University of Tennessee Athletics
Persson and Relays lead UT at Texas Invite
November 30, 2007 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Complete Results
The Tennessee men???s swimming and diving team started off slowly at Day 2 of the Texas Invitational on Friday. By the time of the finals, the Vols again seemed comfortable in the waters of the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.
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???We started the morning less than spectacularly,??? UT head coach John Trembley said. ???We had some impressive performances tonight. The highlight, of course, was Jonas Persson shattering the UT 200 freestyle record set by gold medalist Melvin Stewart in 1990.???
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Persson finished eighth and beat the former record of 1:34.71 by almost a second, as he clocked in with an A-Cut NCAA qualifying time of 1:33.82. Teammate Nolan Morrell jumped to No. 3 on UT???s all-time leader boards with a time of 1:36.08 and an eighth-place finish. Jim Dabney finished 26th in 1:37.86 and Scott Wherry followed in 32nd in 1:41.09 but with a 1:39.57 preliminary time.
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???The 400 I.M. participants had some excellent races,??? Trembley said. ???All of those guys swam great tonight.???
Freshmen Michael Christy, Patrick Beasley, Chris Winchell, Geoff Sanders and Brad Craig led the way with 10th-, 11th-, 14th-, 16th- and 17th-place finishes, respectively. Christy clocked in at 3:56.70, Beasley at 3:58.71, Winchell at 4:00.53, Sanders at 4:07.64 and Craig at 3:56.06. Although Sanders struggled with back spasms over the course of the day, he managed to swim a 3:56.97 during the preliminaries. Fortney came in just behind Craig in 18th with a time of 3:57.61.
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???Our 200 medley relay was narrowly beaten by Longhorn Aquatics, a group of post-graduate swimmers who all are world-record holders and Olympic gold medalists,??? Trembley said.
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The relay, which consisted of Michael Wolfe, Barry Murphy, Octavio Alesi, and Persson, ranked ninth on UT???s all time list. Senior Alesi swam a 20.34 50 butterfly-split, which is the fastest 50 butterfly in UT history.
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In the 100 breaststroke, former Vol Andrew Bree swam to an eighth-place finish in 54.28. Murphy, currently fourth on UT???s all-time 100 breaststroke list, placed 10th with a time of 54.50. Craig took 13th-place all-time, as he finished 17th in 55.40. Fellow freshman Mattias Kahlin raced to a time of 56.13 and a 19th-place finish.
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Senior captain Wolfe took fourth-place in the 100 backstroke, tapping the wall at 47.56. This time ranks No. 4 all-time in the UT record books and gives him a ticket to the NCAA Championships in March at Federal Way, Wash. Former Vol Brad Boswell placed 15th in 49.45.
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In three-meter diving, Michael Muscari improved from yesterday with a seventh-place finish. He fell back from his fourth-place finish during preliminaries.
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???Overall, we had a very good day,??? Trembley said. ???We would like to get two or more guys to the NCAA Championships by tomorrow. And I think we can do that or, at least, I think we have a good chance. That is one of the objectives of coming to a high-profile meet like this. We???re really looking forward to tomorrow???s competition.???
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The swimming preliminaries begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the finals at 6 p.m. The platform diving competition starts at 3 p.m. All times mentioned are Eastern Standard Time.??
