No. 14 Kentucky Women’s swim team upsets No. 10 Louisville

Kentucky’s women’s swim team did something that hasn’t been done in almost a decade.

On Saturday, the No. 14 ranked Kentucky Wildcats defeated Louisville’s top-ten women’s team 161-138. This victory was Kentucky’s first dual meet win of the season against a top-ten team.

The meet started well with junior Geena Freriks taking first in the 1,000-yard freestyle, with a winning time of 9:52.05. Freriks added to this first victory by winning a close race in the 500-yard freestyle. She won with a time of 4:48.08. Freshman Bailey Bonnett joined Freriks by sweeping both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events. Both of Bonnett’s winning times (1:02.09 in the 100 and 2:13.14 in the 200) were NCAA ‘B’ cut times.

Sophomore star Asia Seidt really stole the show though. Seidt won all three of her individual events on the day, all three of her victories coming with NCAA ‘B’ cut times. The Louisville native won the 100-yard backstroke (53.62), the 100-yard butterfly (52.88), and the 200-yard individual medley (1:58.36). It was Seidt’s victory in the 200 IM that put the Wildcats decisively in front. Prior to that race, Kentucky was holding on to a narrow 134-130 advantage in points. But after Seidt touched the wall in first, the advantage increased to 148-135.

To ensure the victory, the Wildcats just needed a second place finish in the final event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Kentucky’s ‘A’ relay team, composed of Freriks, senior Bridgette Alexander, junior Haley McInerny, and sophomore Madison Winstead, delivered, finishing second with a time of 3:22.60. However, Louisville’s winning relay team was later declared disqualified by a false start, giving the Cats the victory in the event and the win overall.

Kentucky’s men’s team also traveled to Louisville, but came up short against the No. 14 ranked Cardinals, losing by a final score of 168.5-131.5, despite some hard fought victories.

Head coach Lars Jorgensen had this to say about his teams’ performances:

“It was a great meet. Obviously really pleased with the women coming up with a victory. It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten a very good Louisville team, so they were awesome today. I thought the guys fought really hard in the beginning. To me, it was a team effort. Isaac Jones was fantastic. Glen Brown’s 1:47 in the 200 IM – that’s about as good as you get in season. Asia Seidt was outstanding, winning some very close, big, important races for us, but it was our leadership and our captains that have done a great job all year.

Congrats to the Wildcats on the big win. You can read the full recap of the meet here.

The Cats are back in action at home against Cincinnati on Friday at 4 PM EST. This is the last dual meet of the season and will also be Senior Day for Kentucky’s eight seniors.