University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Princeton Invitational
VOLS IN FIRST AFTER DOMINANT DAY AT PRINCETON INVITE
December 01, 2006 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Dec. 1, 2006
The Tennessee men's swimming and diving team finished a strong day at the Princeton Invitational in Princeton, N.J., in first-place with 314 points at the DeNunzio Pool.
Virginia is in second with 272 points followed by Princeton with 151.
"The Tennessee Vols came out (Friday) with great spirit and fight," UT head coach John Trembley said.
Junior Octavio Alesi won the 50 freestyle in 19.86 over sophomore Barry Murphy who finished second in 20.06. In the preliminary round in the morning, Murphy posted pool record in 19.68, breaking former-Vol Chris Hussey's six-year-old record at the DeNunzio Pool. Murphy's time moves him into fifth all-time in school history. Alesi's time ties him with Craig Gilliam for ninth.
Nolan Morrell and Andrew Engle continued the Vol domination in the 50 free finishing third and forth. Morrell finished third in 20.43 and Engle fourth in 20.46. Stan Czarnecki finished sixth in 20.73 and Jimmy Dabney seventh in 20.94.
Tennesse's dominant showing continued in the 200 I.M., with sophomore Andrew Thirlwell winning the event with a career-best, pool-record and NCAA B-Cut Standard time of 1:46.92. Junior Michael Wolfe finished third in 1:49.52 and senior Peter McVey fourth in 1:50.79. Senior Michael Russo finished 10th in 1:52.51.
"Andrew Thirlwell was inspirational to the coaches and team by swimming with great pain," Trembley said. "He has significant back pain and we were not sure he was even going to be able to compete. Tonight in the final he proved himself a great warrior."
The Vol relays swept both events on day one of the meet. Tennessee took first and second in the 200 free relay. Alesi led the first-place squad to a NCAA B-Cut Standard in 1:19.24 with Murphy, Brad Boswell, and Morrell. During the prelims the squad finished 1:19.12 with Engle participating. The team of Dabney, Czarnecki, Engle and Travis Wright swam together on Tennessee's B-team that finished second in the evening finals in 1:21.42.
"We had some phenomenal performances," Trembley added. "Our 200 free relay of Alesi, Morrell, Engle, and Murphy was the catalyst of putting a time on the board this morning which earned those four their ticket to NCAAs."
Tennessee followed up the 1-2 finish in the 200 free relay with a first and third finish in the 400 medley relay. Wolfe led the winning foursome followed by Murphy, Alesi and Morrell in 3:13.69. The third-place squad consisted of Wright, Russo, Engle and Chris Wary. They finished in 3:18.56.
The 1-meter diving took place at Rutgers University and Michael Muscari finished seventh with 243.70 points followed by Ryan Rincon in eighth with 239.10.
"We struggled a little bit but the mistakes we made were of the aggressive nature," UT diving coach Dave Parrington said. "Michael was a little pumped up in his first collegiate invitational and flew over on a couple of dives. Ryan was a little up and down after being limited in training due to a nagging injury."
Tennessee continues Saturday with preliminaries beginning at 11 a.m. and finals following at 7 p.m.
--VOLS--
