University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Virginia
Vols Triumph Over Rival Cavaliers
November 07, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 6, 2008
Preparation paid off for the NO. 8 Tennessee men's swimming and diving team as they earned a big win Thursday over twelfth-ranked rival Virginia 172-128.
"We are learning and getting stronger," head coach John Trembley said. "It was a great day. We got done what we needed to do, and tomorrow morning we will get back to work."
Heading into the meet, UVA posted faster times in 11 of the 14 swimming events and UT head coach John Trembley considered his team an underdog.
"After looking at the pre-meet results, we knew that we would have several stand-offs in the swimming events," diving coach Dave Parrington said.
Senior Olympian Jonas Persson pulled a hat-trick winning in the 100 and 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
This is Tennessee's second win against a ranked opponent and the highest ranked opponent faced so far this season.
"We are ranked eighth, but we are better than that," said Persson. "As much as we were swimming against Virginia today, we were swimming against ourselves."
All-America senior Nolan Morrell also had a strong showing winning both the 100 and 200 backstroke.
Other winners include Brad Craig in the 100 breaststroke and Barry Murphy in the 50 freestyle. Michael Christy earned his first win of the season in the 200 individual medley.
Tennessee divers continued to dominate opponents in the one and three meter events Thursday. SEC Diver and Freshman of the Week Ryan Helms continued his success on the one meter winning with a score of 361.57. Junior Michael Muscari won the three meter event with a 322.05. Junior-college transfer Michael Wright had his best performance of the year finishing second in both events. At this point in the season, Tennessee has swept the first, second and third ranking in every event except one third-place finish in the three-meter event against Kentucky.
Senior Jimmy Dabney officially claimed the pool at the beginning of the meet by taking water from the swim team's old home, the Ray Bussard Natatorium, and dumping it in to the new pool. It is tradition on road trips that UT swimmers take water from their pool to dump in the opponents, and Dabney's action Thursday was an extension of that.
"That was the first time we officially called it our home pool," Dabney said. "We are taking over now, this is our house."
Players Mentioned
