Tennessee Rolls Over South Carolina in Home Dual Meet

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, October 18. THE Tennessee Volunteers men’s and women’s teams each won their second dual meets of the season, beating South Carolina 172-128 in the men’s meet and 169-124 on the women’s side.

Sean Lehane, a finalist in the 200 backstroke at the USA Swimming nationals, posted wins in the 100 and 200 backstrokes today. His 100 back time of 48.36 was respectable, but his time of 1:45.51 was stellar, putting him third in the collegiate rankings behind Jack Conger and Ryan Murphy.

After Tennessee won both medley relays to start the meet, South Carolina came out swinging with a 10:03.39 by Victoria Mitchell to win the first individual event of the day. Tennessee’s David Heron countered with a dominating win in the men’s 1000 with a 9:17.80, winning by 13 seconds over teammate Ryan Signorin. Mitchell would return to post a win at the end of the meet with a 2:06.56 in the 200 IM after Volunteer Lauren Driscoll’s 2:05.98 was scored as an exhibition swim. Heron would also post a double win by posting a 4:31.98 in the 500 free.

Lindsay Gendron posted two victories in the meet, swimming a 1:47.51 in the 200 free and 4:49.51 in the 500. Gendron’s time in the 200 just fell short of the top collegiate time of the season, which is Melanie Margalis’ 1:47.09.

Despite the loss in the two meets, South Carolina was able to notch eight more victories in individual events. Amanda Rutqvist, an NCAA All-American in the breaststroke events, posted a sweep today with a 1:04.97 in the 100 and 2:21.15 in the 200. Another double winner for the Gamecocks was Kevin Leithold, who won the 100 free with a 44.61 and the 100 breast with a 56.27.

Other winners for South Carolina included Gerard Rodriguez in the 200 free (1:39.77), Matt Navata in the 200 fly (1:52.94), Jared Kauffman in the 200 breast (2:04.29) and Sam Lynch in the 100 fly (48.98).

Patty Kranz and Cole Miller each helped South Carolina’s efforts to win the day with victories in the 3-meter diving competition, while Kranz picked up first-place points as well in the 1-meter event. Miller placed second in the men’s 1-meter diving behind Mauricio Robles of Tennessee.

Faith Johnson, a finalist in the 50 free at last season’s NCAA championships, won the 50 free today with a 22.96, becoming the fifth person under 23 seconds so far this season. Johnson also won the 100 free with a 50.47.

Australian Luke Percy, a medalist in the 50 and 100 freestyles at the junior world championships, made his collegiate racing debut with a 19.45 freestyle leg inthe 200 medley relay and a 20.63 to finish second in the 50 free behind teammate Chris Sadsad, who won with a 20.61.

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