Lady Vols Sign Four Swimmers, Diver

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, June 12. LADY Vol head swimming coach Matt Kredich and diving coach Dave Parrington will welcome swimmers Kelsey Floyd, Breanna Folk, Sloane Pitman and Brooke Watson, and divers Tori Lamp and Skye Sanders to the Tennessee women's swimming and diving team in the fall of 2009.

"We're really excited about this entire class of signees," Kredich said. "We have four swimmers and two divers who are all improving dramatically at this point in their careers. We feel we have signed the best prospects in the state of Tennessee, and we're very excited to have signed two legacies of UT athletics. We are graduating some tremendously versatile and powerful swimmers, and this class helps us both reload and expand the quality of our entire program."

The 2009-10 Lady Vol Swimming and Diving Recruiting Class:
Kelsey Floyd
While competing for Tates Creek High School in Lexington, Ky., Floyd was a three-time high school All-American, earning honors twice in the 100y butterfly and once in the 100y backstroke in 2008. She will likely earn at least one more All-America award when the 2009 honorees are announced later this summer after she placed third in the 100y fly (55.60) and fifth in the 100y back (57.72) at the 2009 Kentucky High School Swimming and Diving Championships.

Floyd earned all-state honors and was named Kentucky High School Swimming Region 5 Most Outstanding Female Competitor three times from 2006-2008. A four-star recruit in Swimming World Magazine's high school rankings, she competed at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100m fly and has a top time of 1:02.17 in the event.

"Kelsey would have a spot on our team based on enthusiasm alone, but she's also a tremendously gifted butterflyer and backstroker who is getting better quickly," Kredich said. "Her home pool is the UK pool, so she has a real sense of what SEC swimming is about and knows she can make a big contribution. Her coach Ben Davis has a great record of sending well-prepared athletes to college and having them improve dramatically through their careers, and we feel that Kelsey is on that same path."

Breana Folk
Folk, of Mohrsville, Pa., holds U.S. Olympic Trial cuts in the 100m breast (1:11.13), 200m breast (2:34.22), 200m IM (2:17.28) and 400m IM (4:54.37). A Swimming World Magazine five-star recruit, Folk competed exclusively on club teams the last two years, but returned to high school completion for her senior year. Swimming for Schuylkill Valley High School, she was named 2009 Berks County Swimmer of the Year after capturing gold medals in the 200y IM (2:00.51) and 100y breast (1:03.03) at the 2009 PIAA Class AA Swimming and Diving Championships. She will likely earn high school All-American honors later this month.

Folk competed in the 100m and 200m breast as well as the 200m and 400m IM events for Parkland Aquatic Club at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials this past summer, finishing 24th in 2:17.33 in the 200m IM.

She was runner-up in the 200m IM by .07 seconds at the 2007 Junior National Championships.

"Breanna is one of the most versatile high school seniors in the country," Kredich said. "Her 200 IM is world-class and improving rapidly, and we think that her 400 IM will be just as good. She has four great strokes, good speed and endurance, and an incredibly competitive attitude. Breanna immediately fell in love with our team and UT, and we expect bring a ton of enthusiasm to our team throughout her career."

Tori Lamp
Lamp, from Bearden High School in Knoxville, is the most decorated of the 2009 recruits.

This past April, she finished second on the platform at the Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championship and made the U.S. team for the FINA Canada Cup where she advanced to the semifinals. She was also selected to dive in the U.S. Grand Prix and set the state record while winning her second straight state title on the 1-meter board at the 2009 Tennessee High School Swimming and Diving Championships. She was named Tennessee's Female Diver of the Year in 2009.

Lamp is the reigning U.S. junior (16-18) champion on the platform, having won the event last August at the 2008 USA Diving Speedo Junior National Championships. Last September, she placed fifth on the platform at the 2008 FINA Junior Diving World Championships in Germany. A member of the Tennessee Diving club team, Lamp has also been a regional qualifier in track and is a level 10 gymnast. Her dad, Danny Lamp, lettered in track and field at UT in 1982.

"I am very pleased Tori Lamp has chosen to remain in Knoxville to continue her education and, of course, to dive for the Lady Vols," Parrington said. "Over the course of the last year, Tori has made the jump with her diving from that of an extremely talented athlete to a junior national champion and a world class performer, as evidenced by her fifth-place finish at the World Junior Championships last September and her recent performance on the senior national level with her participation at the Canada Cup. She will be challenged day in and day out by her future teammates with whom she jelled very well with during the recruiting process. I fully expect that friendship with her future teammates will contribute to enormous success for both her and the team during her promising career."

Sloane Pitman
Pitman, of the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn., captured her second straight 50y free (22.53) title and swam a leg on three winning relays, including the state-record-setting 200y medley and 200y free relays, at the 2009 Tennessee High School Swimming and Diving Championships. She shared the Tennessee Female Swimmer of the Year award with Bearden junior Kennedy Higdon and helped lead the Baylor School girls' team to its second consecutive team title, and the boys and girls combined team to its fourth state championship in a row. Her time in the 50y free ranks second among high school seniors in the country, while her 100y free (49.76) and 200y free (1:47.37) marks rank sixth and ninth, respectively.

Pitman won the 50y free (23.58) and nabbed third in the 100y free, while also swimming legs on two state champion relays at the 2008 state championships. A four-star Swimming World Magazine recruit, Pitman has earned nine All-America honors already and will likely add six more certificates this summer. Her state championship-winning time in the 50y free in 2009 would rank her as the third fastest Lady Vol ever in the event behind only Michele King and Christine Magnuson.

Additionally, Pitman's mother, Laura (Sawyer), earned All-America honors for the Lady Vols as a member of 400y medley relay team in 1984, making her the first legacy in Lady Vol swimming and diving.

"Sloane is a really exciting swimmer because she can do so many things well and she's only been swimming for a few years," Kredich said. "Her learning has been accelerated because she swims for a high-powered program and coach, Dan Flack at the Baylor School. She has great speed, as evidenced by her recent Junior National record in the 50 free, and she can also swim a tough 200 or 500. She's going to help us offset our loss of freestylers with the graduation of last season's senior class."

Skye Sanders
Sanders will join the Lady Vol swimming and diving team after completing a successful diving career while attending South-Doyle High School in Knoxville. She placed third on the 1-meter at the 2009 Tennessee High School Swimming and Diving Championships and was fifth in the event at the 2007 and 2006 state championships. At the Knoxville Area Swim League Championships, Sanders finished runner-up behind future teammate Lamp in 2009, after capturing the title in 2008. She also qualified for the USA Junior National Championships on the platform from 2005-07.

"I am very excited that Skye, who is an exceptional student, will be joining our deep and talented squad of divers," Parrington said. "She brings experience from competing at the U.S. Junior National Championships as well as a great deal of maturity for her age. She will be a huge addition to the Lady Vols."

Brooke Watson
Watson, a Memphis, Tenn., native, earned All-America honors in 2007 and 2008 for White Station High School, and could add additional All-America awards later this month.

Competing for her club team Memphis Tiger Swimming, Watson raced at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200m fly and holds a best time of 2:16.25 in the event. At the 2009 Tennessee High School Swimming and Diving Championships, she placed fifth in the 100y fly (56.69) and seventh in the 200y IM (2:07.76). In 2008, she was sixth in the 100y fly and earned third-place finishes as a member of the 200y medley and 400y free relay teams at the state meet.

"Brooke had a break-out year in 2008 with some major improvements that landed her at the Olympic Trials in March," Kredich said. "She's going to help give us more firepower in the butterfly events and eventually in the IM's as well. We are very fortunate to have signed Brooke early, as she is a finalist for some very prestigious academic scholarships at other institutions as well as Tennessee."

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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