NCAA Div. I Women: Tennessee Storms By ‘Canes

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 8. THE University of Tennessee women's swimming and diving team, led by two wins apiece from freshmen Kara Boland and Betsy Brockman, downed the No. 19 Miami Hurricanes by a score of 131-112 on Friday.

Boland, a native of Lafayette Hill, Pa., dominated the competition in the distance freestyle events. She clocked a time of 10:09.01 in the 1000y free, over 25 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Boland's second victory of the night was especially key, as she finished over 15 seconds ahead of all other competitors at 4:56.02 in the 500y free, giving UT a 106-82 lead with three events remaining.

Brockman also provided many key points for the Lady Vols. The Batavia, Ohio, native not only won the 200y IM and the 200y breast for UT, but also placed second in the 200y fly and swam on Tennessee's second-place 400y free relay team. Those four events helped earn the Lady Vols a total of 26 points.

Freshman Noelle Bassi (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) continued the strong start to her Lady Vol career, winning the 200y fly for the third time in as many meets. Bassi's winning time of 2:02.26, combined with Brockman's second-place finish and freshman Graciela Breece-Rodriguez's fourth-place effort gave Tennessee a 74-57 lead.

The 400y medley relay quartet of freshmen Jacque Fessel, Danielle Lundy, Bassi and senior Bethany Hall helped UT get off to a quick start by claiming victory in the 400y medley relay with a clocking of 3:52.82.

Other Lady Vol scorers in the meet included senior Raellen Arnold in the 1000y free (third) and 500y free (third), senior Courtney Naparlo in the 50y free (third), senior Nicole Brannock in the 200y breast (third) and 200y IM (fifth), Hall in the 200y free (fourth), senior Sara Wingfield in the 100y free (fourth), junior Taryn Ternent in the 50y free (second) and 100y free (second), junior Kristin Souppa in the 1000y free (fourth) and 500y free (fourth), Fessel in the 200y back (second), freshman Randi Vogel in the 200y free (third) and 200y back (third), freshman Abbi Terveer in the 100y free (third) and 50y free (fourth), Breece-Rodriguez in the 200y IM (fourth), freshman Amy Roberts in the 200y back (fourth) and 200y free (fifth) and Lundy in the 200y breast (fourth).

"With a ranked team such as Miami coming in, we expected the score to be close all the way," UT Head Coach Dan Colella said. "I'm really proud of our team. Our times may not have been as fast as they could be, but we were really focused and showed a lot of excitement tonight."

While the Lady Vol swimmers were competing against Miami, the diving squad was also in action on the Student Aquatic Center boards in the UT Diving Invitational. In addition to Miami, divers from Houston and Ohio State presented strong competition for Tennessee. The scores of the Tennessee and Miami divers were carried over from the invitational and applied to the final scoring of the UT-UM dual meet.

Miami senior Katie Beth Bryant used the invitational to get revenge against Houston senior Yulia Pakhalina, a Russian Olympian, by winning the one-meter springboard with a score of 328.65 to Pakhalina's 323.30. Bryant had finished runner-up to Pakhalina in the one-meter at the 2001 NCAA Championships.

Lady Vol senior Jaime Sanger made a strong return from injury in the one-meter, taking third in the 13-diver field at her first meet of the season. Sanger totaled an NCAA zone-qualifying score of 273.80.

In the three-meter competition, Pakhalina rebounded with a score of 332.85 to defeat Bryant, who totaled 305.30. UT sophomore Lauryn McCalley had a strong showing, placing third with a tally of 281.85 points. Also diving well for the Lady Vols were junior Kylee Wells in fifth (277.15) and Sanger in seventh (272.40), both of whom recorded NCAA zone-qualifying marks.

"The highlight of the day was certainly a strong return to action by Jaime Sanger," UT Diving Coach Dave Parrington said. "We struggled somewhat on the one-meter, but bounced back against some superlative competition and performed well in the three-meter."

The Lady Vols will take a weekend off from competing before the swimming and diving squads will split for their next competitions. The swimmers will head to Bloomington, Ind., for the Indiana Invitational, while the divers compete at the Minnesota Diving Invitational in Minneapolis, with both events spanning Nov. 22-24.

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