University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Tennessee Invitational
Vols Win Thriller, Keep Streaks Alive
November 21, 2009 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 21, 2009
Drew Rutherford
UTsports.com
After moving out of the historic Student Aquatic Center into the new state-of-the-art Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, the Vols' swimming and diving team had to start replacing more than forty years of memories. The last-minute Vol win during the 2009 Tennessee Invitational will definitely be a day that is remembered.
Entering the final day, The Big Orange trailed Kentucky by 10 points and faced two possibilities: snapping a 50-year winning streak over the Wildcats and losing their first meet in the new pool. But the Vols pulled out a win during the last event. Tennessee finished in first place with a score of 872.50, Kentucky in second with 868.50 points, Alabama in third with 840 points and Virginia Tech in fourth with 598 points.
"Our team wanted to win, not lose or tie," Tennessee head coach John Trembley said. "I think we surprised the Kentucky coaches and the Kentucky team."
Heading into the 400 freestyle relay, Tennessee led Kentucky by eight points. To win, Tennessee's two relay teams had to at least finish second and third. Other scenarios had the Vols either tying or losing to Kentucky, whose sprint freestylers lead the conference and swept the 100 freestyle earlier in the meet. Before the event, the UT team gathered and decided to split their fastest swimmers onto the two teams instead of having them all on one.
The outcome: Tennessee raced to a second and third place finish in the event and a win in the meet.
The second-place squad of Anders Storvik, Ryan Harrison, Michael DeRocco and Brad Craig earned 34 points with a 2:57.98, NCAA B-Cut time. In third place was the team of Giles Smith, Jake Epperson, Ricky Henahan and Ed Walsh. They scored 32 points and also earned a B-Cut time of 2:58.25. Kentucky earned the win and fourth place in the event but came up just short, finishing in second place at the meet--just four points back from the Vols.
"The eight guys on our relay teams got together before the event in the team room," Craig said. "It felt like the last day of the SEC (championships). The whole got behind us. I was thinking about the `Ghosts in the Rafters,' and how much that tradition means to us. We had to defend the honor this pool."
The first event of the day was the mile freestyle. Alabama's Mark Randall swam to a first-place, pool-record time of 14:52.72. The Vols' Carl Jones was the previous pool-record holder, and he placed third at 15:31.36. Co-captain Geoff Sanders placed sixth at 15:46.14. Junior Scott Friderichs scored in 11th (16:14.48) as did Knoxville, Tenn., native Michael Zaczyk in 16th (16:34.48).
Next was the 200 backstroke. Tennessee was led by sophomore Henahan in second place at 1:47.13. Behind Henahan was Storvik in third at 1:48.13. Junior Chris Winchell placed seventh (1:50.82). Junior Patrick Beasley scored in 16th (1:56.01) and Zaczyk won the C-Final at 1:55.45.
In the 100 freestyle, Smith continued his strong performance in fifth place at 44.73. Harrison finished right behind Smith in sixth place with a 44.92. Freshman Walsh won the consolation final with a 45.31 mark. Nashville, Tenn., native Paschall Davis placed 20th (46.94) and Herbie Behm finished 23rd (47.08).
The turning point in the meet was the 200 breaststroke. The Vols cut the Wildcats lead to one point after earning second through. Craig placed second at 1:59.02, Epperson finished third with a 2:01.89 mark and junior Mattias Kahlin came in fourth at 2:02.16. The three Vols finished netted 48 points for Tennessee heading into the final two events.
To remain in contention, the Vols had to have a strong showing in the 200 butterfly. The lone Vol in the final heat, junior Forrest Leary placed seventh at 1:52.12--a season high. Beasley had a clutch performance, winning the consolation final and scoring in ninth place at 1:50.78. The Wildcats' highest finisher was in 11th. Freshman Seth Wensel finished 21st (1:56.22).
This meet concludes the fall portion of the Vols' schedule. Their next meet will be at Virginia on Jan. 9, 2010. At this point in the season, Tennessee is 7-0, 4-0 in dual meets and 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference.
"We have been hit so hard with injuries this year, so we were pretty fortunate to have some guys back before this meet," Trembley said. "With this win we are now ready to accelerate our training and get back to work. We made some mistakes this week and we will work on correcting those now."
TENNESSEE DIVING INVITATIONAL
The Vols entered Saturday's platform event with some uncertain expectations. Senior co-captain Michael Muscari missed the first two days of competition due to illness, freshman Jordan Mauney competed in his first ever platform competition and sophomore Ryan Helms competing in his first, full 10-meter platform event.
Alabama's Aaron Fleshner earned the sweep of the diving events with a first-place score of 387.30. Virginia Tech's Michael McDonald placed second at 334.20.
Tennessee's Helms came in third on the platform with a career-best 333.50. In fourth, Muscari came just short of a career best at 320.20. Freshman Jordan Mauney placed seventh (237.85) and Knoxville, Tenn., native Sean Letsinger finished eighth (235.95).
"There are more positives than negatives coming out of this meet," Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. "Mike Muscari had an impressive performance after being sick this week. He was rusty but competed well in a really tough contest.
"We got some valuable experience today. Helms did well today--this is his first 10-meter list in a while and I think he will be a force to be reckoned with come championship season. Jordan did very well in his first meet and I think Sean showed a lot of improvement."
Players Mentioned
