Courtesy: Kentucky Athletics
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky swimming & diving announced its 2023-24 schedule on Wednesday, as the Wildcats ready for season one of competition under new head coach, Bret Lundgaard.
This year’s slate features three home meets inside the Lancaster Aquatic Center, and includes head-to-head competition against 11 teams that finished inside the final CSCAA Top-25 of 2023.
The action begins on Sept. 22 as the Wildcat women travel to Arkansas for a dual meet with the Razorbacks and continues Oct. 4 as both the men and women journey to Bloomington to take on Indiana.
The first chance to watch the Wildcats at home comes on Oct. 13 when the women dual with Eastern Michigan, while the men hold an intrasquad scrimmage.
Kentucky will ramp up the competition on Nov. 4 when the Cats head to Knoxville for a tri-meet with SEC powerhouses, Florida and Tennessee. The Gators’ men and women are both defending SEC Champions, while the Volunteers are coming off a runner-up showing in the 2023 SEC Women’s Championship and a third-place finish on the men’s side.
This year’s midseason invitational will be back in Knoxville, Nov. 15-17, at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.
Following the Tennessee Invite, Kentucky will break for the USA Diving Winter National Championships (Nov. 28 – Dec. 6) and the Toyota U.S. Open (Nov. 29 – Dec. 2). The Wildcats will close out 2023 with the Auburn Diving Invite, Dec. 17-20.
UK returns from the holiday by hosting Alabama Jan. 12-13, before traveling to Louisville for the annual dual with the Cardinals, Jan. 27. The final dual meet of the season will be Feb. 2 at the Lancaster Aquatic Center against Cincinnati, a meet which will also serve as the team’s Senior Day.
The 2023-24 SEC Championships will be hosted by Auburn, Feb. 20-24. This is bookended by the First Chance meet in Louisville, Feb. 8-9, and the Last Chance meet in Knoxville, March 1-2.
NCAA Diving Zones will be contested back in Louisville, March 14-16. The second annual CSCAA National Invite will be held simultaneously in Ocala, Florida.
The 2023-24 collegiate swimming and diving season culminates with the Women’s NCAA Championship in Athens, Georgia, March 20-23, followed by the Men’s NCAA Championship, March 27-30, in Indianapolis.
Kentucky returns 13 NCAA individual qualifiers from 2022-23, eight women and five men. Last season, the women placed third in the SEC and 19th at the NCAA Championship, while the men finished eighth in the conference and 28th at NCAAs.
Any report on their open team tryouts?
Go Cats!