Kentucky vs. Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, October 30. THE Tennessee women's swimming and diving team opened the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center for the 2009-10 season in dominating fashion on Friday, capturing 12 swimming events en route to defeating Kentucky, 193-103.

Seniors Alex Barsanti and Michele King, sophomores Jenny Connolly and Tori Richmond and freshman Kelsey Floyd each won a pair of individual events for UT, which improved to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the SEC. UK dropped to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC.

"I thought we came out in the first half of the meet and swam really aggressively," Lady Vol head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. "We swam how we have been practicing and how we expect ourselves to swim. Kelsey Floyd was a star once again and it was great to have Alex (Barsanti) and Tori (Richmond) back. They had spectacular meets. Overall, it was a good, strong performance for us. We definitely put our races together better than we did the first two meets, and that's what we expected."

Barsanti, in her season debut, swept the breast events, taking the 100y breast in 1:03.30 and the 200y breast in 2:17.26.

King captured the 50y free and 100y free by wide margins. She won the 50y free by nearly a full second in a season-best and NCAA ‘B' cut time of 22.94. Later in the 100y free, King touched the wall in 50.54, over a second faster than Connolly, who finished second (51.67).

Connolly extended her undefeated streak in the 100y back and 100y fly to all three meets this season. She won the 100y back in an NCAA ‘B' cut time of 55.00 and defeated Kentucky's Megan Pulskamp, a 2009 All-American, to claim the 100y fly in 55.13. Pulskamp was second in 56.10.

Richmond led a 1-2-3 sweep for the Lady Vols in the 200y fly, winning the event in 2:02.56 to give UT a commanding 94-36 lead through seven events. Right behind Richmond were freshman Brooke Watson (2:02.69) and junior Tricia Weaner (2:02.74). Richmond also won the 200y IM in 2:05.16.

Floyd cruised to victory in the 1000y free, winning the distance event by nearly six seconds in 10:13.28. Her victory in the 200y back was equally as dominant, as the Lexington, Ky., native touched the wall in 2:00.88. She also finished second in the 100y back (56.31) against her hometown school.

The Lady Vols kicked off the meet by easily winning the 200y medley relay. King, Connolly and Floyd teamed with senior Jamie Saffer to snag first-place in a season-best and NCAA ‘B' cut time of 1:42.23.

Tennessee's other event winner was junior Aleksa Akerfelds. She captured the 200y free in a season-best 1:51.28, while King was right behind in third (1:52.06).

Junior Martina Moravcikova placed second in both the 100y breast (1:03.91) and 200y breast (2:20.28), while freshman Breanna Folk was runner-up in the 200y IM (2:05.24).

Sophomore Atlantis Wilkins placed third in the "splash and dash" in 24.16, and classmate Maddie Garrett collected a third-place in the 1000y free (10:21.41).

Kentucky's Lisa Faulkner swept the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, scoring 279.38 and 303.45, respectively.

Sophomore Jodi McGroarty placed second with an NCAA Zone qualifying score (267.08) on the 1-meter, while classmate Gabrielle Trudeau (257.33) finished third.

On the 3-meter, Trudeau placed second with a career-best and NCAA Zone qualifying score of 295.80, while junior Jill Pierce finished third with a 247.50 tally.

"Anytime you get beat on both boards you don't like it," Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. "Kudos to (Lisa) Faulkner for her performance. As far as our women went, I was pleased with Gabbi on the 3-meter. She was able to get her Zone score and a career-best. She made some corrections after a mistake during the 1-meter, so it was great to see her come back and perform well. It was nice to have Jodie (McGroarty) back, as well, making a Zone score in her first meet."

Katrina Winsor was the Wildcats' only swimming event winner, as she captured the 500y free in 5:01.50.

The Lady Vols return to action next Friday at 3 p.m. when they welcome South Carolina to the AJIAC for a dual meet.

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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