#6/7 Florida Chomps #11/12 Tennessee

Florida

The Florida women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams concluded the 2009-10 dual meet schedule with wins over ranked conference opponent Tennessee at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center in Knoxville Friday. In separate duals, Florida’s women took down the Vols, 170-130, in an afternoon match-up, while the men won
a 164-133 decision Friday evening, serving the UT men’s team its first loss in the two-year history of the Allan Jones Aquatic Center. While UF’s men were originally scheduled to compete Saturday at noon, pending inclement weather in the Knoxville area resulted in two Friday duals.

UF’s seventh-ranked women’s team (10-2, 4-1 SEC) won nine of the 16 individual events, but both relay victories, the 200-yard medley and 400-yard free relays, belonged to the No. 12 Lady Vols. Serving as a steady competitor for UF all season on the diving boards, senior Kara Salamone (Cooper City, Fla.) kept to her winning ways, taking both the one and three-meter diving titles.

Two other women’s swimmers, sophomore Melani Costa-Schmid (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) and senior Gemma Spofforth (West Sussex, England) each won two individual events, Costa-Schmid claiming the 200 free (1:47.50) and 500 free (4:48.61) races, and Spofforth, the 100 and 200 back defending NCAA Champion, taking home both titles in the UT/UF dual.

Freshmen Eva Lehtonen (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and Corinne Showalter (Sarasota, Fla.), and sophomores Jemma Lowe (Hartlepool, England) and Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.) each won individual events as well, Showalter and Lehtonen swimming to a Gator tie in the 1,000-yard free (9:57.25), Lowe claiming the 200-yard fly (1:59.07) and Crippen taking home the 200 IM title (2:01.05). Crippen additionally finished second in both the 200 and 500 free races.

In men’s swimming action, the No. 6 UF men (9-0, 4-0 SEC) topped No. 11 Tennessee by way of eight individual event victories. The Vols took first-place points in both the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays, but UF’s depth prevailed.

The Gators were led in event wins by junior Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill.), who claimed the 100-yard free (44.49) and 400-yard IM (3:49.86) races. Additionally, junior distance freestyler Balazs Gercsak (Budapest, Hungary) walked away victorious in the 1,000 free (9:15.22) and 500 free (4:28.75) and freshman Marco Loughran (London, England)
swam to wins in the 100 back (47.92) and 200 back (1:45.39).

Junior transfer Manny Rabelo (Villa Clara, Cuba) shined brightly for UF in the breaststroke events, swimming a 55.23 victory race in the 100 breast, slightly out-touching UT’s Brad Criag (55.24) for the win. Rabelo turned around and clocked a 2:02.42 in the 200 breast, touching in at second.

Senior Omar Pinzon (Bogota, Colombia) raced his way to a 1:46.75 in the 200-yard fly, good for first place, to round out UF’s event winners.

Florida’s depth was a factor against the Vols, and even with just half of the event victories, UF swept first through third in the 1,000 free, 200 fly and 100 free, giving the Gators the reinforcement to prevail in Knoxville.

While the dual meet season is over for the Gators, a three-week taper and train period will ensue before UF heads to Athens, Ga., for the 2010 SEC Championship Meet, hosted by Georgia Feb. 17-20.

Tennessee Men

The Tennessee men’s swimming and diving suffered the first loss in the two-year history of the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, falling to the Florida Gators 164-133.
 
“This was just a flat environment,” head coach John Trembley said. “Florida swam better than we did. Both of our seniors are the embodiment of an underdog and I am very proud of them. They have come a great distance and I wish we could have sent them out in a better fashion.”
 
The Big Orange started strong with a win in the 200 medley relay. Ricky Henahan, Brag Craig, Michael DeRocco and Giles Smith swam to a 1:27. 92 B-cut time.
 
The Gators swept the 1000 freestyle with Balazs Gercsak winning at 9:15.22. UT junior Geoff Sanders placed fourth at 9:21.29 and freshman Michael Zaczyk scored in sixth (9:29.10).
 
Ryan Harrison notched a win for the Vols in the 200 freestyle at 1:36.51. Junior Chris Winchell scored in sixth place (1:41.28).
 
In the 100 backstroke, Florida’s Marco Loughran tapped out UT’s Henahan to earn the win with a 47.92 time. Henahan posted a 47.94 and freshman Paschall Davis scored in fourth (51.49).
 
Florida began to pull away from the Big Orange in the 200 butterfly. The Gators’ Omar Pinzon took first place behind a pool record 1:46.75. The previous record was held by the Vols’ Greg Houchin (1:47.61). Tennessee’s Patrick Beasley and Forrest Leary scored in fifth (1:51.61) and sixth (1:55.63), respectively.
 
The Gators narrowly won the 100 breaststroke, with Manny Rabelo taking the top spot at 55.23. Craig came in a close second for UT at 55.24. Mattias Kahlin placed fourth (56.03) and Derek Paul scored in fifth (57.27).
 
DeRocco earned a B-cut and a win in the 50 freestyle at 20.26. Smith scored in fifth (20.80).
 
At the first diving break, the Gators led UT 81-50. The Vols’ divers narrowed it 88-62, taking first, fourth and fifth on the one-meter springboard. Sophomore Ryan Helms won at 356.93, senior Michael Muscari placed fourth at 295.05 and freshman Jordan Mauney scored in fifth with a 286.95 score.
 
The Gators swept the top three spots in the 100 freestyle with Conor Dwyer earing the win (44.49). Smith led the Vols in the event finishing fourth (45.86) and Davis scored in fifth (46.62).
 
In the 200 backstroke, Florida’s Loughran earned the sweep of the backstroke events, winning at 1:45.39. Henahan finished third for UT at 1:49.50 with Storvik scoring in fifth (1:50.62).
 
Craig earned a win in the 200 breaststroke with a B-cut time of 1:59.75. Kahlin placed third at 2:04.59.
 
Gercsak won the 500 freestyle for the Gators with a 4:28.75 mark. Harrison was close behind for the Vols, taking second place with a 4:28.95 time. Sanders scored in sixth at 4:40.00.
 
In a contentious 100 butterfly, DeRocco won after the judge declared a technical error with the timing touch pads. With a 47.52 mark, DeRocco beat out the Gators Shaune Fraser in second at 47.53. Smith scored in fifth (50.92).
 
In the second diving break, Helms hung on to earn the sweep with a 363.90 win on the three-meter. Mauney came in third at 324.30 and Muscari scored in fifth with a 304.05.
 
Dwyer got a win for the Gators in the 400 I.M. at 3:49.86, followed by the Vols’ Jake Epperson at 3:57.88. Beasley and Winchell scored in third (4:05.59) and fourth (4:07.35), respectively.
 
The Vols wrapped up the meet with a win in the 200 freestyle relay with a season-best 1:21.34. Henahan, Harrison, DeRocco and senior Jordan Walters swam to a B-cut win in the meet’s final event.
 
This meet concludes the regular season for Tennessee 4-3 (3-2 SEC). The Vols started the season 4-0 before dropping their last three contests of the year. The Big Orange now prepares for the SEC championships in Athens, Ga., Feb. 17-20.
 
“We had a mixed bag today,” Trembley said. “We had some strong performances and some poor performances. Now we have to assess each individual and head into the SEC meet as a more consolidated team.”

Tennessee Women

Senior Michele King’s dominant performance in her final home dual meet wasn’t enough for the 12th-ranked Tennessee women’s swimming and diving team to overtake seventh-ranked Florida on Friday at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
 
Despite four event wins and four NCAA ‘B’ cuts from King, the Lady Vols fell to the defending SEC-champion Gators, 170-130.
 
Before the meet, King and fellow seniors Alex Barsanti, Bryttany Curran and Jamie Saffer were honored.
 
A few minutes after Curran performed the national anthem, the Big Orange kicked off the meet by capturing the 200y medley relay, edging Florida by .20.
 
King grabbed her first win of the day by anchoring the relay and was joined by Barsanti, sophomore Jenny Connolly and freshman Kelsey Floyd.
 
“Michele King was phenomenal today,” Lady Vol head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. “She was great anchoring the 200 medley relay. We just didn’t carry the momentum.”
 
Florida followed by winning four of the next five events and took a 74-57 lead into the first diving break.
 
Tennessee kept the meet close behind standout performances from King and breastrokers Barsanti and junior Martina Moravcikova, but Florida’s Kara Salamone swept the diving events and the Gators controlled the distance events to improve to 10-2 overall and 4-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
 
The Lady Vols dropped to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the SEC.
 
“It was bittersweet,” Lady Vol head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. “Our seniors competed from well to extremely well, and they kept us in the meet. It was frustrating we couldn’t perform better in some of our races. We were inconsistent today.”
 
King won the 50y free (22.86) and the 100y free (50.21), and led off the victorious 400y free relay. Joining the York, Pa., native on the meet-ending relay that clocked a season-best time (3:21.65) were Connolly, Floyd and sophomore Caitlin Perks.
 
Barsanti also capped her dual-meet career at AJIAC in stellar fashion, snagging a first-place finish and a runner-up.
 
The Hummelstown, Pa., native swam a season-best time of 1:02.37 in the 100y breast to lead a 1-2-3 Lady Vol sweep in the event. Moravcikova touched second (1:02.78) with Saffer in third (1:02.84). All three marks were B cuts.
 
Barsanti and Moravcikova flip-flopped in the 200y breast, as the junior edged the senior, 2:16.85-2:16.91, to grab the event win. 
 
Connolly was the only other individual event winner for the Orange and White.
 
The West Lafayette, Ind., native won the 100y fly in a B-cut-mark of 54.31. In addition, Connolly recorded a season-best and B-cut 100y back effort (54.36), but finished just behind reigning world and NCAA champion Gemma Spofforth of Florida, who touched in 54.03.
 
Capturing a pair of thirds for the Lady Vols in the pool were Floyd and sophomore Tori Richmond.
 
Floyd, a four-time SEC Female Freshmen Swimmer of the Week, was the third to touch in the 200y free (1:49.86) and 100y fly (54.90). Her butterfly performance was a season best. 
 
Richmond took third-place accolades in the 200y fly (2:03.06) and the 200y IM (2:02.87), earning a season-best in the latter.
 
Also among the Big Orange swimmers placing in the top-three were juniors Tricia Weaner and Aleksa Akerfelds.
 
Weaner hung close with Spofforth in the 200y back, but ultimately finished second in 1:59.73, as the 2008 Olympian pulled away to win in 1:58.46.
 
Akerfelds touched third in the 500y free (4:54.71).
 
In diving, sophomore Jodie McGroarty finished third on both the 1-meter (274.48) and the 3-meter (289.88). Her score on the 1-meter board was a season-best mark. Classmate Gabrielle Trudeau added a runner-up placement in the 1-meter competition (280.20).
 
“I was pleased with our performances today,” UT diving coach Dave Parrington said. “You always hope to win, but I’m pleased to see Jodie rounding back into shape and glad to see Gabbi do well on the 1-meter. We’re building.”
 
It’s on to the championship portion of the season now for the Lady Vols, as they compete next in Athens, Ga., from Feb. 17-20 at the SEC Championships.