Kentucky swimming posts five school records at Nationals event

On Saturday, the Kentucky swim teams finished their competition at the Phillips 66 National Championships. The five-day event, in part hosted by USA Swimming, featured 11 Wildcat athletes, 12 personal bests, and five new school records.

Soon-to-be sophomore, Ryan Merani claimed two of those school records, setting Kentucky records in both the 400 individual medley (4:21.12) and 200 individual medley (2:01.72). He also set a personal best and won the C-final of the 200 butterfly.

While that was impressive enough, two other Wildcats broke the school record in 800-meter freestyle nearly back-to-back. First, Eli Sandidge posted a personal best of 8:01.96 to secure an entry into the 2024 Olympic Trials. That’s when Nick Caruso said, “Hold my water bottle.”

Caruso posted a personal best of 7:58.80 in the 800-meter freestyle, becoming the first-ever Wildcat to break the 8-minute mark. The time was good for an 8th-place finish at the event.

Not to be outdone, Sandidge finished 5th in the 1500-meter freestyle, the highest finish for any Kentucky swimmer at the meet, with a personal best time of 15:09.75. This shattered the previous program record by more than 20 seconds.

For the women’s team, rising senior Bridget Engel set persona bests in both the 50-meter and 200-meter breaststroke and registered Olympic Trials standards in the 100-meter and 200-meter. Her teammates, Denise Phelan and Torie Buerger also set personal bests in breaststroke races.

Meanwhile, I get tired after treading water for 10 seconds as I make my way over to the pool float that has my beverage in its cup holder.

It is great to hear the team excel despite the turmoil surrounding suspended coach, Lars Jorgensen. Congrats on the great performance!