The Kentucky swimming and diving team will host its final home meet of the season this Saturday, welcoming the No. 7/17 Louisville Cardinals to the Lancaster Aquatic Center at 1 p.m. The meet will also serve as senior day for the Wildcats, as 14 seniors will be recognized during a pre-meet ceremony at 12:45 p.m.
Saturday’s meet will be the final home competition for four Wildcat fifth-years: Mason Wilby, Adam Rosipal, Izzy Gati, and Kyndal Knight. The meet will also mark the first competition for the Cats since their dual meet against Georgia on December 19. In that meet, the Kentucky women defeated the Bulldogs for the first time in program history.
UK swimmers with top-20 times in the country this season individually include Levi Sandidge (6th in the 1650 free and 10th in the 1000 free), Kaitlynn Wheeler (10th in the 500 free), Caitlin Brooks (13th in the 200 back), and Gillian Davey (18th in the 200 breast). The Kentucky women’s relay teams also rank 9th in the 800 freestyle relay and 17th in the 400 medley relay. On the diving boards, Kyndal Knight has the fifth-best average score in the country on the 1-meter springboard and fourth-best on the 3-meter.
Louisville is the fifth-straight Wildcat dual meet opponent to have both the men’s and women’s teams ranked in the top-25. The Cardinals’ women have compiled a 4-0 dual meet record this season and placed first at the Purdue Invitational. The men have gone 3-1 in duals and placed second among six teams in West Lafayette. The No. 7 ranked Louisville women are led by Gabi Albiero, Christiana Regenauer, and Liberty Williams, all of whom rank inside the top-25 in three events. For the men, Ilia Sirbirtsev, Denis Loktev, and Denis Petrashov have been the top-point earners.
In the last five meetings between the two in-state rivals, the Kentucky women own a 4-1 advantage over the Cardinals, while the UK men are 1-4. The meet will be streamed on SECN+ and live results will be available on the Meet Mobile app. Admission is free for all fans.