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Charlotte Driesse has announced her verbal commitment to continue her education and swimming career at the University of Kentucky. Driesse is from St. Augustine, Florida, where she attends Nease High School and swims for Loggerhead Aquatics. She’s currently a junior, and will arrive on campus next fall ahead of the 2025-2026 season.

“I am extremely excited to announce my verbal commitment to continue my athletic and academic career at the University of Kentucky!!! Huge shoutout to God, my amazing family, friends, and coaches for all of their continuous support. I also want to thank all the coaches over at UK for this opportunity. GO WILDCATS!!”

Driesse is a Winter Juniors qualifier in the 500 free, 200m IM, 200m free, and 100m free, as well as holds Futures qualifying times across the sprint free and butterfly events. She is also a two-time Florida High School State Champion in the 200 IM (3A), most recently winning the event with a time of 2:03.13 this past fall.

Driesse has since lowered her best time in the 200 IM to 2:02.72 to take 6th at the Florida Spring Senior Championships. She also notched a personal best in the 200 free with a time of 1:49.81, good for 13th overall. 

Driesse got an early start to her long course season this spring at the Southern Zone Senior Championships. She dropped nearly three seconds in the 400m free (4:27.96) en route to a 15th place finish, while in the 200m IM she knocked off almost a second to clock a 2:21.41 and finish 5th. Her 400 IM was her top finish of the meet, as she stopped the clock in a personal best of 5:03.77 for 4th. 

Top SCY Times

• 200 free – 1:49.81
• 500 free – 4:53.22
• 100 fly – 55.17
• 200 fly – 2:02.95
• 200 IM – 2:02.72
• 400 IM – 4:24.09

Kentucky is currently led by head coach Bret Lundgaard, who took over the program this past summer. At this year’s SEC Championships, the women finished 9th out of 12 teams, with a total of 446 points. Driesse will likely have some choices to make when it comes to her lineup at Kentucky, but based on this year’s results she’s closest to scoring range in the 200 IM. 

Anna Havens Rice was the team’s top finisher this year at SECs, as she recorded a 1:58.38 to take 13th overall. She was joined in the B-final by her teammate Torie Buerger, who finished 16th with a 2:00.07 in finals. Both Rice and Buerger will no longer be on campus when Driesse arrives.

With her commitment, Driesse joins Sarah Shaffer, Eli Summa, Julia Shafer, Cassidy Allison, Lucy Trailov, Kelsey Stuck, and Arianna Wertheim in Kentucky’s future class of 2029. 

If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].

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Kentucky Basketball coach Mark Pope has zeroed in on another player in the transfer portal.

Meet Ansley Almonor, a senior who played the last three seasons with the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights. He’s reportedly visiting Pope and Kentucky today for a visit.

Standing at 6-foot-7 and 219 pounds, Almonor possesses the skill to score the basketball at a high level. This past season, he scored over 16 points per game while averaging career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, field-goal percentage, and 3-point percentage.

It’s clear Pope has a game plan for putting the finishing touches on his roster. Every player he and his staff have targeted over the last couple of weeks has had the ability to shoot from outside. His teams at BYU shot a ton of 3-pointers, and Kentucky fans should expect to see this Kentucky team run a very similar offense this upcoming season.

Almonor is a terrific fit for Pope’s game plan and would bring a lot of veteran experience to Kentucky. In fact, he was a member of the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights team that upset the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers back in 2023.

Tweet of the Day

Wright State tonight.

Headlines

Perry Fit With Mark Pope, UK Just Feels Right – Vaught’s Views

Love it.

Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson has ankle surgery, sources say – ESPN

Tough for New York.

Grant Smith expected back for Vanderbilt series – KSR

Huge.

Lions signing QB Jared Goff to 4-year, $212M extension – ESPN

Quite the bag.

Things to Know Before You Go to the PGA Championship – KSR

Will you be going?

Tom Brady to make NFL broadcasting debut Week 1 – CBS Sports

This is still weird.

Reed Sheppard posts 42-inch vertical at the Draft Combine – KSR

Which was the best.

Caitlin Clark back in action tonight – USA Today

Fever vs. Sun.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – It started as a fun way to pass time with her family during the COVID-19 pandemic, but more than 100,000 followers and close to 4 million likes on TikTok later, Whitney Pannell said it’s become another way to grow her business.

“I want to be ahead of the curve. I want to be a trendsetter,” Pannell said.

Known as ‘Momma Pannell’ on TikTok, Whitney first started out on Facebook in 2007, then continued to grow her following, and Real Estate business, over on Instagram. TikTok became another social media site to build her brand, and a larger clientele.

“People that follow me on TikTok will call me and want to list their house with me or want me to help them buy. I hardly have to interview anymore because people already know my personality through my social media.”

Like most creators, Pannell has been following the TikTok news out of Washington, D.C., for the past couple of weeks.

President Joe Biden signed a bill that would ban the video-sharing app from being downloaded in the U.S. unless the site owner, a Chinese company ByteDance, sells TikTok to a non-Chinese buyer within the year.

“If TikTok went away, I would be fine. I would use other platforms.”

ByteDance is already suing the federal government, but there could be a lengthy battle ahead.

One, an influencer like Pannell said she’s prepared for.

“I don’t put all of my eggs in the TikTok basket. Or the Instagram basket. You have to really diversify on all your platforms. That’s why it is really a time-consuming job.”

Pannell’s son Parker has also built a career through social media. He’s now an actor, YouTuber and content creator with millions of followers, and he’s now living and working in Los Angeles.

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