The Indiana men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams headed to Knoxville, Tennessee Friday afternoon and both came away with sweeps of the host Volunteers and Kentucky Wildcats at the Jones Aquatic Center.
The eighth-ranked men defeated No. 14 Tennessee, 157-143, and Kentucky by a 240-58 score. For the 20th-ranked women it was a 169-129 win over 12th-ranked Tennessee and a 176.5-123.5 win over the Wildcats.
The Hoosiers went 1-2 in the women’s 1,650 freestyle, led by Stephanie Marchuk’s winning time of 16:37.63. Right behind was Haley Lips in 16:39.82. On the men’s side Jackson Miller was the top finisher at 15:32.34.
It was a 1-2-4 finish for the women in the 200 free as Kennedy Goss led the way with a time of 1:46.45. Cynthia Pammett was second (1:49.25) with Grace Vertigans fourth (1:49.99). Racing the 200 free for the first time this year, Anze Tavcar was victorious with an NCAA B cut of 1:36.08, with Blake Pieroni posting a season-best time of 1:36.29.
Surprising no one, Brooklynn Snodgrass remained undefeated in the 100 backstroke with a winning time of 53.57, as Marie Chamberlain posted an NCAA B cut of 55.07, a season best to put her third. Bob Glover finished second for the men in 49.49.
Tanner Kurz touched second in the 100 breaststroke at 54.93, with Cody Taylor fourth (57.17). Claudia DiCapua led the IU women with a fifth-place finish (1:05.73).
It was 2-3 for the Hoosier women in the 200 fly with Gia Dalesandro second (2:00.28) and Bailey Pressey third (2:00.51).
For the second event in a row Michael Hixon swept the men’s diving events, winning the 1-meter with a season-best score of 417.70, and also posting a season best on the 3-meter with a tally of 414.75. James Connor finished second on the 1-meter (368.75) and third on the 3-meter (398.35).
It was a pair of second-place finishes for Jessica Parratto, scoring a season-best 290.85 on the 1-meter and 299.85 points on the 3-meter.
Tavcar picked up his second win of the day with a season-best 20.10 in the 50 free, with Ali Khalafalla third (20.70). He made it a sweep of the freestyle sprints with a winning time of 43.69 in the 100 free, a season best. Blake Pieroni was second (44.34).
Goss won her second freestyle event of the day with a season best and NCAA B cut of 49.86 in the 100 free. Her third win of the day came in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:48.83, with Lips second (4:50.80) and Marchuk third (4:55.23).
Snodgrass made it a clean sweep of the backstroke races, taking the 200 back in 1:54.43, more than 5 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
It was 2-3-4 for the Indiana men in the 200 breaststroke, led by Kurz’s time of 2:01.37. Cody Taylor was third in 2:03.03, a season best, and Mike Hurley fourth at 2:03.22, also a season best.
Pieroni led a 2-3 charge for Indiana in the men’s 500 free, clocking in a 4:28.87. Third was Miller in 4:28.67.
Dalesandro finished third in the 100 fly (54.92), while Max Irwin won the event for the men with a time of 48.34.
Dorina Szekeres led the Hoosiers to victory in the 400 individual medley, posting a time of 4:17.93, a season best and NCAA B cut. Reagan Cook took third in 4:20.21. Mike Hurley was third for the men in 3:59.71.
The meet ended with the 400 freestyle relay and it was an Indiana sweep, beginning with the quartet of Goss, Snodgrass, Lips and Vertigans in a time of 3:21.21. For the men, Tavcar, Pieroni, Irwin and Yianni Thermos won in 2:57.20.
The Hoosiers will hit the pool for training in the month of November, preparing for their next big meet December 4-6 at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Tennessee swimming and diving opened up the home portion of the 2014-15 campaign with their annual double dual meet against SEC rival Kentucky and Big Ten powerhouse Indiana Halloween afternoon at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
Both teams used several downright frightening efforts to earn their first conference victory of the year--the men beating UK 234-64, while the women won 191-109--and their bouts with the Hoosiers came down to the final races of the night, with IU getting the better of UT 157-143 and 169-129 respectively.
Although No. 8 Indiana (3-2) swam away with a victory in the 400 Freestyle Relay to earn the victory, the No. 14 Vols (3-2, 1-0 SEC) scared a highly-talented Hoosier squad with some standout performances in the pool.
The highly-touted freshman class once again fueled the Vols, having a part in six UT victories on the afternoon. Peter John Stevens won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.08, tying his career high set at North Carolina earlier in October.David Heron (15:24.13) set the fastest time in the country in the 1650 Freestyle, with teammate Evan Pinion (15:27.12) posting the third-fastest time, guiding the Vols' distance to a 1-2 finish in the event.
Meanwhile, Chattanooga native Sam McHugh added on to his monster start in his debut season as a Vol, winning three more races in pretty convincing style. McHugh started his afternoon by winning--and setting new career highs in--the 200-yard butterfly (1:46.72) and then followed that by taking the 500-yard freestyle (4:27.26), both events for the second time this season.
Capping off his night, McHugh and senior teammate Tristan Slater earned a huge 1-2 victory in the 400-yard individual medley. McHugh beat the rest of the field by a solid three seconds (3:52.60), helping to put the Vols up heading into the final race.
Tennessee's men also showed some grit in the relays. Starting off the meet, Tennessee's A (Sean Lehane, Stevens, Chris Sadsad, Troy Tillman) and B (Jimmy Dagley, Ross Dibblin, Ryan Coetzee and Gustav Aberg Ledjstrom) relay teams earned first and third place respectively in the 200 Medley Relay to put UT out in front early on.
Indiana clawed back into the meet with wins in several freestyle and diving events, but the Big Orange earned some crucial wins to stay competitive. UT's backstroking duo of Lehane (1:44.48) and Dagley (1:48.99) stepped up to place 1-2 in the 200-yard backstroke. Shortly after, Slater's win in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:01.71) set a season high and catapulted UT back into the dual meet with IU.
The No. 12 women's team (3-2, 1-0 SEC) gave Tennessee the best possible start by finishing 1-2 in the 200-yard Medley Relay. The `B' relay team of Amanda Carner, Molly Hannis, Anna DeMonte and Alex Cleveland clocked in a 1:40.90 time, just under a second ahead of the `A' relay team of Madison Hahn, Colleen Callahan, Harper Bruens and Faith Johnson(1:41.56).
Hannis and Callahan also earned valuable points in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke. Hannis (1:00.57) swan a season-high to earn the victory, while Callahan (1:05.02) earned third place. Later on, in the 200-yard breaststroke, Hannis repeated her dominant efforts, winning her race with a time of 2:09.24, almost nine seconds faster than her nearest competition.
The Lady Vols also got some much needed points from their freestyle specialists. Besides serving as the anchors of the medley relay, Johnson and Cleveland imposed their will on the competition, sweeping the top two spots in the 50-yard freestyle (22.91 and 23.36 respectively). UT completed the sweep in the event when Cherelle Thompson tied Cleveland.
Johnson added onto her great individual afternoon by coming in second place in the 100-yard freestyle (49.93), just .07 seconds behind IU's Kennedy Goss. Teammate Harper Bruens earned a new season-high by finishing right behind Johnson in third place (50.99).
The Lady Vols came on strong towards the end of the IU dual meet. After Johnson and Bruens' performance, Madison Hahn(1:59.72) and Anna DeMonte (1:59.82) finished in second and third place in the 200-yard backstroke.
In a diving session which featured about 20 divers among the three universities, Tennessee's four representatives fared well in both the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions. Redshirt junior Mauricio Roblesearned a pair of top-three finishes to lead the way for the Vols.
The San Francisco, Mexico, native began the afternoon by scoring a 365.40 in the 1-meter, thanks to some consistent high scoring and a high score of 74.80 to finish the event. Robles followed that strong effort by breaking the 400-point mark, finishing in second place with a score of 404.15. Michael Howellearned a pair of top-7 finishes, scoring a 260.20 in the 1-meter and a 288.70 in the 3-meter. Meanwhile, the duo of Sam Lera and Sarah Chewning also competed in a very tough diving group, finishing in near the middle of the pack in most of their results.
Facing her former Wildcat teammates, Chewning earned a pair of fourth-place finishes in both the one-meter (265.55) and three-meter (258.70) competitions. After Lera made an error in the 3-meter competition, she bounced back nicely, earning a 264.05 score and a fifth-place result in the 1-meter.
Tennessee will return to the Allan Jones Intercollegiate two weeks from Friday, when they host Louisville and Auburn in Knoxville at 3 p.m.
Senior diver Christa Cabot won both events for the second consecutive meet against two top-15 teams as the Kentucky Swimming and Diving team fell to Tennessee and Indiana Friday in Knoxville, Tenn.
The No. 19 UK women lost 176.5-123.5 to No. 1 IU and 191-109 to No. 15 UT. The Wildcat men fell 234-64 to the 16th-ranked Volunteers and 240-58 to the sixth-ranked Hoosiers.
“Christa was really good today,” UK head coach Lars Jorgensen said. “The divers led the way for us on the women’s team, with Christa winning both events and Rebecca [Hamperian] finishing third in both as well. I’m also proud of how the women raced in the breaststroke events. For the men, Kyle Higgins raced well today against tough competition. We’ll use today to continue to get better as we work towards our home meet next weekend.”
After winning both events on Oct. 16 vs. Florida and earning SEC Diver of the Week honors, Cabot kept her winning streak going in Knoxville. The senior recorded a 306.40 on 3-meter and a 301.60 on 1-meter, the only women’s diver to score 300 points on either event.
“Our women competed well today,” head diving coach Ted Hautau said. “Christa and Rebecca both had some really good dives especially. Our freshman guys were going up against some big competition and were intimidated. They will learn from that, keep working and compete better next week.
Along with Cabot, fellow senior Christina Bechtel won two events, the 100 and 200 butterfly. Bechtel has now won the 100 butterfly in each of UK’s first three meets to open the 2014-15 season.
Kentucky returns home Nov. 7 and 8 for a quad meet featuring Missouri, Northwestern and Southern Illinois. Competition begins at noon ET with the diving events, while swimming commences at 6 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the Lancaster Aquatics Center. Competition on Nov. 8 begins at 9 a.m. ET.
Cabot claimed her first win of the day with a 306.40 on 3-meter. The senior bested Indiana’s Jessica Parratto by nearly six points. On 1-meter, Cabot completed the sweep with a 301.60 to finish nearly 11 points ahead of Parratto. UK sophomore Rebecca Hamperian added a pair of third-place finishes with a 288.10 on 3-meter and a 278.15 on 1-meter.
Bechtel won her first race of the day in the 200 butterfly with a 1:57.91. The senior claimed the win by 2.37 seconds. Fellow senior Abby Myers placed fourth in 2:00.55, just 0.27 seconds shy of a second-place finish.
UK recorded a one-two finish in the 100 butterfly thanks to Bechtel and Myers. Bechtel touched the wall 53.72, 1.04 seconds ahead of Myers, who finished second in 54.68.
The Wildcats added a trio of runner-up finishes vs. Indiana and Tennessee, led by Kendra Crew. The sophomore placed second in the 100 breaststroke by 0.01 seconds with a time of 1:05.01. Teammate Sam Shaheen placed fourth in 1:04.06. Crew also was second in the 200 breaststroke in 2:18.79, ahead of Shaheen, who posted a third-place finish in 2:20.03.
In the 200 butterfly, Matt Roman was second in 1:52.68, over two seconds ahead of Indiana’s third-place finisher.
Drew Aviotti recorded a third-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle in 15:32.35, while Kentucky’s women’s 200 medley relay notched a 1:43.17 to also place third.
