Highlighting UK swimmer Christina Bechtel

By Joshua Huff

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Lost amid the spotlight of UK basketball and the aftermath of the football season is a diamond in the rough.

Outside the world of UK swimming, not much is known about senior Christina Bechtel. The Franklin High School product is as cliché as it sounds, making waves in the swimming world. The 2014-15 USA Swimming National Team Member has gone virtually unnoticed during her four years at UK despite qualifying for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.

She is currently a member of the 2014-15 U.S. National Team with the likes of Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin.

As a junior at UK, Bechtel earned All-American honors in 2014 after her fifth-place finish in the 200 meter butterfly and competed in three events at the 2014 NCAA Championships. She has earned numerous accolades during her time with the Cats. She was a 2013 and 2014 NCAA Championship qualifier where she competed in three events and set a school record in the 200m butterfly with a time of 1:53.65 and helped UK place twenty-third in the championship.

She holds the No.1 spot in the UK record books for her 51.36 time in the 100m butterfly in 2013 and her 1:53.65 time in the 200m butterfly in 2014.

Bechtel arrived at UK as an All-American from Excel Aquatics, a swimming club out of Franklin. She was an All-American in the 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 400m freestyle relay and 200m medley relay. Bechtel also was awarded the 2010 Middle Tennessee Swimmer of the Year.

Since then she has become a two-time SEC Female Swimmer of the Week and has numerous accolades for her performance out of the pool and in the classroom.

So far this season, Bechtel has become a dominant force for UK. She has posted individual top times in the women’s 50m free, 100m free, 200m free, 100m fly and the 200m fly (all during the Ohio State Invitational).

As her last season at UK winds down, the opportunity to see her swim in person at the Lancaster Aquatic Center has sadly passed. But with matches against Cincinnati along with the SEC and NCAA Championships beginning in February and running into March, the chance to cheer for one of UK’s most accomplished swimmers remains.