Backstroke events continue to bring success for the Wildcats

Four days of competition have brought plenty of excitement and some disappointments for the Wildcats at the US National Championships in Indianapolis. Tomorrow marks the end of the competition.

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Day three was an up and down day for the Cats in the pool. Junior Kathryn Painter and incoming freshman Lauren Edelman both qualified for the finals of the 400-meter individual medley. Edelman finished 22nd overall with a finals time of 4:51.24, a little slower than her time from prelims. Painter, who qualified for the B-final, was disqualified in finals, one of several swimmers who were disqualified in the event. These were the only two swims in finals for the Wildcats.

Day four started off well with junior Geena Freriks qualifying for the finals of the 400-meter freestyle in the 9th position. The trio of backstrokers, Ali Galyer, Asia Seidt, and Bridgette Alexander, competed again today in the 100-meter backstroke. Alexander had a great morning swim and qualified for finals in the 8th position. Seidt also punched a ticket to finals in the 14th position; Galyer just missed finals by a half-second. Freriks began the finals session with at top-16 finish in the 400; she was a little slower than she was in the morning, turning in a time of 4:14.02. Seidt and Alexander both finished in the top-16 in the 100 backstroke. Seidt finished 16th with a time of 1:01.20, about a half-second slower than her prelims time. Alexander stole the UK spotlight of the night. She finished on the podium in 7th place with a new school record time of 1:00.64. Head swim coach Lars Jorgensen tweeted this after the race:

At the end of four days of competition, the Wildcats have had 11 finals swims, two swimmers finish in the top 8 in the country, multiple top-16 and top-24 finishes, and have set two new school records in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Asia Seidt and Bridgette Alexander are also being considered for the US World University Games for their performances in the 100 and 200 backstroke. The Wildcats have also seen some impressive swims from incoming freshmen Bailey Bonnett and Lauren Edelman. All this is coming in competition with the best swimmers in the United States. Pretty impressive stuff.

There is only one day of competition left. Preliminary competition begins tomorrow at 9 AM Eastern.