2009 Kentucky Wildcats Men's Swimming and Diving

The Kentucky men's swimming and diving team is one of the longest tenured programs in the Southeastern Conference. However, striking is the lack of overall success that has been experienced by the Wildcat swimming and diving squad since its inception. Despite being a member of the SEC for a number of decades, the team has just never seemingly been able to climb out of the bottom half of the conference on a year to year basis, and in fact, is usually at or near the bottom.

The University of Kentucky men's swimming and diving program began competing as part of the Southeastern Conference in 1950. The team finished in last place that year, and unfortunately, that placement was a harbinger of things to come. For the next few years, Kentucky often finished in last place, occasionally managing to beat 1 or two other SEC teams, in the SEC Championships. And this type of SEC Championship performance, that being the lower 1/3 of the conference, remained fairly consistent through most of the 1950's and 1960's.

The team's golden years, or at least most successful, were still nothing particularly outstanding. In 1970 and 1971, the team managed a 4th place showing at the SEC Championships, and many outside observers viewed this as a sign that the program may be moving forward. However, this trend did not continue, and by 1974, the team was back in last place in the Southeastern Conference. From 1974-2000, the team only managed to finish higher than 6th in the SEC one time, that being a 5th place showing in 1983. Since the dawn of the new millennium, the team has shown some slight improvement, and in 2005, posted its first 4th place finish since 1971.

2009 Kentucky Wildcats Women's Swimming and Diving

Much like their male counterparts, the University of Kentucky women's swimming and diving team has never really been able to firmly establish itself as a competitive program within the difficult Southeastern Conference. While it has had its successful moments, generally speaking, most seasons have ended with the team in the bottom half of the conference standings. However, unlike the men, the women's teams have, for the most part, avoided finishing in last place at the SEC Championships.

The Kentucky women's swimming and diving squad began competing as part of the Southeastern Conference back in 1985, and for the first 5 seasons or so, the team, while competitive, really wasn't able to get much traction in its attempts to climb up the SEC ranks and establish itself as a title threat. Over the course of that time the team regularly finished in 6th - 8th place range. And while 1990 brought a 5th place finish, the highest mark to date at the SEC Championships, it was a short-lived high, as 1991 brought about another 7th place showing.

The team finally began to move forward with their performances in the mid 1990's. And while no titles were won, the team did take some small steps forward. 1995 brought with it a 4th place showing in the Southeastern Conference, the team's best showing to date. And 1999 brought with it the team's first and only 3rd place finish at the SEC Championships. Since then, the team has performed consistently middle-of-the-pack, and for the past 4 years, has managed to finish in the top half of the conference at the SEC Championships for 4 straight seasons, the first time in its history the team had done that.

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