Kentucky March Madness Spreading to Pool at NCAAs

Kentucky's Asia Seidt. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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By Dan D’Addona.

March Madness is a familiar place for the Kentucky Wildcats.

On Saturday, that strong NCAA performance happened in the pool as a trio of Wildcats made the final — and another made the consolation final — in the 200-yard backstroke at the NCAA Division I women’s championships in Indianapolis.

Defending national champion Danielle Galyer used a late surge to win her heat and take the second seed in tonight’s final with a 1:49.73, trailing just NC State’s Alexia Zevnik (1:49.71).

Galyer, a senior, was joined in the final by her sister Ali Galyer, a freshman, who took the fourth seed at 1:50.53.

Another impressive freshman for the Wildcats squeaked into the final, as Asia Seidt tied for the seventh seed with Michigan’s Clara Smiddy at 1:50.86.

They are joined in the final by Cal’s Kathleen Baker (1:49.96, third seed), Indiana’s Kennedy Goss (1:50.62, fifth seed) and Texas senior Tasija Karosas (1:50.85, sixth seed).

The Wildcat trio performed so well that it pushed some big names in backstroke like Stanford’s Janet Hu, Cal’s Amy Bilquist, Texas A&M’s Lisa Bratton and Texas freshman Claire Adams into the consolation final.

Kentucky junior Bridgette Alexander took the 12^th seed at 1:51.61.

Seidt finished eighth in the 200 IM (1:55.19) and 12^th in the 100 backstroke (51.59), two spots ahead of Danielle Galyer (51.78).

Kentucky sophomore Geena Freriks finished 10^th in the 500 freestyle (4:38.42) and 15^th in the 200 free (1:45.04). Sophomore Kathryn Painter took 16^th in the 400 IM (4:09.02).

The Wildcats placed 16^th in the 400 medley relay (3:31.75) behind Danielle Galyer, Madison Winstead, Sedit and Freriks. Senior diver Rebecca Hamperian finished 13^th on 3-meter (312.10 points) and the Wildcats just missed out coming back in the 400 freestyle relay, finishing 17^th.

Of all the scorers, only Hamperian and Danielle Galyer are seniors.

Coming into the final night of the meet, Kentucky sits in 15^th place with 61 points. Those points are going to rise significantly in the final night, giving the Wildcats plenty of momentum for the future.

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