Wildcat Freshman Levi Sandidge Wins Three Events as Indiana Rolls Kentucky

KENTUCKY vs INDIANA

• Wednesday, October 5, 2022
• Lancaster Aquatic Center, Lexington, KY
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

TEAM SCORES

WOMEN

1. IU – 161
2. UK – 139

MEN

1. IU – 201
2. UK – 96

Kentucky hosted Indiana for a dual meet late this morning at the Lancaster Aquatic Center, falling to the Hoosiers in both men’s and women’s scoring. The Indiana men defeated Kentucky soundly, 201-96, while the women’s meet was much closer, seeing IU top UK 161-139.

Men’s Recap

Although his team lost, Kentucky freshman Levi Sandidge had a phenomenal day, winning all three of the longest men’s events. He kicked his day off with a resounding victory in the men’s 1000 free, swimming a 9:02.22. He swam an incredibly consistent race, touching less than four seconds off his lifetime best of 8:58.77.

Sandidge then went on to post a 4:25.05 in the men’s 500 free, establishing the early lead and holding on to win the event by two seconds. Again, he was just off his personal best, which sits at 4:24.50. The freshman capped off his day with a win in the 400 IM, where he swam a 3:53.57, which is also just off his personal best of 3:52.51.

Jassen Yep continues to swim well for Indiana, sweeping the men’s breast events after racing well at IU’s intrasquad this past weekend. Yep clocked a 55.01 in the men’s 100 breast, leading teammate Max Reich (55.52) into the wall. Yep and Reich were the top two finishers in the men’s 200 breast as well, with Yep clocking a 1:59.21 for first and Reich a 1:59.43 for second.

Notably, Indiana’s Josh Matheny, a star breaststroker, was off in his events today, swimming a 57.12 in the 100 breast and 2:12.51 in the 200 breast. Matheny reportedly is coming off a recent illness which caused him to lose a significant amount of weight. He only raced on one relay at the IU intrasquad meet over the weekend.

Brendan Burns, an IU senior, won the men’s 200 fly and 200 back. Burns, the reigning NCAA champion in the 200 fly, swam a 1:45.07, pulling away from Kentucky’s Mason Wilby (1:47.41) on the back half of the race. He then went on to clock a 1:45.91 to win the 200 back.

Indiana’s Rafael Miroslaw took the men’s 100 free and 200 free, leading one-two charges for the Hoosiers in both events. In the 200 free, Miroslaw built a small lead on Burns early in the race, and was able to close faster than his teammate as well, getting into the finish in 1:37.24. Burns swam a 1:37.98 for second.

Miroslaw followed his victory in the 200 free with a 44.49 to win the 100 free. Junior teammate Gavin Wight clocked a 44.67.

Wight and Miroslaw also teamed up on IU’s ‘A’ 400 free relay, helping the squad to victory. Wight led the team off in 44.54, slightly faster than he swam in the individual 100 free. Finn Brooks went second, splitting 44.52, then Miroslaw clocked a 43.69, and Van Mathias anchored in 43.59. The Indiana ‘A’ team posted a 2:56.34 to win.

Indiana’s ‘B’ 400 free relay was nearly as fast as the ‘A’, coming in second with a 2:57.88. Tomer Frankel led that team off in 44.40, with Luke Barr splitting 43.86 on the second leg, Jack Franzman 44.48 on the third leg, Jacob Destrampe anchored in 45.14.

Women’s Recap

After winning a combined five events at Indiana’s intrasquad this past weekend, sisters Anna and Noelle Peplowski won five events today as well. Anna Peplowski, a sophomore, was a triple event winner on the day, taking sweeping the backstroke events and winning the 50 freestyle as well. In the 100 back, Peplowski beat out Kentucky’s Caitlin Brooks, swimming a 53.48 to touch 0.39 seconds ahead of Brooks. Peplowski was faster than Brooks on both 50s, swimming 26.00 on the first 50 to Bro0ks’ 26.19, and 27.48 on the back half to Brooks’ 27.68.

The younger Peplowski sister then took to women’s 200 back in 1:56.80, swimming a very consistent race. She was out in 58.04 on the first 100, then came home in 58.76. Anna also won the women’s 50 free, swimming a 23.12.

Noelle Peplowski, a fifth year at Indiana, swept the women’s breaststroke events. She won the 100 breast handily, swimming a 1:01.03 to get her hands on the wall 1.22 seconds ahead of runner-up Bridget Engel (Kentucky). Noelle then swam a 2:10.87 to win the 200 breast, again beating the field convincingly. She then raced the 400 IM, where she came in fourth, swimming a 4:22.64.

It was Kentucky’s Lauren Poole who won the women’s 400 IM by 2.44 seconds, clocking a 4:14.00, putting together a well-balanced race.

The Peplowski sisters each helped an Indiana relay to victory on the day as well. Noelle swam the breaststroke leg of Indiana’s women’s 200 medley relay, splitting 28.00. Kacey McKenna led the team off with a 25.68, Lily Hann split 24.69 on fly, and Kristina Paegle anchored in 22.04, combining for a 1:40.41.

Anna Peplowski led the IU women’s 400 free relay off in 50.04. She was followed by Ella Ristic in 50.09, Ashley Turak with a 51.08. and Paegle in 49.99. The Hoosiers posted a 3:21.20, beating Kentucky’s top relay by 4.62 seconds.

Kristina Paegle, an IU freshman, was victorious in the women’s 100 free, swimming a 49.79 to touch the wall first by over a second. Fellow Hoosier Ashley Turak was second, swimming a 50.84.

Indiana’s Mariah Denigan swept the women’s distance events, first taking the 1000 free in 9:53.26. The IU distance group looks to be in good shape, as Ching Hwee Gan took second in 9:58.91. Impressively, both women clocked negative splits in their races.

Denigan and Gan went one-two in the 500 free as well, with Denigan winning convincingly with a 4:50.47. Gan was 4:54.49, pulling away from Kentucky’s Beth McNeese and Izzy Gati, who finished third and fourth in 4:56.03 and 4:56.09 respectively.

Gati won the women’s 200 free handily, swimming a 1:48.00 to finish as the only athlete in the field under 1:50. She pulled off something rare, negative splitting the 200 free by going out in 54.07 and coming home in 53.93.