The 15th-ranked Lady Vol swimming and diving team concluded its tri-meet versus No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Auburn at the Student Aquatic Center today. Despite numerous Lady Vols clocking season and career best times, Tennessee fell to Auburn by a score of 203.5- 143.5, and Stanford, 245-108. Stanford defeated Auburn as well, 191.5-161.5. The Lady Vols are now 3-2 on the season, 2-1 in Southeastern Conference competition.

 

“I saw some people really improve this weekend,” Lady Vol Head Swimming Coach Matt Kredich said. “I thought Bryttany Curran had a great meet. Lauren LeRoy moved up a notch in the level she’s performing in and Christine Magnuson was really solid for us the whole weekend. We had a number of bright spots, but we also have a lot to work on.”

 

 

Tennessee started Saturday’s competition in good form as the foursome of seniors Megan Tomes and Tiffany Clay, junior Christine Magnuson and freshman Michele King posted the fastest 200y medley relay time of the 2006-07 season with a 1:45.01. Stanford’s “A” squad posted a winning NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:42.27. UT swam three other teams which finished eighth (1:49.00), ninth (1:51.60) and 10th (1:56.88).

 

 

Swimming in her first collegiate 1000y freestyle race, freshman Ashley Knapik led the Lady Vols with a fifth-place 10:19.97. The Baltimore, Md., native clocked the fastest Tennessee time in the event on the season. Knapik was followed by classmate Laura Tomes in sixth with 10:21.81. Also competing for the Lady Vols was freshman Keira Heath (10:29.07) and senior Misty Cain (10:51.92).

 

 

The third event of the day saw Magnuson earn her second provisional qualifying time of the season when she touched the wall in 1:49.67 in the 200y freestyle. The Tinley Park, Ill., native established a new career-best by 1.54 seconds to earn runner-up honors. Also earning points for Rocky Top was Carly Mathes in sixth-place (1:51.27). Emily Kukors of Auburn won the event in 1:48.40.

 

 

Tennessee’s top-scorer in the 100y backstroke was Tomes, who garnered a fifth-place 57.16. Two Lady Vols swam career-bests in the event. Senior Ashley Yeager swam a 1:00.88 for 12th, while sophomore Karla Neal, swimming in exhibition competition, touched the wall in 1:04.27. Senior Elizabeth Christy swam her best time of the season in 59.71. The Tigers’ Rachel Goh came out on top with an automatic qualifying time of 54.29.

 

 

Next up on the schedule was the 100y breaststroke. Freshman King led the way for Rocky Top with a time of 1:04.63, good enough for third place. Freshman Bryttany Curran came in fifth in 1:04.73, while Clay took eighth-place with a season-best, 1:05.29. Sophomore Sarah McCall was 11th after clocking a 1:07.34 readout. A 2004 Olympian in the 200y breast, Caroline Bruce of Stanford, won the event.

 

 

The competition was tough in the 200y butterfly as Elaine Breeden of Stanford touched the wall first in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:58.56. She was followed by Auburn’s Kristen Hastrup and Ava Ohigren who each clocked provisional qualifying times. The two orange-clad swimmers who competed were freshman Jamie Saffer and sophomore Betsy Lange. Saffer came in at eighth in 2:09.32, while Lange was 10th with a 2:13.08.

 

 

King continued to impress in the 50y freestyle as she earned her third top-three ranking of the day in as many races. Her second-place 23.44 was just .01 seconds away from her third NCAA “B” qualifying time in the event. The York, Pa., native recorded an NCAA provisional time in each of her collegiate meets thus far. Sophomore Katie Gehring, junior Laura Fehrman and sophomore Brittany Nauta finished ninth, 11th and 12th, respectively. A Stanford swimmer topped the results once again as Brooke Bishop came in with an NCAA provisional time of 23.12.

 

 

From the three-meter board, junior Vicky Linnell led the orange-clad divers by posting a 237.05 point total. Stanford’s Cassidy Krug, a member of the national diving team, accumulated 315.30 points for her six dives, to sweep the meet’s diving events. Junior Lauren LeRoy, who finished second from the one-meter on Friday, was seventh with a total of 229.60. Tennessee’s exhibition diver, sophomore Staley McCartney, earned 206.35 points.

 

 

The last individual event of the day, the 200y IM, saw Tomes earn her fourth NCAA “B” qualifying time of the year. On Friday, the Cincinnati, Ohio, native earned her first NCAA automatic qualifying time of the year when she clocked a 1:57.66 in the 200y back. She now has either automatic or qualifying times in five different individual events. Her 2:03.24 readout in the 200y IM put her in third-place behind Julia Smit of Stanford (2:01.17) and Emily Kukors of Auburn (2:03.15). Freshman Bryttany Curran, Clay and Mathes finished in the eighth (2:06.75), ninth (2:08.45) and 10th (2:08.51) spots, respectively. Swimming in exhibition competition, McCall recorded a season-best 2:10.19.

 

 

Once again, it was a relay team which made sure the meet ended on a high note for UT. King, Mathes, Magnuson and Tomes earned the second 400y freestyle relay NCAA “B” qualifying time for the Big Orange when they came in third. The foursome clocked a 3:24.38, which is the second-best UT 400y free relay time of the season. In the meet versus South Carolina and Kentucky on Oct. 27, the squad of King, Nauta, Mathes and Magnuson finished in 3:24.27. Tennessee’s two other relay teams in the event finished seventh (3:34.62) and ninth (3:35.76).

 

For Auburn, they defeated No. 15 Tennessee, 203-143.50, but fell to No. 3 Stanford, 191.5-161.5, during a two-day tri-meet in Knoxville, Tenn.  It is the first dual meet loss for the AU women since the Nov. 12, 2004.  had a much better day today,” co-women’s head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker said.  “The girls were better prepared today and were more intense.  Rachel [Goh] had a nice 100 back and Adrienne [Binder] swam a great 1000 free.  We performed better as the meet progressed and that indicates two things:  we haven’t competed in a while and we need to improve.”On the final day, defending national champion Rachel Goh earned Auburn’s first ‘A’ cut in the 100 back.  Goh swam 54.29 to win the event by more than a second over Stanford’s Brooke Bishop.  Six more provisional standards were met on Saturday, led by two each from Emily Kukors and Ava Ohlgren.  Kukors touched the wall in 1:48.40 in the 200 free to earn the ‘B’ cut.  Later in the day, she took second in the 200 IM with a provisional time of 2:03.15.  Ohlgren was third in the 200 fly, 2:02.21, and fourth in the 200 IM, 2:03.32, both were ‘B’ performances.  Also picking up a ‘B’ cut was Kristen Hastrup in the 200 fly.  Hastrup was runner-up in the 200 fly with a time of 2:01.93.  The other provisional time was earned by the 400 free relay – Kara Denby, Goh, Emile Ewing and Kukors.  The group was clocked at 3:20.54 for the win.  The diving duo of Lynnsey Segraves and Corey Lynn Gerlach earned zone qualifiers on 3-meter with second and third place finishes, respectively.  Segraves earned a 303.40 and Gerlach, the AU record holder in the event, notched a 298.05.  Segraves tied her zone qualifying score on 1-meter Friday evening (255.75).  Other standout individual performances on the day came from Adrienne Binder and Hayley Peirsol in the 1000 free.  Binder took the event win with a time of 9:43.62 and Peirsol was second, 9:46.18.