University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
NCAA Men's Championships
Robles, Slater Lead Vols on Day One
March 26, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
March 26, 2015
| Men | 1st Team | Hon. Mention |
|---|---|---|
| Today | 0 | 6 |
| Total | 0 | 6 |
| Men's | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Texas | 171 |
| 2. California | 119 |
| 3. Florida | 108 |
| 4. Michigan | 105 |
| 5. Alabama | 79 |
| 20. Tennessee | 12 |
A year after earning his first career All-America honor on springboard, Robles earned tenth place in the one-meter event. He narrowly missed the championship final by less than 10 points and ended up taking second in the afternoon consolation contest with a score of 397.75. The 3-meter springboard competition is Friday.
Slater swam in UT's lone individual final Thursday night, placing sixth in the consolation final--14th overall--in the 200 IM. His 1:43.90 came on the back of his preliminary effort, in which Slater snatched the last qualifying spot to make the finals.
Results 
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Tennessee opened the 2015 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships with a trio of consolation finals appearances, with Mauricio Robles and Tristan Slater earning points Thursday at Iowa's Campus Wellness and Recreation Center.
After the first full day of action, the Vols earned 12 points and sit in 20th place. Texas leads with 171 points.
"All in all today, we made too many mistakes and it cost us," said Head Coach Matt Kredich. "We had some first-time people not sticking to their race plan. You get held to a pretty high standard when we make mistakes here. We certainly showed we're prepared to swim fast, but we got to get into this competition and execute at a Division 1 level."
The quartet of Troy Tillman, Sean Lehane, Gustav Aberg Lejdstrom and Jacob Thulin finished the 200-yard freestyle relay in one minute, 18.42 seconds, placing 16th overall--eighth in the consolation final.
After all four swimmers swam sub-20 second times during the preliminary session to place them No. 7 in UT history, the foursome continued their torrid swimming in the finals. Seniors Tillman (19.96) and Thulin (19.76) wrapped up their final 200 freestyle relay race by swimming the leadoff and anchor legs of the night's first event.
Tristan Slater swam in the lone individual swimming final for the Vols and earned 14th overall--sixth in the consolation final--in the 200 IM with a 1:43.90 time. Slater had claimed the final consolation qualifying spot after the eight preliminary heats, reaching his first career individual final at the NCAA meet.
The UT record holder in the event finished .04 seconds ahead of Georgia's Chase Kalisz, who had beaten Slater the last two times they faced off this season.
"Highlight of the day was Tristan in his 200 IM," said Kredich. "That was the first time he scored in an individual event. He's been a great example of how to perform and how to prepare."
Diving gave the Vols their first points of the championship, courtesy of Mauricio Robles. The redshirt junior missed out on a spot in the one-meter springboard event by less than 10 points after the six-round preliminary round, but bounced back to earn an All-American Honorable Mention award.
After scoring a 371.20 in the prelims, Robles bested his score in the consolation final by finishing with a 397.75 score, good for 10th overall--second in the consolation round.
"I feel like we could have finished a little better based on previous results during the course of the season, but Mauricio came up just a little short of the final in a field that is as deep and as talented as I've ever seen," said Head Diving Coach Dave Parrington. "He needed a big dive at the end to make the final and came up one short, so that was certainly disappointing, but he scored higher in the consolation final so that was good for him. I'm very proud of him for finishing in the top 10 of the country."
Diving in his first career NCAA meet, freshman Liam Stone placed 19th in the one-meter preliminaries, finishing with a 340.25 score.
"Liam acclimated himself very well through the first four rounds," said Parrington. "His fifth-round dive put him in a hole, but I was very pleased with his comp. demeanor. I didn't think any of the mistakes he made were of inexperience and hopefully we can keep that going tomorrow."
