KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, January 4. THE sixth-ranked Tennessee men's swimming and diving team took on Georgia Tech Friday at the UT Student Aquatic Center, triumphing over the Yellow Jackets by a score of 98-63. The meet was unorthodox by common standards as the competition included 150 butterfly and 500 freestyle relays, a 400 freestyle and a 200 underwater freestyle relay.
"Today was all about celebrating the new year, a way in which swimming meets should be competed," UT head coach John Trembley said. "Georgia Tech is a very fine ACC opponent. They came to Knoxville, and their head coach Steve Wilson and I agreed that we wanted to have a fun and different format. It was certainly a fast meet; this competition took less than one hour and it was very coach and spectator friendly. There were a lot of smiles, a lot of good spirit and a lot of cheering on both sides. Today's meet really embodied what competition really should be."
The Volunteers, despite the unusual competition, managed to pull out a few victories over the course of the meet.
"Captain Michael Wolfe swam a very nice race in the 400 freestyle.," Trembley said. "Michael DeRocco debuted in the 50 freestyle. Barry Murphy won that race and had a great swim."
Wolfe topped the 400 freestyle with a time of 3:37.96 while freshman Brad Craig followed in second-place with a time of 3:45.55. Muprhy and DeRocco took the top two spots in the 50 freestyles, splashing in at times of 20.59 and 21.02, respectively. Nolan Morrell won the 200 I.M. in 1:55.52, and Stephen Fortney won the 100 I.M. in 53.04. Tennessee relays won the 150 butterfly, 500 freestyle and 200 underwater freestyle relays.
In spite of a laid back day for Trembley and the Vols, they are looking ahead to the next, more conservatively-styled meet.
"There are a lot of things on which we need to work. We got a little rusty after time home at Christmas," Trembley said. "But we look forward to two weeks from today when we face seventh-ranked Indiana University."
Special thanks to Tennessee for contributing this report.