University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Tennessee Invitational
Vols Continue Success, Win Tennessee Invitational
November 22, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 22, 2008
The final day of the Tennessee Invitational concluded with UT in first place. It also saw Vols make 34 NCAA qualifying standards and break nine school records. The Vols were dominant winning all 18 events in the meet.
"Today proved to be a great end to an amazing competition for our team," UT head men's swimming coach John Trembley said. "We accomplished what we set out to do."
To start off for the Big Orange, senior All-America Nolan Morrell improved his 200 backstroke time, winning with a new aquatic center record of 1:42.81; this time also puts Morrell at second on the all-time top times list at UT. Sophomore Michael Christy placed second with a time of 1:44.39 and freshman Anders Storvik placed third with a 1:44.90. All three Vols earned NCAA B-Cuts. Also placing were freshman Ricky Henehan in fourth and sophomore Chris Winchell in seventh.
After posting the fifth all-time best performance in the 200 freestyle Friday (1:32.79), senior Olympian Jonas Persson continued his record breaking performance. He won the 100 freestyle Saturday, breaking his own pool record with a 42.40 mark. That time also gives Persson the school record previously held by Ricky Busquets (42.64). The co-captain now leads the NCAA in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events. Sophomore Michael DeRocco finished second and earned a B-Cut with a time of 43.48. Also placing were senior All-America Jimmy Dabney in third, co-captain Barry Murphy in fourth, senior Scott Wherry in fifth and junior Jordan Walters in seventh.
In the mile freestyle, sophomore Carl Jones posted a 15:05.53 time, less than a second off the school record. Jones earned a B-Cut and set a pool record. Also meeting an NCAA qualifying standard was sophomore Geoff Sanders in second place with a 15:22.26. Sophomore Scott Friderichs finished sixth at 15:39.39, more than a minute faster than his last 1650 freestyle.
Sophomore Brad Craig continued to show improvement in the 200 breaststroke. Craig broke his own pool record with a first place 1:55.49. Sophomore Mattias Kahlin, freshman Jake Epperson and senior Stephen Fortney finished second, third and fourth respectively. Freshman Derek Paul finished eighth.
In the 200 butterfly, Vol senior Greg Houchin pulled out a victory at the wall, beating out Kentucky's Joe Retrum by .35 seconds. Houchin is now the Allan Jones Aquatic Center record-holder in the 200 fly. Sophomores Forrest Leary, Geoff Sanders and Patrick Beasley placed fourth, sixth and seventh respectively.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Morrell, Persson, Storvik and Dabney set a new school record with a first-place 2:52.62 finish.
The final score showed the Tennessee Volunteers winning with a score of 1180, the Hokies of Virginia Tech in second with 753 points and the Kentucky Wildcats in third with 571 points.
Tennessee's next event is Jan. 10, 2009 against Indiana and Michingan in Bloomington, Ind.
ALLAN JONES DIVING INVITATIONAL
The final day of the Allan Jones Diving Invitational displayed the new facility's platform diving well. Tennessee junior Michael Muscari won the platform event with 304.00 points. UT freshman-standout Ryan Helms finished second with a 295.60 mark.
"We had a lot of positives tonight," said diving coach Dave Parrington. "Mike Muscari had a career-high tonight and he and Ryan Helms both moved into our all-time top 15. It was a lot of fun."
Kentucky's Justin Smith finished third while the winner of the one- and three-meter events, Virginia Tech's Michael McDonald placed fourth.
Knoxville-natives Sean Letsinger and Brent Sterling finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
The Vols will host the Tennessee Diving Invitational Jan. 3-5, 2009.
Players Mentioned
