There was no empty seat in the James E. Martin Aquatic Center as over 1,800 fans from teams all across the conference filled the stands with passion, energy and a lot of noise.
The six-day SEC Championships in Auburn, Alabama, was nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster for Kentucky and, luckily for the Cats, saw them not return to Lexington empty-handed as sophomore Levi Sandidge stood tall on the podium, taking the bronze medal in the 1,650-meter freestyle.
The Wildcats overall ended up finishing tenth on the men’s side and ninth on the women’s side. More impressively, they closed out the event with 16 new top-ten times in the UK record book, 44 new personal bests and 13 NCAA B-Standard times.
Day one
Early Monday morning, Kentucky dive started off the event for the Wildcats.
The Cats were led by senior Sam Duncan, who competed in the men’s one-meter dive, the only scoring event for that day. His preliminary score put him thirteenth in the competition, qualifying him for the ‘B’ final.
During the final round, Duncan posted his highest career SEC finish with a final score of 354.05, securing his first-place finish for that final. Freshman Gavin Hang was also able to earn a top-24 score in the event.
Elsewhere the women competed in the SEC Championships’ first-ever team diving event and were able to finish fifth in the competition, but it did not contribute to the team score as it was an exhibition.
Standings after day one: men’s team: sixth place (23 points)
Day two
Kentucky swimmers lined up on the starting blocks for the first time on day two, competing in both the 200-meter medley relay and the 800-meter medley relay.
The Wildcats took the highest placing of the day in the men’s 800-meter freestyle relay as Max Berg, Ryan Merani, Victor Martin Roig and Zane Rosely took five seconds off their seed time and were able to secure eighth place overall.
On the diving side, freshman Kristy Pfaff competed in the three-meter dive, where she qualified for the ‘B’ final in her first-ever SECs. She took tenth overall in the event, totaling a score of 326.40.
Standings after day two: men’s team: ninth place (101 points), women’s team: 10th place (98 points)
Day three
On Wednesday, the Wildcats began to find their rhythm and had quite a successful day for the program, totaling five new top-ten times, 15 new personal bests and seven new NCAA-B cut standards.
The day was highlighted by freshman Carson Hick, who started off the day by putting up the third-fastest 500-meter freestyle time in Kentucky history.
A few hours later, he broke his time by more than a second and claimed the second fastest time in the UK record books (14:47.84).
The 200-meter individual medley (IM) led to two ‘B’ final placements on the women’s side, where Torie Buerger clocked the ninth fastest time in UK history and claimed 13th overall.
Anna Havens Rice took 16th place during the final session.
On the men’s side, three Wildcats put up new top-ten program times with Merani setting a new personal best of 1:44.77, which put him with the fifth fastest time in program history.
Logan Ingerick and John Broome took seventh and tenth place in history books, respectively.
Duncan competed in his second ‘B’ final of the competition in the men’s one-meter dive, placing second in his final and ended tenth overall with a final score 357.45.
Standings after day three: men’s team: seventh place (191 points), women’s team: tied-eighth place (173 points)
Day four
On day four Havens Rice became the first Kentucky Wildcat to make it to the ‘A’ final with her preliminary time in the 400-meter IM qualifying her for the eighth fastest morning session time. She was disqualified in the final round for an improper turn.
In the men’s 400-meter IM, freshmen Lance Johnson and Aaron Gasiewicz swam to their first-ever NCAA B-standard times. Johnson’s time of 3:47.25 was the tenth fastest time in school history.
Three other Wildcats also clocked a B-standard time, with Sandidge tying the sixth fastest time in school history during the ‘B’ final with a time of 3:46.05.
All five Kentucky representatives qualified for the final sessions that evening.
It was a day for the freshman class, as Carter Ruthven was welcomed to the all-time top ten for the first time, clocking a time of 47.22 in the men’s 100-meter butterfly, tying the seventh-fastest time in program history.
Berg took the highest final finish of the day, qualifying for tenth overall with a time of 1:33.28 in the 200-meter freestyle.
Standings after day four: men’s team: eighth place (243 points), women’s team: ninth place (211 points)
Day five
Merani’s overall fifth-place finish in the 200-meter butterfly highlighted the second to last day of competition. He was the first men’s swimmer to qualify for an ‘A’ final and his time of 1:42.10 led to the highest placement of any Wildcat so far and granted him the second-fastest time in program history.
Jack Hamilton highlighted the 100-meter backstroke, with his time of 47.78 falling as the ninth fastest time in the Kentucky record books.
On the women’s side, Buerger qualified for the ‘B’ final, finishing 15th overall.
The women’s 100-meter breaststroke held two wildcats in the C-final and senior Bridget Engel swam in the ‘B’ final. Engel swam her way to first place in the consolation final, making her ninth overall in the event as her time of 59.39 made her the fourth-fastest Kentucky swimmer ever in that event.
During the relays that night, Hamilton swam a 47.57 in the lead-off leg of the 400-meter medley relay, marking a personal best and the seventh-fastest time in Kentucky history.
Standings after day five: men’s team: 10th place (319 points), women’s team: ninth place (307 points)
Day six
The sixth-and-final day of competition was arguably the best for Kentucky, as it claimed its first podium finish of the conference championship.
Sandidge swam his way into the top three in the 1,650-meter freestyle (mile) race for the second year in a row. His time of 14:44.24 not only secured him the bronze medal, but also put his name amongst the fastest swimmers in the country for the event.
The race was one he had qualified for both the NCAA Championships and, perhaps more impressively, the 2024 US Olympic Trials in.
Elsewhere Hick added to his historic resume during the final day, adding onto of his already impressive performance during the Championship.
He competed in the same mile event as Sandidge and finished only two spots below him for fifth place, with his race also making him the second fastest Wildcat in UK swim history for the event, the only one ahead of him being Sandidge.
During the 200-meter backstroke, Grace Frericks swam in the ‘A’ final, placing seventh overall.
On the men’s side, Hamilton rearranged the record book again, posting the sixth-fastest time in that event while Roig took the tenth-fastest time in Kentucky history for the 100-meter freestyle.
The Wildcats rounded out the competition, finishing tenth on the men’s side with 433 points and ninth on the women’s side with 446 points.
As diving travels to Louisville for the NCAA Diving Zones, Kentucky will be back in action from Thursday, Mar. 14, to Saturday, Mar. 16.
The Wildcat swimmers will then make their own trip to Ocala, Florida, to compete in the CSCAA National Invite, which also takes place Mar. 14-16.
