Tennessee Last Chance: Day Two

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, February 27. THE 13th-ranked Tennessee women's swimming and diving team closed out its final home meet of the season by recording back-to-back spectacular swims to end the Tennessee Championship Qualification "Last Chance" Meet on Saturday at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

The quartet of senior Michele King, junior Morgan Farrell, sophomore Jenny Connolly and freshman Kelsey Floyd captured a season-best clocking of 1:30.04 in the 200y free relay during the evening time trials. That mark would currently rank UT 10th in the country according to collegeswimming.com. The NCAA is expected to take 16 teams in each relay event.

A few minutes after the Big Orange's spectacular relay performance, sophomore Tori Richmond added to the excitement by shattering her career-best in the 200y breast and earning an NCAA B-cut. Her time-trial time of 2:12.25 was seven seconds faster than her previous best before the meet and ranks No. 25 in the event on the collegeswimming.com national list. Approximately 30-34 participants will be selected for the NCAA Championships in each individual event.

"The last two swims of the night were phenomenal for us," Lady Vol head coach Matt Kredich said. "We jumped over a few teams in the 200y free relay, so it looks like we have a good shot at being selected in that event. Tori Richmond's sensational 200y breast swim has a great shot qualifying her for NCAAs, as well."

Richmond's swim continued a string of impressive performances for the UT breaststroke contingent. The Lady Vols dominated the breast events at the SEC Championships last week and have cemented themselves as having the strongest breast corps in the country.

In addition to Richmond, seniors Alex Barsanti and Jamie Saffer, junior Martina Moravcikova, sophomore Samara Gelb and freshman Breanna Folk will all likely earn invites in the breaststroke to the NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind., from March 18-20.

The NCAA will announce the official field next week.

Freshman Brooke Watson also had a great performance, lowering her season-best and B-cut mark in the 100y fly to 54.07, while Richmond recorded a season-best in the 200y IM (2:01.62) during a morning time trial.

Barsanti was just off her best in the prelims of the 200y breast, touching in 2:13.54, a B-cut.

Freshman Kelsey Floyd swam a season-best and registered a B-cut in the 100y back (54.92). Sophomore Morgan Farrell also nabbed a B-cut in the 100y back (54.31).

Additionally, Saffer, mainly a breaststroker, dipped below a minute (59.73) in the 100y back, completely the rare feat of having her personal bests in all four strokes below the 1:00 barrier.

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