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Lady Vols Win Nine Events but Fall to Georgia, 169-131
By Todd Mounce
KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. – Despite taking first in two more events than top-ranked
Georgia, the 14th-ranked University of Tennessee Lady Vol swimming and
diving team came up a bit short on Saturday afternoon, as the Lady
Bulldogs prevailed by a score of 169-131 at Gabrielsen Natatorium in
Athens, Ga.
"We swam really well and it was really about what we
expected in terms of our performance," Lady Vol head coach Matt Kredich
said. "We had a few people really step forward and race well. We were
looking for unconscious, aggressive racing."
Junior Kelsey Floyd
accounted for a pair of victories in individual events, while also
being on both winning relays versus the Lady Bulldogs. Individually,
Floyd swept the fly events, winning the 100y event in 53.59 seconds,
while touching in at 1:56.50 in the 200y fly. Both were season-best and
NCAA “B” cut readouts for the Lexington, Ky., native.
In the
afternoon’s first event, the 200y medley relay, Floyd along senior
Jenny Connolly, classmate Caroline Simmons and freshman Molly Hannis
combined for the win. The quartet finished with a B-cut time of
1:39.01, which was a UT season best.
Lindsay Gendron replaced
Hannis in the 400y free relay, as the sophomore plus Floyd, Connolly
and Simmons touched in at 3:19.22 for the triumph with another B-cut
and season-best mark.
Also picking up a pair of individual wins
was Gendron, who claimed victories with B-cut readouts in the 200y free
and 500y free events. The Bloomington, Ind., product won the 200y free
after touching in at 1:45.06. She then registered a time of 4:41.06 in
the 500y free, which is the second-fastest event time in Lady Vol
history and a B cut.
"Lindsay swam the best 500 that she has
swum at Tennessee, in terms of how she execute the race," Kredich said.
"That was outstanding."
By earning first in the 100y back,
Connolly is now a perfect 3-3 in the event in dual meets this year. The
senior finished with a season-best time of 53.05 seconds.
In the diving wells the Big Orange swept both boards, taking spots one, two and four on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards.
It
was a day of career bests for redshirt sophomore Tori Lamp. The
Knoxville, native won the 3-meter event after tallying a six-round
score of 350.85, which is over 17 points better than her previousbest
and ranks second all-time in Lady Vol history.
“I’m excited to
get first and second on both boards,” Tennessee head diving coach Dave
Parrington said. “The highlight was really Tori Lamp’s performance on
getting a career high on the 3-meter.”
Gabrielle Trudeau, a
senior, scored a first-place tally of 295.88 in the 1-meter
competition. Lamp was one spot behind Trudeau after a career-best score
of 293.63.
Jodie McGroarty finished runner-up on the 3-meter with a total of 331.20.
“Jodie
did a nice job on 3-meter and on 1-meter the completion was really
heated,” Parrington said. “Tori actually had the lead entering the
final dive on 1-meter, but Gaby came back and beat her out, so I’m
excited about that. I feel good about what we did today as we get ready
for next week’s senior day and the SEC Championships.”
Other top
three finishes and B-cut times on the day included Hannis taking
runner-up in the 100y breast (1:01.59 B cut) and Solernou notching
third in the 200y back (1:58.57 B cut). Lady Vols who took third
included Courtney Ciesielski in the 200y fly (2:01.20), Simmons in the
50y free (23.01) and Kate McNeilis in the 100y fly (56.22).
"Lauren
Solernou in the 200y back was really aggressive in the way she
competed," Kredich said. "Lauren did really well. Molly Loftus, Erin
Gaeckle and Courtney Ciesielski all had career-best times in one or two
events."
"As a whole team we competed really well and that was
what we were looking for. Georgia was outstanding today and all though
we lost a couple close races, we won a couple close ones, so I don’t
feel like there is a lot more that we could have done to win the meet.
I feel like we made a whole lot of progress since the last time we
competed."
For Geogia, Michelle McKeehan had a pair of victories in the 100y breast and 200y breast.
The
Lady Vols will host another top 10 program in a week, as Florida
travels to Rocky Top for a dual meet on Saturday. It will be Senior Day
for Tennessee with meet beginning at noon.
Event
Team
Winner
Time/Score
200y medley
relay
UT
1:39.01
- Connolly, Hannis, Floyd, Simmons
100y
free
UGA
Wendy
Trott
9:48.01
200y
free
UT
Lindsay
Gendron
1:45.06
100y
back
UT
Jenny
Connolly
53.05
100y
breast
UGA
Michelle
McKeehan
1:01.24
200y
fly
UT
Kelsey
Floyd
1:56.50
50y
free
UGA
Madeline
Locus
22.44
3m
Diving
UT
Tori
Lamp
350.85
100y
free
UGA
Madeline
Locus
49.43
200y
back
UGA
Kelsey
Gaid
1:57.21
200y
breast
UGA
Michelle
McKeehan
2:11.69
500y
free
UT
Lindsay
Gendron
4:41.06
100y
fly
UT
Kelsey
Floyd
53.59
1m
Diving
UT
Gabrielle
Trudeau
295.88
200y
IM
UGA
Melanie
Margalis
1:58.62
400y free
relay
UT
3:19.22
- Connolly, Floyd, Simmons, Gendron
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