Kentucky swim and dive splits home meet against Louisville

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Kentucky freshman Caitlin Brooks swims in the women’s 200 yard butterfly during the meet against the University of Cincinnati on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, at the Lancaster Aquatic Center in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Jordan Prather | Staff

Parker Scott, Reporter

The No. 14 Kentucky womens swim and dive team triumphed over No. 6 Louisville while the mens team failed to overcome the No. 17 mens Cardinals at Saturday’s meet inside the Lancaster Aquatic Center for Kentucky’s senior day.

The 168-132 victory for the womens team, aided by four podium sweeps, was its second consecutive dual meet win against a top 10 opponent.

It marked the fifth victory over Louisville for the women’s squad in the last six years.

The Wildcats swept the podium in the 100 back, 100 breast, 200 back and 200 breast.

Kentucky’s Bridget Engel and Denise Phelan took the podium for both the 100 and 200 breaststroke while Caitlin Brooks, Lydia Hanson and Torie Buerger shined for the 100 and 200 back.

Kyndal Knight carried the Wildcats on the diving side, capturing titles in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, with scores of 286.73 and 342.45, respectively.

Although the mens team struggled to overcome No. 17 Louisville, losing by a score of 200-96, sophomore Nick Caruso had an impressive performance in the 1000 freestyle, breaking the UK program record with a time of 8:53.74.

Caruso was one of four swimmers to place first in at least two events on Saturday, also winning the 500 free.

Senior Henry Miller recorded personal best times in both the 100 and 200 breasts. His 1:57.60 in the 200 breaststroke records at the sixth fastest time in all of Kentucky while his 54.87 in the 100 breaststroke ranks him ninth for fastest time in the Bluegrass as well.

In addition to Miller, another Wildcat that stood out significantly on the mens team was fifth-year Mason Wilby.

Wilby triumphed in the 200 fly, 200 back, and 200 IM, making him the only Wildcat to win three individual events.

“It was an awesome senior day today,” Wilby told UK Athletics after the meet. “The guys stepped up in a lot of ways. A lot of the younger guys stepped up like Nick Caruso, getting a school record, which is awesome.”

The final dual meet of the season for the Wildcats will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Keating Aquatic Center on Friday, Jan. 27, at 4 p.m. EST.