Lady Vols Defeat Northwestern, 210-139

EVANSTON, Illinois, January 6. TENNESSEE was victorious in 13 of the 19 events in today's dual meet with Northwestern to win its first meet of 2007 by a score of 210-139. The Lady Vols will take a 4-2 (2-1 Southeastern Conference) dual-meet record into the competition with No. 6 Georgia on Jan. 20 in Knoxville.

"I knew we had gotten better over the past seven weeks of training, but we also knew it was going to be a challenge to get back into the competition," Lady Vol Head Swimming Coach Matt Kredich said. "Some did it seamlessly, but for others it took a little while to get there. I thought that by the end of the day, everyone had at least one really good performance."

Standing out on the Lady Vol roster was junior Christine Magnuson who won the 100y fly (53.98), 200y fly (2:00.78) and 50y free (23.36) all in NCAA provisional qualifying times. The Tinley Park, Ill., native also helped three relay squads, the 400y medley (3:44.68), 200y free (1:33.13) and 400y free (3:22.77) earn first-place finishes.

"We had some great performances from a lot of different people at different times," Kredich said. "Christine [Magnuson] and Megan [Tomes] were exceptional."

The Lady Vols went into the afternoon session leading the Wildcats, 101-66, by winning six of the first nine events. Both relays, the 400y medley and 200y free, went the Lady Vols' way, the latter in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:33.13.

The day's second session included individual wins from Magnuson, Michele King, Lauren LeRoy, Danyelle Vincent and Carly Mathes. In all, eight different Lady Vols contributed to the 13 overall titles. Six NCAA provisional cuts were reached in individual events, two in relay contests.

The day started with a win in the 400y medley relay from seniors Megan Tomes and Tiffany Clay, junior Magnuson and freshman King. Tomes' 55.38 leadoff leg was her fastest of the season and earned her a third provisional qualifying time in the 100y back so far this year. The foursome posted a time of 3:44.68 for the title. UT's "B" team of junior Vincent and sophomores Sarah McCall, Betsy Lange and Katie Gehring finished in a third-place 3:58.48, while seniors Ashley Yeager and Elizabeth Christy, junior Laura Fehrman and freshman Jamie Saffer were fifth in 3:59.95.

Sophomore Sam Maccherola led the Lady Vols in the 500y free with a second-place 4:55.59, her best of the year. Wildcat swimmers secured three of the top four spots. Freshman Ashley Knapik was the next point-scorer for UT in the event with a fifth-place time of 5:05.96. Freshman Laura Tomes and Cain were sixth and eighth with times of 5:07.07 and 5:10.02, respectively.

While King recorded a season-best NCAA "B" qualifying time of 50.61 in the 100y free, she was .42 seconds behind first-place Andrea Hupman of Northwestern. Sophomore Mathes was fourth with a time of 52.20, freshman Brittany Nauta touched the wall in 52.96 for fifth and Gehring clocked a sixth-place 54.14. Also competing for the Lady Vols were Fehrman and freshman Ashley Quinn who finished in 52.81 and 53.08, respectively.

Clay, who holds the Lady Vol record in the 200y breaststroke, finished her best event in 2:18.58 for the title. Saffer followed her by clocking a 2:22.25 readout. McCall rounded out the top five in 2:26.66.

The next event on the schedule was the one-meter diving. LeRoy continued her successful junior campaign with her sixth win, third from that height, with a score of 258.30. Junior Vicky Linnell placed third with 234.90 points, her highest ranking in the one-meter this year. Senior captain Brittany Fulmer scored 228.53 points for fourth, while sophomore Staley McCartney had 211.88 points to place her in sixth.

LeRoy also won the three-meter competition in the afternoon session by posting 198.15 points. Linnell fended off Beth Campbell of Northwestern by .35 points for second place with a score of 163.00. Fulmer placed a season-high fourth with 157.85 points and McCartney a season-high fifth place with a score of 142.20.

Magnuson recorded a 53.98 readout in the 100y fly for her third victory in the event this year. The time marks her best of the season and was just .23 seconds away from the NCAA automatic qualifying time. Saffer was the next Lady Vol point-scorer in fourth place (58.15), while Lange was in sixth with a time of 58.47.

Megan Tomes convincingly won the seventh event of the day, the 200y backstroke, by touching the wall in an NCAA "B" qualifying time of 1:59.26. Vincent, Yeager and Nauta followed in third, fourth and fifth place with times of 2:05.87, 2:06.74 and 2:09.26, respectively. Sophomore Maria Jugan recorded a 2:13.46 readout.

While Lady Vol swimmers secured four of the top five spots in the 400y IM, it was Kassia Shishkoff who won the event, her second victory of the day. Mathes led the UT squad with a second-place 4:29.81 and was followed closely by Clay in 4:29.98. Christy and McCall rounded out the top five in 4:32.59 and 4:36.18, respectively.

The squad of King, Magnuson, Mathes and Nauta earned top honors and UT's third NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 200y free relay with a 1:33.13 readout. Christy, Gehring, Maccherola and Fehrman touched the wall third in 1:37.46 and Quinn, Knapik, Lange and Laura Tomes were fifth with a time of 1:41.39.

The second session started with the 200y medley relay. Vincent, Clay, Mathes and Nauta made up Tennessee's "A" squad, while Jugan, McCall, Saffer and Fehrman were on the "B" team. The "A" foursome placed second with a time of 1:47.56, with the "B" quartet coming in third in 1:53.15.

The 200y fly was next on the list for the Lady Vols and Wildcats. Magnuson won her second event of the day in a season-best 2:00.78, nearly two seconds faster than the NCAA "B" cut time. Saffer was third by clocking a 2:06.40 time. Fellow freshman Knapik touched the wall in 2:08.98 for fourth place. Lange's time of 2:11.07 placed her sixth.

Northwestern secured the top-three spots in the 200y free with Shishkoff taking her third title of the day. Mathes led the way for the Lady Vols with a fourth-place 1:51.14 posting. Maccherola, Nauta and Laura Tomes were sixth (1:53.59), seventh (1:53.63) and eighth (1:57.65), respectively.

King, who will compete for the U.S. at the 2007 Pan American Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, won the 100y breast in a career-best 1:02.19. The posting is the second NCAA "B" cut in that event for the freshman. Clay and McCall both earned points for UT by clocking a third-place 1:05.57 and fifth-place 1:06.89, respectively.

Magnuson picked up her fifth win of the day in the 50y freestyle in an NCAA ‘B' qualifying time of 23.36. King was just .05 seconds behind her teammate in second. Gehring and Fehrman placed sixth (24.39) and seventh (24.70), respectively. Quinn also represented UT in the event and touched the wall in 24.45.

Vincent was the top Lady Vol point-scorer in event 16, the 100y backstroke. The victory marked the Rohnert Park, Calif., native's second individual win of the year, the first coming in the 200y back event versus Louisville. Christy was just .01 seconds behind her teammate by touching the wall in a second-place 58.53. Jugan was Tennessee's third entrant in the event and clocked a 1:04.51 readout for fifth place.

Kredich entered five swimmers in the 1650y free. Maccherola led the squad by stopping the clock at 16:58.18, good enough for third. Cain, Knapik and Yeager were fifth (17:10.89), sixth (17:31.82) and seventh (17:37.04), respectively. Laura Tomes, swimming in exhibition, posted a 17:22.46 reading.

Mathes picked up her first individual win of the season in the 200y IM with a time of 2:06.41. Clay was just .01 seconds behind second-place Katie Braun of Northwestern in 2:07.33. Christy was fourth with a 2:09.77 readout, while McCall swam a fifth-place 2:10.67. Swimming in exhibition, Saffer clocked a 2:13.48 mark.

The last event of the evening was the 400y freestyle. King, Magnuson, Nauta and Megan Tomes earned UT's fourth NCAA provisional time in the event with a first-place 3:22.77. Quinn, Gehring, Fehrman and Christy placed third with a time of 3:32.38. Quinn led the team with a 100y free time of 54.14, her best of the season. Tennessee's "C" squad of Vincent, Yeager, Jugan and Lange posted a fourth-place 3:44.04.

"We had really good relays in both halves of the meet," Kredich said. "Megan Tomes and Christine Magnuson were great today. Both of them had phenomenal swims on the relays."

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