University of Tennessee Athletics
Orange team wins intrasquad meet
October 14, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Oct. 14, 2010
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--Senior Patrick Beasley began his senior season Thursday with his last Orange and White meet. For the first time in his career as a Vol, his team--the Orange team--prevailed 163-154, at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
With the loss, the White team fell for the first time in three years.
"It's exciting," Beasley said. "Going out for a few years and being beat, then coming out on top at your last Orange and White meet is a good feeling.
"We had a lot of guys step up and come through for our team. Guys picked up slack where it needed to be picked up. Norbert Kovacs came through in our distance events, and we were able to win the meet."
Kovacs, who arrived on The Hill in January, lifted the Orange team with his three individual victories. His first triumph came in the 1000 freestyle. He followed that performance up with wins in the 200 butterfly and the 500 freestyle.
"I feel pretty good about today," Kovacs said. "I need to work on some technical things. It's also tough for me to get used to swimming in yards--we swim meters in Europe. "
Head coach John Trembley was pleased with Kovacs, but agreed that some adjustments are necessary.
"Norbert won, but he has some technical issues to work on," Trembley said. "He did well, but he needs to work on executing those aspects correctly. It was good for him to win and gave him a confidence booster.
"Michael DeRocco was able to make those adjustments in the pool today. He really stood out to me as someone who had a great day. We also had some very fine diving today."
Junior All-America Ryan Helms claimed two of the three diving events, winning the platform and one-meter.
"I'm pretty pleased with my performance today," Helms said. "This is my first competition in six months, and I feel like that a lot of my dives are where they need to be."
"Ryan was pretty solid today," diving coach Dave Parrington. "Ryan and I have been working on a few things and he showed that today. All the guys did well. They weren't sharp, but they are about where I expected them to be at this point."
Other event winners include DeRocco with wins in the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly, Brad Craig in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, Ricky Henahan in the 100 backstroke and Anders Storvik in the 200 backstroke. After receiving a medical redshirt last year, junior Michael Christy won the 200 freestyle in his first meet back in the pool.
The Vols look to make some adjustments before heading into their season opener against Louisville on Oct. 21.
"We talked in our post-meet about learning from today and making the adjustments to get better," Trembley said. "We have a very talented team, and if we can make the changes we need to make, we should do pretty well."
Players Mentioned
