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Lady Vol Swimming & Diving in Second After Day One of UT Invite
By Todd Mounce, Media Relations Graduate Assistant
KNOXVILLE,
Tenn. – The ninth-ranked University of Tennessee Lady Vol swimming and
diving team saved its best performance for last, as the 400y medley
relay team recorded a runner-up finish in the final event of day one of
the Tennessee Invitational at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic
Center.
Returning three of the four from last season's
Southeastern Conference champion relay team, the third-place 400y MR
team consisted of senior Jenny Connolly, junior Kelsey Floyd, sophomore
Lindsay Gendron and freshman Molly Hannis. The group touched in with a
season-best readout of3:38.74, which was a full eight seconds faster
than the previous best and also an NCAA B-cut mark.
No. 10 Texas
A&M leads after day one with a score of 301 points. The Orange and
White are in second with a score of 208 points, followed by No. 17
Louisville with 194. Arkansas is fourth (172), LSU is fifth (158.5),
Kentucky is in sixth (99.5) and Southern Illinois rounds out the field
in seventh (18).
To begin the evening, the Big Orange quartet of
Connolly, junior Caroline Simmons and sophomores Alexandria Frasier and
Gendron had UT’s best finish in the 200y free relay. The foursome
touched in at 1:33.85 to grab sixth, while juniors Abbie Alton and
Floyd and sophomores Kate McNeilis and Sloane Pitman finished one spot
behind in seventh, after a clocking of 1:34.25.
Gendron was the lone
swimmer for the Lady Vols in the 500y free‘A’ final, as she
notched fourth with a season-best time of 4:46.68. The B-cut time was
nearly four seconds faster than her previous best mark on the year.
Like
Gendron, Floyd also had fourth-place finish in the evening finals. The
Lexington, Ky., native registered a career-best readout of 2:01.98 in
the 200y IM to earn fourth. Her event time was the 14th fastest
on Lady Vol performers list and just .19 seconds shy of qualifying as a
B-cut.
A trio of Big Orange swimmers made the 50y free ‘A’ final, in
Simmons, Alton and Frasier. Simmons was the team’s top finisher, as her
time of 23.63 seconds was good for sixth in the splash-and-dash event.
Alton clocked a season-best time of 23.77 seconds, while Frasier
touched in at 24.08 seconds, resulting in the two claiming seventh and
eighth, respectively.
In the diving wells, Lady Vol divers finished
spots four through six on the 1-meter board. Sophomore Tori Lamp had
UT’s best placing, registering a season-best score of 289.65 to notch
fourth. Behind her were junior Jodie McGroarty andsenior Gabrielle
Trudeau. McGroarty finished fifth with a tally of 286.75, while Trudeau
grabbed sixth with a six round score of 286.20.
“I was pleased with
our overall team performance today,” Tennessee head diving coach Dave
Parrington said. “Having three in the finals tonight was excellent.
They were all very solid. Each one of them did some really good things,
but alsomade some little mistakes that are typical at this point of the
year. We have to iron some of those things out but I’m excited from
what I saw on the one meter.”
Tennessee will resume the Invite
tomorrow, beginning with morning prelims at 10 a.m. and the finals
getting underway at 6 p.m. Events scheduled for Thursday are the400y
IM, 100y fly, 200y free, 100y breast, 100y back, 3-meter diving, 200y
medley relay and the 800y free relay.
##Tennessee Lady Vol Swimming and Diving##
Event
Team
Winner
Time/Score
1-meter
diving
Texas A&M Jaele
Patrick
316.85
200y free
relay
LSU
1:31.21
- Kendall, Niemi, Carter, Goates
500y
free
Texas A&M Cammile
Adams
4:41.38
200y
IM
Louisville Tanja
Kyllianinen
1:59.46
50y
free
Louisville Amanda
Kendall
22.36
400y medley
relay
LSU
3:25.48
-Griffiths, Schwabe, White, Glass
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