University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Nike Cup
More Records Fall in Chapel Hill
November 21, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 21, 2014
CHAPEL HILL, N.C--The Tennessee swimming and diving team continued its record-breaking performances on day two of the Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup, setting several new meet, pool and school records in the process.
Tennessee tallied five new Nike Cup records and broke two UNC pool records, including setting a couple school records. During the A finals of both the men's and women's 400-yard individual medley, Lauren Driscoll (4:10.18) and Sam McHugh (3:44.63) set the UT school record in the event. Driscoll broke Aleksa Akerfelds' 2011 record, while McHugh broke Michael Christy's 2008 record.
The team continued its trend of jumping out to quick starts from the first horn, winning all four heats of the 200-yard medley relay to spark another night of results at the Janis Hape Dowd Nike Cup. After two days, the women sit in first place with 1408 points. The men slipped to third place with 949 points, 131 points behind first place North Carolina.
"We had a number of people swimming events that weren't necessarily their best and the coaching staff was really impressed with the way the team as a whole handled those challenges," said Head Coach Matt Kredich. "What we saw was a willingness to constantly learn and be pretty open-minded about events that swimmers don't usually have a big emotional attachment to.
"I told them (before the evening session) to have that same beginner's mind to their own event and add something new and different, so that it makes the evening event a little more fresh and allow them to explore some other area they hadn't explored in that particular event. I think they did a really good job. We saw a lot of people taking chances and applying some new things in their races. That always come out as a positive in my mind."
Tennessee's women's team showed its depth and used it to its advantage, sending multiple swimmers and divers to the final round in every event. Overall, 20 of the 40 possible places in individual swimming A finals (excluding relays) belonged to the UT women after the morning session, while the female diving tandem took two of the possible eight spots in the finals of the one-meter event.
The men managed four A final wins and seven victories overall.
Molly Hannis began the day by clocking her first sub-minute time of the year in the 100-yard breaststroke, setting a new Nike Cup and UNC pool record in 59.51. She easily reached the A final as the only swimmer to finish under one minute and continued that trend by winning the A final in 59.57.
The men's and women's A relay teams set Nike Cup records in the 200-yard medley relay. The women's team of Madison Hahn, Molly Hannis, Harper Bruens and Faith Johnson broke the Nike Cup record by finishing in 1:37.95. Soon after, the men broke the UNC pool record and set a new Nike Cup record, thanks to the 1:26.34 combined effort between Sean Lehane, Peter John Stevens, Gustav Aberg Ledjdstrom and Troy Tillman.
INSIDE THE MEN'S SCORING
Entering the day with the lead, the No. 14 Vols continued their winning ways by tallying victories in seven events, including four A finals. However, a solid performance all-around from the host Tar Heels pushed the Vols back to third place with 949 points.
The men swept the 200-yard medley relay in a 1:26.34. The quartet of Sean Lehane, Peter John Stevens, Gustav Aberg Lejdstrom and Troy Tillman broke both the Nike Cup and UNC pool records. The B relay team of Sam McHugh, Ross Dibblin, Ryan Coetzee and Joshua Romany also won their heat for the Vols, finishing with a 1:40.93 time.
The Vols had a pair of swimmers reach the A final of the men's 400-yard individual medley. McHugh swam the fastest time and earned the win in the 400-yard individual medley, while Tristan Slater swam the fifth-fastest time.
Gustav Aberg Lejdstrom, who was the fastest Vol in preliminaries, finished the A final of the 100-yard butterfly in 48.49. Meanwhile freshman Ryan Coetzee swam a 48:84 to capture eighth place for the Vols. Tyler Mills earned yet another win for the men's team, taking the C final in 48.01, a new career-best.
On the day he turned 20, Lehane gave the mid-distance crew a boost by taking third in the 200-yard freestyle (1:37.34), shaving almost two seconds off his preliminary time. Lejdstrom finished in sixth place (1:37.34)to give UT two finishes in the top-8.
A day after swimming a 52.55 breaststroke split in the 400-yard medley relay, Stevens repeated his efforts in the A final of the 100-yard breaststroke with an victory in 53.13 over Duke's Peter Kropp, who set the UNC pool and Nike Cup record in the morning session.
A day after Slater and Ross Dibblin faced off in a time trial, the two competed side-by-side in the B final. Dibblin took the time trial win and he took the win in the night session as well, earning his first win of the season in 54.72. Fellow Brit Slater earned third with a career-best 55.23.
Soon after competing in the 200 free, Lehane gave UT a first-place victory in the 100-yard backstroke, his second of the season. His 47.22 time is a season-best and was more than a second faster than his morning swim. Troy Tillman finished sixth in the C final (51.30), while Tim Wylie swam a season-best 50.83 to take second place in the D final.
"We're up against some great competition and both teams have a lot of growing to do," said Kredich. "We have a few guys behind our front leaders who weren't necessarily confident and are now starting to develop a sense of mission for themselves. That's starting to come through. Those kinds of things are happening in a lot of places through the meet. So when we look at the meet results, we're looking at the whole team performance and how each person's progressing. Sometimes it results in a win, sometimes it doesn't. The coaching staff feels really good about the progress that we made."
INSIDE THE WOMEN'S SCORING
The women won 12 events, including six A finals, to keep a 231-point margin over the second-place Tar Heels.
UT started the night off by winning both heats of the 200 medley relay. The A team of Madison Hahn, Molly Hannis, Harper Bruens and Faith Johnson broke the Nike Cup record by finishing in 1:37.95. The B heat finished with a matching result, as Christina Leander, Colleen Callahan, Anna DeMonte and Alex Cleveland won after posting a 1:40.93 time.
The Lady Vols sent five swimmers into the A final of the 400 IM, led by Driscoll and Carner, the top two UT finishers in Thursday's 200-yard individual medley. Those two finished 1-2 again in the 400, with Driscoll (4:10.18) setting both a new career-best time and a new Nike Cup record.
Carner finished in second with a 4:14.53, while Callahan (5th, 4:18.88), Morgan Dickson (6th, 4:19.49) and Micah Bohon (8th, 4:26.69) also scored some big points for the UT women. Dickson set a new career-best time in the final, while Callahan and Bohon set career-bests in the preliminary round.
Eight swimmers qualified for finals in the 100-yard butterfly, led by Faith Johnson and Harper Bruens in the A final. Johnson led the way for Tennessee by finishing in third with a 54.04 time. Bruens finished in seventh place at 54.98, just off the time set in the morning session.
Heather Kiger, Amy Lubawy and Heather Lundstrom all qualified for the B final after the morning session and they finished the final in that order. Kiger earned the win with a 54.62, while Lubawy set a new career-best to finish second (54.83). Lundstrom shaved almost a full second off her preliminary time to earn third (54.93).
Meanwhile, Michelle Cefal led the way for UT into the C final, coming from behind to take second place in 55.37, a new season-high. DeMonte and Patricia Forrester represented the Big Orange in the D final and the duo swept the top spots: DeMonte finishing first in 54.53, while Forrester came in second in 55.17.
Nearly half of the 200-yard freestyle field A final wore orange, thanks to solid preliminary times by Mary Griffith, Camryne Morris, and 500-yard freestyle winner Maddie Tegner. In a tightly-contested race, Griffith edged out Morris to take the victory, finishing in 1:48.13, while Morris finished in 1:47.98. Tegner earned sixth for UT, finishing in 1:50.01.
The Lady Vols picked up wins in the C and D final. Taylor Lehr earned a new career-best by winning the D final in 1:52.85, while Caroline Finkbeiner (1:48.44) earned the victory in the C final. Dickson finished third (1:50.82) in her second event of the night and Logan Haddock finished fifth (1:53.05) in the C final, her first finals appearance as a member of the UT program.
Much as they have done so far this season, the breaststroking duo of Hannis and Callahan provided UT with more points in the 100 Breast. Hannis, a figure of consistency all season so far, finished .06 seconds behind her record-breaking preliminary time in 59.57. Callahan placed fifth with a season-best 1:03.39).
Bohon earned another top-four finish for the Lady Vol breaststrokers. The freshman earned fourth place, thanks to a 1:05.65 time.
In the final female solo event of the night, five more Lady Vols represented UT in the 100-yard backstroke. Hahn (1st , 53.58) shaved .03 seconds off the fastest preliminary time of the season to earn the victory. Carner (54.06) and Leander (54.72) finished third and fourth, while Johnson took sixth place (54.72) and DeMonte finished in eighth place (55.15)
Erin Gaeckle earned her first backstroke win of the season as the senior claimed the B final victory in 54.70, about four seconds off of her time at the beginning of the season at UNCW. Freshmen Amy Lubawy (56.38) and Alex Cleveland (57.44) earned second and seventh places respectively in the C final.
The women capped off their night by sweeping both heats of the 800-yard freestyle relay team. The A team of Johnson, Finkbeiner, Morris and Griffith finished in 7:16.86 in the team's first 800 race of the season. The B quartet of Forrester, Carner, Driscoll and Hahn won their heat 7:19.63, with both relay teams winning by almost four seconds.
"A lot of people swam best times who I think have been a little tentative about their own ability and their role on the team," said Kredich. "They developed quite a bit of confidence and have done so through the meet. Winning is always the goal and it builds confidence, but I think the women had a strong sense of control in their races and that's really good to see."
INSIDE DIVING
While Mauricio Robles sat out his second-straight diving competition with an injury, the women stepped up and both qualified for the finals in the one-meter competition Friday morning.
A night after earning fourth place in the three-meter competition, Samantha Lera upped her place in the one-meter standings by tallying a 291.15 to take third place. Lera completed another consistent round, hovering around almost 50.00 points a round, including a 53.30 in the final round--her highest score of the night.
In her first nighttime dive of the tournament, Sarah Chewning finished with a seventh-place finish and a new Tennessee high on the one-meter (283.65). Like her teammate, Chewning ended her night with her highest score of the competition: a 59.80 in the sixth round.
"I was very pleased with the way Sam and Sarah dove," said Head Diving Coach Dave Parrington. "Sarah had more confidence than in the previous day, which was really good to see, especially in a field of this caliber. Samantha was just really solid, continuing her recent trend. In the finals, Samantha was able to step it up a little bit (and) pick up a couple of spots. Overall, I was very pleased with the progress they made."
After a tough consolation final in the three-meter Thursday, Chewning earned Tennessee's highest score in the morning session, placing fifth with a career-best 286.20. Teammate Samantha Lera joined her in the final with a sixth-place result and a 280.00 mark, making this her second finals appearance in as many nights.
