the team,” Connelly said. “She’s willing to swim pretty much any event we throw her into and she’ll do a real good job with it.”

With all the success of the swimming team, diving is a work in progress for UK after former diving coach Mike Lyden died in 2008.  Ted Hautau is in his second season as the diving coach at UK and has the task of rebuilding a diving team that consists of only two men and one woman.

“Our goal is to be a top 20 team in the country in both (men’s and women’s diving),” Connelly said. “The men I think really have the capability to really start to push toward the top 10 level.”