Behind a crazy 1-2 finish on the final relay, the Tennessee men’s swimming and diving team tied Georgia 150-150 on Saturday at Gabrielsen Natatorium.
The Vols (6-1-1) trailed by 13 points heading into the final 400-yard medley relay but split its top relay squad across two teams. The risk paid off.
The “A” team of Ryan Coetzee, Austin Hirstein, Gleb Ionichev and Kyle DeCoursey won in 2:57.61. The Vols’ “B” squad of Ty Powers, Alec Connolly, Braga Verhage and Joey Reilman narrowly out-touched Georgia’s top squad at the wall in 2:58.61.
The No. 6 Lady Bulldogs recorded a 169-129 decision over No. 9 Tennessee to improve to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC. The top 25 poll.
The Tennessee men won eight of 16 events, getting most of its victories in the first half of the meet.
Redshirt junior Colin Zeng led the Vols with two victories in diving, taking the 1-meter springboard in 396.15 and the 3-meter competition in 419.85.
Additional wins on the men’s side included: DeCoursey in the 200 freestyle (1:36.54), Peter John Stevens in the 100 breaststroke (52.91), Powers in the 50 free (20.12), Alec Connolly in the 100 free (44.31) and Coetzee in the 100 butterfly (46.56). Tennessee also won the 200 medley relay to open the meet (1:25.80).
Javier Acevedo won twice for the No. 11 Bulldogs (6-1-1, 1-1-1 SEC) as he claimed the 100 backstroke in 47.59 and the 200 backstroke in 1:45.34.
Jay Litherland went 3:50.38 to win the 400 individual medley. Walker Higgins won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:23.94. Greg Reed took the 1,000 freestyle as he reached the wall in 9:03.12. James Guest won the 200 breaststroke in 1:57.65. Camden Murphy went 1:46.53 to claim the 200 butterfly.
Kylie Stewart and Lexi Glunn were double winners for the Lady Bulldogs. Stewart swept the backstroke races, going 53.29 in the 100 and 1:55.44 in the 200. Swimming in Lane 8 each time, Glunn took both breaststroke events with times of 1:02.18 and 2:14.37.
The Lady Bulldogs won the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle races. Veronica Burchill took the 100 in 49.36, Meaghan Raab won the 200 in 1:47.28 and Courtney Harnish claimed the 500 in 4:48.99. Megan Kingsley stopped the clock in 1:57.16 to win the 200 butterfly.
The Tennessee women won seven of 16 events, headlined by two-win days by junior diver Rachel Rubadue and sophomore Erika Brown.
Rubadue swept the women’s diving competitions, winning the 1-meter competition before the session (282.08) followed by a season-best performance on 3-meter springboard (329.48).
Brown won the 50 freestyle (22.60) and the 100 butterfly (52.74).
Florida splits with Auburn
The Florida men defeated Auburn 183-114 on senior day.
Meanwhile, Aly Tetzloff and Carly Cummings combined to win five individual events as the Auburn women’s swimming and diving teams won at Florida for the first time since 2006 on Saturday. The No. 12 Auburn women knocked off the No. 16 Florida women, 160.5-139.5, for back-to-back dual meet wins over the Gators for the first time in over a decade.
Tetzloff, who has led Auburn in individual wins this season, picked up another three on Saturday, winning the 100 back (53.14), the 100 free (48.72) and the 200 IM (1:59.12), matching her career-best time in the 100 back.
Just a freshman, Cummings has been on the cusp of winning multiple events numerous times this year and finally broke through on Saturday, sweeping the breaststroke events. She won the 100 in 1:02.80 and the 200 in 2:15.65.
Erin Falconer earned her fourth B cut and second win of the season in the 200 free with a winning time of 1:47.89, which was a season-best and the second-fastest time by an Auburn swimmer this season in the event.
Jan Switkowski and Caeleb Dressel led the Florida men with four wins apiece, including a sweep of the relays. Both were members of the 200 medley relay, which posted a time of 1:26.27, and the 400 free relay, which finished in first with a time of 2:53.87.
Switkowski notched individual wins in the 200 free and 200 back, recording B-cut times of 1:33.95 and 1:44.10, respectively. Dressel also recorded two B-cut times en route to his victories, swimming a 19.64 in the 50 free and a 47.16 in the 100 fly.
Ben Lawless swept the distance events for the men, swimming a 9:02.60 in the 1000 free and a 4:26.03 in the 500 free.
Maxime Rooney and Michael Taylor both recorded an individual win and a relay win for Florida. Taylor won the 200 medley relay and clinched the 100 back with a B-cut of 47.81. Rooney swam a B-cut time of 1:46.28 in the 200 fly for his individual victory and helped Florida finish the meet on a high note with a win in the 400 free relay.
Mark Szaranek recorded an individual win in the 200 IM on his Senior Day, recording a time of 1:46.75, good for a B-cut. Marco Guarente rounded out the individual wins for Florida’s men, swimming a B-cut of 54.30 in the 100 breast.
The No. 12 Auburn men earned four individual wins on the day with Pete Turnham leading the way in the diving well and Zach Apple and Tommy Brewer each getting it done between the lane lines.
Turnham went 2-for-2 on the springboard, winning the 1-meter with a 352.20 and the 3-meter with a 376.28. Turnham also won the 3-meter in the team’s last dual meet (at Texas) and has now won the 1-meter three times this season.
The Florida women took home five victories, led by freshman Taylor Ault, who recorded wins in both the 500 free (4:48.05) and the 1000 free (9:53.89).
Sydney Sell won the 200 back with a B-cut time of 1:56.41 and Hannah Burns swam a 1:69.37 to clinch the victory in the 200 fly.
The final individual win on the women’s side came off the boards, with Brooke Madden recording a score of 312.23 to place first in the 1-meter event.
Kentucky women top Louisville
For the first time since 2009, the Kentucky women’s swimming and diving program downed Louisville, 161-139, on Saturday afternoon inside the Ralph Wright Natatorium. The victory marked Kentucky’s first top-10 dual win of the season.
With just two events left in the meet, the Wildcat women led by a slim 134-130 margin. Sophomore Asia Seidt came up in a big way in the penultimate race, winning the 200 IM with a time of 1:58.36 to put Kentucky on top, 148-135.
In the final event, UK needed just a second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay to secure the victory. The Wildcats delivered. Kentucky’s ‘A’ relay team of Geena Freriks, Bridgette Alexander, Haley McInerny and Madison Winstead touched second with a time of 3:22.60, but Louisville’s winning relay team was later disqualified due to an early takeoff and therefore gave UK the win.
Freriks picked up the first individual victory of the day, winning the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:52.05. She went on to win the 500 free in a tight race, touching the wall in 4:48.08.
In addition to the 200 IM win for Seidt, the Louisville native added wins in the 100 backstroke (53.62) and 100 butterfly (52.88). All three of her individual event victories were NCAA ‘B’ standard times.
Freshman Bailey Bonnett swept the breaststroke events, first winning the 100 breast in 1:02.09 before claiming the 200 breast title in 2:13.14. Both her victories were good for NCAA ‘B’ cuts.
Sophomore Emma Dellmore added an important victory for the Wildcats on the 3-meter springboard, posting a score of 330.23.
The Kentucky men lost 168.5-131.5.
Kevin Frebel provided a strong start for the men’s team, sweeping the springboard diving events in impressive fashion. He posted a 370.80 to win 1-meter diving, and had a score of 402.53 to win 3-meter.
Isaac Jones added victories in both the 1,000 and 500 freestyle races, winning both handily. His time of 9:05.29 to win the 1,000 was more than 10 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, and his 500 mark of 4:26.45 bested the runner-up by more than four seconds.
Sophomore Jason Head posted a big come-from-behind win in the men’s 200 free, just edging out the competition with a winning time of 1:38.26.
Bratton sets marks for Texas A&M
Texas A&M senior Lisa Bratton took down a pair of LSU Natatorium records to lead the top-ranked Aggies to a 174-119 win over LSU on Saturday in the team’s final tune-up prior to the Southeastern Conference Championships.
With the win, the Aggies improved to 7-1, while the Tigers fell to 3-4.
Bratton, from Richland, Wash., swept the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes against the Tigers, both in pool record fashion. Bratton won the 100 back in 53.75 (old record of 53.84 by Florida’s Gemma Spofforth) and then took the 200 back in 1:54.67 (1:56.05 by Georgia’s Melanie Margalis).
Other Aggies winning multiple individual races vs. LSU were junior Claire Rasmus in the 100 freestyle (50.28) and the 200 free (1:48.69); freshman Jing Quah in the 100 butterfly (53.98) and the 200 fly (1:58.07); and senior Bethany Galat in the 200 breaststroke (2:13.77) and the 200 IM (2:01.35)
Other Aggies contributing individual victories were freshman Joy Field in the 1,000 free (10:00.97), senior Jorie Caneta in the 100 breast (1:00.88), sophomore Raena Eldridge in the 50 free (23.42), and freshman Haley Yelle in the 500 free (4:53.79).
The ninth-ranked Texas A&M men’s swimming and diving team was dominant on its way to a 189-107 victory over longtime rival LSU. With the win, the Aggies improved to 6-1 in dual meet action, while the Tigers fell to 2-4.
Five Aggies won multiple individual races vs. LSU: freshman Felipe Rizzo won the 500 freestyle (4:30.95) and the 1,000 free (9:28.16); senior Mauro Castillo won the 100 breaststroke (54.55) and the 100 butterfly (48.42); senior Brock Bonetti won the 200 fly (1:46.88) and the 200 backstroke (1:45.38); sophomore Adam Koster won the 50 free (20.48) and 100 free (44.92); and sophomore Ben Walker won the 200 breast (1:58.85) and the 200 IM (1:48.66).
Other Aggies contributing individual victories were sophomore Anthony Kim in the 100 back (48.37) and junior Sam Thornton in the one-meter dive (359.63 points).
LSU’s wins came in diving. The meet started with diving, and the Tigers were able to win both events thanks to Juan Celaya-Hernandez and Lizzie Cui. Celaya-Hernandez won the men’s 3-meter with a score of 458.70, and Cui won the women’s 1-meter, posting a score of 315.83.
Celaya-Hernandez’s score on three-meter was also enough to break his own pool record of 432.08, which he set earlier this season against Loyola.
Cui ended up sweeping the women’s events after a victory in the women’s three-meter as well. The junior from New Zealand posted a winning score of 340.20, winning the event by a staggering 73.05 points.
Arkansas tops Vanderbilt, Houston
The Arkansas swimming and diving used the second day of action in Houston to pull away from the competition, as the Razorbacks defeated the Houston Cougars 211-142 and the Vanderbilt Commodores 283-64 at the Houston tri-meet.
After claiming six event titles Friday night, the Razorbacks matched their total Saturday, recording six more to bring their total to 12 out of a possible 19. Arkansas had at least one athlete finish in the top-two in all 19 events.
On the boards, freshman Brooke Schultz recorded her second event win of the meet, winning the one-meter title with a score of 326.70.
Arkansas swept the 400 individual medley, as senior Jessie Garrison touched first in 4:20.19, as freshman Peyton Palsha (4:23.46) and senior Chloe Hannam (4:24.30) followed for a second and third-place finish, respectively.
In the final individual event of the meet, junior Madison Strathman won the 200 breast in 2:16.52.
South Carolina splits with Georgia Tech
The South Carolina women beat Georgia Tech 176.5-118.5 and the men lost 168-130.
The Gamecock women started the meet strong placing in the 200 medley relay to build upon Julia Vincent‘s first-place finish on the 1-meter. The women tallied 10 more top-three finishes before the first diving break, where Vincent took her second win of the meet on the 3-meter. The Gamecocks were able to keep their momentum, earning at total of 29 top-three showings in the meet.
In the men’s competition, South Carolina tallied two event wins leading into the first diving break. Freshman Rafael Davila delivered one of these two wins, swimming a 9:07.27 in the 1000 freestyle, marking the Gamecock men’s second-best time in the event this season.
Distance freestyle continued to be a strength for South Carolina’s men, with the Gamecocks taking first, second and third in both the 500 and 1000 freestyle races. In the 1000 free, Cody Bekemeyer and Tamas Novoszath followed up Davila for second and third place, respectively. Bekemeyer and Davila were joined in the top three by Akram Mahmoud for the 500 freestyle, where Mahmoud took first, Bekemeyer second and Davila third.
Missouri tops Missouri State
The Missouri men defeated Missouri State 138-98. The Missouri women won 146-88.
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Pic is of TNAQ, not UT. Ooops! 🙂