Tennessee has had consistent success in recent history in the relays. As the event's intensity heightens, so too does the Vols' hunger and ability.
After demonstrating this with solid results on the road to start the 2014 campaign, the Lady Vols swept the top two spots in the 200-yard medley relay in their first home meet and then proved their prowess once again Friday when it mattered the most. The A team of Alex Cleveland, Harper Bruens, Cherelle Thompson and Faith Johnson swam a 1:30.02 to win, while the B team of Amy Lubawy, Mary Griffith, Micah Bohon andMadison Hahn (1:30.86) placed third.
After using solid efforts from multiple sources to defeat No. 18 Louisville, 166-134, the Lady Vols still had to fight against SEC foe No. 7 Auburn. No. 14 UT took first and third place in the 200-yard freestyle relay to come back and tie the Tigers, 150 apiece at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center. Meanwhile, the men's team fought valiantly against No. 5 UL and No. 11 AU, but ultimately fell 157-143 to the Tigers and 167.5-130.5 to the Cardinals.
INSIDE THE WOMEN'S RACES
The women jumped out to yet another quick start after the 200-yard Medley Relay, thanks to a 1:38.94 time from the winning relay team of Hahn, Molly Hannis, Bruens and Johnson to open the swimming portion of the double dual meet. Hannis continued her fantastic afternoon, winning the 100-yard (1:00.31) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.28), before winning her heat to earn second place in the 200-yard IM (2:02.19). Amanda Carner (2:03.04) earned fourth place and Anna DeMonte(2:03.60) placed fifth to give the Lady Vols some valuable points down the stretch.
Fellow veteran Johnson also had a solid afternoon, clocking in at a season-high 22.73 to win the 50-yard freestyle--the fourth time she has done so this season so far. Johnson also earned valuable points for the team score by earning second place in the 100-yard freestyle (49.52), also qualifying as a season-best time.
Even though Auburn and Louisville won more overall events, the overall Lady Vol depth proved crucial to the UT success. Both Griffith (1:49.80) and Camryne Morris (1:50.30) earned third and fourth place respectively in the 200-yard freestyle, while Griffith also earned fourth place in the 200-yard butterfly with a season-best 2:00.36.
INSIDE THE MEN'S RACES
While Mauricio Robles took control of his two competitions in the diving well, several swimming Vols turned in some quality times to keep Tennessee in the mix the entire afternoon.
Once again, Tennessee's distance corps earned several victories during the meet, led off by Evan Pinion (9:12.52) andDavid Heron's (9:13.51) 1-2 finish in the 1000-yard freestyle. Pinion's time set a new career-best for the Knoxville native, while Heron came close to breaking his best time set at UNCW.
The duo once again factored in a Vol result, this time in the 500-yard freestyle, won by freshman Sam McHugh, who broke double-digits in wins this season already. McHugh took first place in the event (4:26.73), with Heron (4:28.38) and Pinion (4:29.62) taking the next two spots to give UT the sweep.
McHugh earned his second second-place finish of his career in the 200-yard IM, but added another victory in grand fashion. His 1:45.82 time in the 200-yard butterfly not only set a new career-best time in the event, but also placed him in seventh in Tennessee history, just .60 seconds behind Tristan Slater, who currently holds the fourth-fastest time in UT history.
Inside Diving
Mauricio Robles started slow in the first round, but bounced back nicely, including diving a competition-high 73.10 in the final round to pull out a crucial victory for the Vols. Robles' dive scores increased throughout the competition to finish with a 360.85 to earn his second win of the season and first since UNCW. Michael Howell's 278.40 earned him fifth place as he increased his score from the last home meet.
Robles jumped out to a blistering start in the 3-meter event where he scored in the 70s in five of the six rounds. After falling short on his third round dive, the Monterrey, Mexico, native fought back to cut into Auburn's Fraser McKean's lead, ultimately scoring a 406.05--his second second-place result of the fall season and the second time he has broken 400 already.
After struggling in her last home meet against Indiana and Kentucky, Samantha Lera provided a more consistent outing, diving strong in the final rounds to pull out a second place result in the three-meter competition. The Texas junior continued her consistent diving in the one-meter, where she jumped ahead in the early rounds and cruised to a 289.80 score, a season high and her first victory of the season.
Tennessee's next stop will be back to Chapel Hill, N.C., next week, where they will compete in the 2014 Nike Cup, along with hosts UNC, Duke, NC State, Old Dominion, Notre Dame, Navy, Air Force and East Carolina.
The No. 5 University of Louisville men's swimming and diving team defeated No. 11 Auburn 171-129 and No. 14 Tennessee 167.5-130.5 in dual meet action on Friday afternoon.
The Cardinals won both relays while Caryle Blondell and Grigory Tarasevich both added two individual wins en route to the dual victory.
Tarasevich swept both backstroke events with a time of 47.87 in the 100 back while swimming 1:43.77 in the 200 back. Blondell gave the Cardinals a lift when he won both the 50 free and the 100 free. Blondell claimed the 50 free by swimming 20.23 and staving off second place by .02 seconds. He led the 1-2 punch in the 100 free by finishing with a time of 43.85 and teammate Rudy Edelan finishing in second with 44.93.
Thomas Dahlia added a win in the 200 breast with a time of 1:58.63 and Josh Quallen gave the Cardinals another close win by claiming the 100 fly by .03 seconds with a time of 47.89. Louisville claimed both relay events with the team of Tarasevich, Dahlia, David Boland, and Blondell taking first in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:28.28. The team of Dahlia, Blondell, Matthias Lindenbauer, and Trevor Carroll claimed the 200 free relay in a time of 1:19.90.
The Cardinals return to action on next weekend when they host the UofL Invite at Ralph Wright Natatorium.
