University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols end NCAA Championships in ninth
March 29, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Complete Final Results (PDF)
The Tennessee men???s swimming and diving team concluded the 2007-08 season Saturday at the NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Wash. The Vols ended ninth with 172 points while Arizona won the NCAA title for the first time in school history.
The team, however, left the meet with All-America honors in three relays and two individual events while also earning honorable mention All-America in the 200 medley relay and two other individual events.
???The finals session of day three proved to be very good to our team,??? UT head coach John Trembley said. ???Persson had a great swim in the finals of the 100 freestyle. Wolfe ended his career in great fashion. In his first NCAA individual event, placing sixth in the butterfly was amazing.???
To start off the night for the Vols at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Persson took fifth in 100 freestyle in 42.50 after breaking the school record three times in the event this weekend. Wolfe placed sixth in the 200 butterfly in 1:44.23. He earned a personal best during the preliminaries with a time of 1:43.83.
???Our 400 freestyle relay had to have very safe starts to ensure our ninth-place team position,??? Trembley said. ???Because a disqualification for an overaggressive start might have led to our team dropping one or two places.???
The 400 freestyle ended the championships and Nolan Morrell, Persson, Octavio Alesi and Murphy also earned sixth-place by finishing in 2:52.04.
Coach Trembley expressed his sentiments on losing his two All-America swimmers.
???We lose two seniors from this NCAA group,??? Trembley said. ???Alesi has been magnificent in his four years at UT. Alesi has more swimming to do at the Beijing Olympics this summer. Wolfe has been a phenomenal leader and a foundation of this team for the last four years. He will continue to prepare for the US Olympic Trials.???
The team???s ninth-place finish was two places higher than the previous year. This is the team???s first top-10 finish since 2004 and the third since 2000.
???We leave NCAAs a happy team,??? Trembley said. ???But in many ways, we are still hungry for more.???
| All-America Awards | |
| Octavio Alesi | 200 FR, 400 MR, 400 FR |
| Nolan Morrell | 200 FR, 800 FR, 400 FR |
| Barry Murphy | 200 FR, 400 MR, 400 FR |
| Jonas Persson | 200 FR, 400 MR, 800 FR, 100 Free, 400 FR |
| Andrew Thirlwell | 800 FR |
| Michael Wolfe | 400 MR, 800 FR, 200 Fly |
| Honorable Mention All-America | |
| Octavio Alesi | 200 MR |
| Michael DeRocco | 200 MR |
| Nolan Morrell | 200 Free |
| Barry Murphy | 200 MR, 100 Breast |
| Jonas Persson | 200 Free |
| Michael Wolfe | 200 MR, 100 Back |
| 2007-08 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships Team Results | |
| 1. Arizona | 500.5 |
| 2. Texas | 406 |
| 3. Stanford | 344 |
| 4. California | 332.5 |
| 5. Auburn | 316 |
| 6. Michigan | 271.5 |
| 7. Georgia | 229 |
| 8. Florida | 210 |
| 9. Tennessee | 172 |
| 10. Indiana | 166 |
