The University of Kentucky women’s team will host an open tryout for prospective swimmers and divers to join the 2023-24 varsity squad on Sept. 16, an announcement that comes on the heels of a chaotic offseason.
The Wildcats not only saw longtime head coach Lars Jorgensen resign amidst a reported investigation into misconduct allegations, but they’re also losing all four of their 2023 NCAA scorers to graduation: Kyndal Knight, Lauren Poole, Gillian Davey and Caitlin Brooks.
On top of that, they had five swimmers enter the NCAA transfer portal last season who have found new homes for the upcoming campaign: Jordan Agliano, Annie Galvin, Breckin Gormley, Megan Hartlieb and Stella Todd.
Galvin and Hartlieb have both transferred to Iowa, Agliano and Gormley have moved on to South Carolina, and Todd has headed to TCU.
The Kentucky women placed 19th at the 2023 NCAA Championships, scoring 49 points to mark their lowest finish (and point total) since 2016.
They finished third at the 2023 SEC Championships, having won the conference title in 2021 and finished as the runner-up in 2022.
The team currently has 32 athletes listed on the 2023-24 roster, seven of whom qualified for NCAAs last season: Lydia Hanlon, Paige Taber, Grace Frericks, Bridget Engel, Olivia Mendenhall, Megan Drumm and diver Abby Devereaux.
Former Princeton women’s head coach Bret Lundgaard has taken over as the Wildcats new head coach, while Kentucky has also added Colin Faris and Robin Boughey to its coaching staff.
The tryout, open to full-time, academically eligible UK students, will run from 7:00-9:00 a.m. at the Lancaster Aquatic Center on Sept. 16. Those interested can contact diving coach Ted Hautau. You can find more information here.
It doesn’t seem that crazy to me? Lots of D1 swim teams have walk-ons. I can imagine this shaking down some kids who were maybe sectionals-level swimmers in high school, picked the school for other reasons, and thought that swimming was out of reach. They could provide depth for dual meets, bolster team spirit, and some of them could improve with good training.
Probably Title IX – Less female swimmers & divers due to summer transfers than they were counting on to balance men’s sports athletes. Women’s team is currently +5 and they typically run +10 to +15 of the men.
Are these diving try outs? Which would make more sense. It does say, contact the diving coach…
this has to be a joke
Hartlieb and Galvin are both listed on Iowa’s roster as transfers.
Bold strategy cotton…. When Olivet Nazarene University started swimming, Coach Teeters was lucky enough to find former Purdue swimmer Aaron Buchanan on campus. I don’t think Coach Lundgaard will have similar luck.
Either way – Go Cats
I’d say that may have been starting out in 2013 when he was first starting the program. However ONU men and women won many championships because of his ability to make athletes confident in themselves and it didn’t make a difference if you were on scholarship or not. He genuinely cared for all of his swimmers which made him who he is as a coach all the way from metro detroit area to Bourbonnais, IL. Teeters met swimmers where they were and built them from there.
“Open tryouts” at an SEC school…
That’s new.
I just typed in “open tryouts” plus a random SEac school and found multiple sports hosting tryouts, including football and women’s basketball.
But yeah, go ahead and say “that’s new”. I need #FreezingColdTakes to really get in these comments sometimes.
Were any of the sports in search “swimming”?
Which university?
Any of them.
SEC football open tryouts? The only situation I can think about is the “12th Man” tryout at A&M. This is a traditional spot reserved for a walk-on, who wears the number 12, and who stays a walk-on. If memory serves, there are several 12’s available, one dresses for every game, and plays on kick-off teams for maybe 1-2 plays per game.
Again… I ask… what SWIMMING program has open tryouts?
Source: trust me bro🤡