The Tennessee swimming and diving teams started their two-day meet road trip with a dual meet against Southeastern Conference rival Missouri in Columbia, and came away with overall wins in the men’s and women’s dual meets.
Tennessee’s freestyle depth helped them win on both sides. The women won handily, 164-136, while the Volunteer men also came away with a dominating win, 176-124.
Sean Lehane and Michael Chadwick were in the zone for the meet, as each posted times that ranked at or near the top of the college rankings. For Tennessee’s Lehane, he can savor being the fastest man in the 200 back so far this season thanks to his 1:43.41. That bumps Auburn’s Joe Patching’s 1:43.66 off the top after just five days there. On paper, the men’s 200 back was to be the highlight of the meet, as it featured Lehane and Missouri’s Carter Griffin, the gold and silver medalists in the event at this summer’s Pan American Games. Griffin was unable to challenge Lehane in today’s dual meet, finishing a distant second with a 1:48.63.
Lehane was also well ahead of the field in the 100 back, winning comfortably with a 47.84 that ranks him just outside the top five nationally.
For Chadwick, a junior at Missouri, he inched closer to the top of the collegiate standings with wins in the sprint freestyles. His 20.09 moves him closer to breaking 20 seconds in-season, and put him fourth nationally. In the 100 free, he’s now ranked second in the nation behind the 43.17 from Florida’s Caeleb Dressel.
Sam McHugh was the top scorer for the meet, winning three individual events. The Tennessee sophomore posted a 1:38.76 in the 200 free, 1:47.78 in the 200 fly and 1:49.29 in the 200 IM to give the Volunteers 27 big points in the dual meet.
Tennessee’s strengths in the distance freestyle were evident in the men’s and women’s meets, as the Volunteers took the top three spots in both genders for the 500 free and the men’s 1000. In the men’s 1000, David Heron led the way with a 9:26.31, giving the 9:30.05 from teammate Ben Miller second place and the 9:32.37 from Sam Rice third place.
The women’s 500 free was led by Maddie Tegner and her 4:54.21. Teammates Mary Griffith (4:57.64) and Heather Lundstrom (4:58.62) were not far behind for second and third places. Heron couldn’t complete the distance sweep on the men’s side, finishing second in the 500 free with a 4:37.53 behind the 4:34.81 by Evan Pinion. Miller almost claimed second, but settled for third with a 4:37.67.
Tennessee also claimed 1-2-3 finishes in the women’s 200 free, 50 free and 100 fly. Griffith claimed the 200 free win with a 1:50.16 as Harper Bruens (1:50.80) and Micah Bohon (1:51.08) were close behind. In the 50 free, Faith Johnson posted a 22.81 to lead the Volunteer sweep, with Bruens second in 22.96 and Alex Cleveland taking third with a 23.34.
Madeline Banicwas out first at 50 yards in the 100 fly, and teammate Anna DeMonte was making a move in the final strokes. Banic held on to win with a 55.10 to DeMont’s 55.12. Taking third for Tennessee was Bruens with a 55.32.
Almost immediately after the 100 fly, DeMonte was back for the 200 IM, which she won handily with a 2:03.13.
Johnson had no problem sweeping the sprint freestyles on the women’s side, posting a 50.39 in the 100 free. Tegner was another double winner for Tennessee, taking the 1000 free in 10:03.07 to complement her 500 free victory. Kira Toussaint was Tennessee’s other individual event winner, claiming the 100 back victory in 54.34 over the 54.93 from Missouri’s Nadine Laemmler.
Laemmler got her revenge in the 200 back, winning that event by almost three seconds over Toussaint with a 1:57.38.
Missouri’s Abby Duncan was a double winner for the Tigers, taking the breaststroke events in times of 1:01.22 in the 100 and 2:13.07 in the 200. Duncan still holds the fastest time in the nation in the 100 breast, with her 1:00.56 from the Show-Me-Showdown.
Sharli Brody claimed the other win for the Missouri women, taking the 200 fly with a 1:59.05, overtaking Tennessee’s Lundstrom in the final strokes. Lundstrom placed second with a 1:59.31.
Tennessee’s Peter Stevens and Missouri’s Fabian Schwingenschlogl are likely to vie for breaststroke wins at the SEC meet in February, and the two battled today in the 100 breast with strong swims. Stevens held off a late charge from Schwingenschlogl to win the 100 breast by seven hundredths of a second, 54.12 to 54.19. In the 200 breast, Schwingenschlogl got the upper hand over the field with a strong 1:59.34 that ranks fifth in the nation so far this season.
Andrew Sansoucie had the better second half of the men’s 100 fly, and that helped the Missouri junior take the win with a 48.89 over the 48.96 from Tennessee’s Ryan Coetzee.
Though Tennessee could not be caught in the women’s and men’s 400 free relay, the two teams were separated by mere tenths in the opening 200 medley relay. In the women’s race, Missouri led wire-to-wire, but a 22.25 on the freestyle leg from Johnson made the final 50 yards a nailbiter. Missouri won the race, 1:40.66 to 1:40.80.
In the men’s medley relay, Tennessee held the lead through butterfly. But a 19.41 on the freestyle leg from Chadwick gave the Tigers a very close win, 1:28.23 to 1:28.24.
Full results available on Meet Mobile.
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Peter Stevens is John Peter Stevens, a world-class breaststroker from Slovenia, home to anoter former collegiate breaststroker who had a modicum of success @. the NCAA level a few moons ago while swimming for Cal Berkeley: Damir Dugonjic.