Tennessee Swimming and Diving Sweeps Florida For First Time in School History

Meghan Small won the 200 IM. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

History was made Saturday at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center as the fourth-ranked Tennessee swimming and diving women’s team (8-0) and 12th-ranked men’s team (7-1) swept Florida for the first time in program history.

Team Scores:

Men: #12 Tennessee 156, #9 Florida 144
Women: #4 Tennessee 170.5, #8 Florida 129.5
Results

Tennessee Swimming and Diving Press Release

Going into the senior day dual meet, the Vols had beaten the Gator men 19 times while the Lady Vols had earned four wins over the Gator women. They had never combined for the dual meet sweep until Saturday.

“I am thrilled for the seniors that they have been a part of some unique experiences,” director of swimming and diving Matt Kredich said. “I can’t think of a more deserving group and they have provided leadership in so many different ways, maybe most importantly in competitive situations. They are an incredible group of competitors. It is a great tribute to them in their leadership that the women are undefeated and that we beat a really strong Florida team in both genders. It’s an achievement that I hope the seniors feel like they can own.”

The Lady Vols made even more history as they finished the season undefeated for the first time since the 1972-73 season, and for just the third time in program history. They also secured their sixth win over a top 25 team this season with their 170.5-129.5 win over the eighth-ranked Gator women.

The women now have five wins over Florida all-time and have won two of the last three, including the last two meetings in Knoxville.

With the men’s 156-144 victory over Florida, they finish the season 7-1, their best finish since the 2001-02 season. It is also the first time the Vols have beaten the Gators since 2008. The victory is their 20th all-time against Florida.

Tennessee’s men and women set a combined six new meet records on Saturday. Erika Brown set meet records in the 100 free (48.51) and 100 fly (51.91) while newcomer Kayky Mota went 47.07 in the men’s 100 fly. Amanda Nunan set a new school and meet record in the 1,000 at 9:37.08. Meghan Small turned in a meet record 1:57.22 in the 200 IM, while the Lady Vols’ 400 free relay of Brown, Bailey Grinter, Tjasa Pintar and Stanzi Moseley posted a meet record 3:18.04.

Brown led the Lady Vols Saturday as she brought home three individual event wins for the second week in-a-row. The Charlotte, N.C., native won the 200 free with a time of 1:45.81 before winning the 100 free (48.51) and 100 fly (51.91).

Brown also lead off the Lady Vols’ winning 400 free relay (3:18.04) with a split of 48.19.

“Erika’s joy and love to compete is what continues to keep her incredibly competitive,” associate head coach Ashley Jahn said. “It makes her great. She loves this team, she loves her other seniors and loves competing and competes with joy and I think that’s a recipe for doing incredible things whenever you want too.”

While Brown took the 50 free off, Grinter stepped up and took home the win for Tennessee. The junior laid down a time of 22.62, finishing ahead of teammates Moseley (22.85) and Natalie Ungaretti (22.90).

Grinter placed fourth in the 100 free (50.08) while helping the 200 medley relay finish second and swimming second on the 400 free relay.

“Bailey has been great,” Jahn said. “She also loves to compete and is always looking for ways to get better. All season we’ve seen her continue to make little jumps, little strides, watching video and taking away more information from practice. She’s doing the little things to make herself better and is executing at a higher level and is doing it with joy and for her team.”

Nunan picked up right where she left off last week as she set a new school and meet record in the 1,000 free, hitting the wall at 9:37.08. She followed up that performance with a win in the 500 free, touching the wall in 4:44.67.

“Amanda is in a great place,” Jahn said. “She is really excited and has been putting a lot of work in, as have all of our athletes. She is reaping the benefits of all the work she has put in and is constantly adjusting and she is paying attention to her races and knows how to execute in the race. Each time she is executing better and made changes from last week to this week and hit on them today.”

On the men’s side, Mota brought home wins in the 100 and 200 fly finishing with times of 47.07 and 1:47.31, respectively.

Alec Connolly picked up two more wins for UT in the 50 and 100 free, hitting the wall in 19.77 and 43.87.

“All of this started last week,” associate head coach Lance Asti said. “Last Saturday we took a hit from Georgia and had a loss, our only one and we handled the loss brilliantly. The leaders pulled these guys in and we had a fantastic week of training. We were all in and made adjustments from the Georgia meet, but the seniors got them ready for this week and put that loss behind us.”

Michael Houlie won in the 100 breast (53.68) while Matthew Garcia took home a victory in the 100 back at 47.56.

The men also won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:26.41.

“We started the season talking about being underdogs and one of our senior leaders, Braga Verhage, said we needed to stop,” Asti said. “We need to expect to win, that’s what the alumni say and we can’t both be underdogs and expect to win. The attitude changed and we quit talking about being the underdog. We came into this meet expecting to beat Florida and that’s the attitude they have brought to every meet. Win or lose we expect to be the alpha. I am really happy with how these guys are competing.”

In diving, Matthew Wade returned to compete on both boards for the first time this season, winning both. He won on 1-meter with a score of 333.53 and on 3-meter with a total dive score of 403.20. Wade has missed most of the season with a foot injury, competing on Saturday for just the second time this year.

“I can’t tell you how special what he is doing is,” diving coach Dave Parrington said. “It might be difficult for people who are not intimately involved with the sport, but to see Matthew come back from his Spanish nationals and his injury and see him get a qualifying score in good style on 1-meter and go over 400 on 3-meter, is really special. That was really exciting and a special thing for me to be a part of and witness.”

Keegan Richardson finished second on 1-meter (296.48) and third on 3-meter (354.23) while on the women’s side, sophomore Grace Cable finished third on 3-meter (312.08) and fourth on 1-meter (280.43).

Florida Press Release

Men

The No. 9 University of Florida men’s swimming and diving team fell short to No. 12 Tennessee in their 2019-20 season finale at the Jones Aquatic Center on Saturday.

In the 156-144 loss, the Gators earned seven event wins and posted five new season-best swims.

For the second consecutive week, this week’s Southeastern Conference Men’s Swimmer of the Week Kieran Smith led Florida with a three event wins. He would sweep the distance competition, while adding a 200 free victory as well.

Smith’s 1,000 free swim of 9:01.86 was a new personal-best by almost five full seconds, and his 500 free time, which beat the rest of the field by three seconds, was also a new best effort as a Gator (4:18.13).

Florida would claim the top-three places in the 400 IM as Grant Sanders placed first with his effort of 3:51.61. Kevin Vargas (3:54.01) and Miguel Cancel (3:54.23) finished behind him in second and third, respectively.

The final individual event wins were posted by Clark Beach in the 200 back (1:43.70) and in the 200 breast by Marco Guarente (1:58.52).

The relay of Will Davis, Smith, Khader Baqlah and Eric Friese closed out the dual season with a 200 free victory with the top combined swim of 1:1870. Smith led the way with his split of 19.48.

After Smith’s back-to-victories wins to start off the meet, the Volunteers put together a key stretch of the meet, firing off six straight event wins before Clark Beach’s 200 back victory.

Overall, Tennessee was led by Alec Connolly and Kayky Mota, who each posted two individual event wins. Matt Wade posted two wins as well, winning both events on the diving board.

Coming off a victory in the 500 free last weekend, Baqlah hit the wall as a runner-up in the 100, 200 and 500 free. His efforts in the 100 and 200 free would notch his top swims this season in the respective events.
A trio of runner-up bids were earned by Sanders (200 breast), Will Davis (50 free) and Eric Friese (100 fly).
In their addition to their event wins, Clark Beach also finished second in the 100 back with a time of 48.50 and Guarente placed third in the 100 breast with an effort of 54.41.
In the 500 free, Matthew Anderson would go on to beat his previous top swim set last week against Auburn with his fourth-place finish with his effort of 4:28.75. He also added a third-place finish in the 1,000 free.
Cancel, Isaac Davis and Ethan Beach each tallied new season-bests with their third-place finishes in Knoxville. Cancel shaved almost a full second of his 200 fly time that won him the same event last weekend against Auburn, and Ethan Beach hit the wall in 1:46.62, .27 seconds faster than his previous top 200 back swim. Isaac Davis finished the 100 fly in 48.15, beating out his previous best by .05 seconds.
On the diving board, Alex Farrow posted a runner-up bid in the 3-meter board with a score of 361.20, while finishing in third (289.58) on the 1-meter. Nick Lydon was the other Gator diver to perform, posting a pair of fourth-place finishes in both events.

Series History

Florida now holds a 26-20 all-time against Tennessee. The loss snaps a 11-meet win streak that dated back to the 2007-08 season when the Volunteers won by a final score of 160-140.

From 1995-2002, the Volunteers won every meet against the Gators, with that streak snapping in 2002-03.

Quotables

Head coach Anthony Nesty- “The men fought hard against Tennessee today. We were a bit compromised in our line up due to the sudden illness among a couple of our men upon arrival to Tennessee. Despite this, our men competed with tenacity and we are extremely proud of them. They handled adversity with tremendous focus and strength. The team unity was superior and much was learned from the experience. I want to thank our Support Staff and Administrative Staff for their loyal support. We press forward! Go Gators!”

Head diving coach Bryan Gillooly- “I’m very happy for the divers today. Not only for the way they dove in the actual competition, the results were great, but they had some really great practices as well. Even the dives that weren’t great in the meet were what I like to call “good misses”. Meaning that the technique and mechanics were what we are looking for. Overall, they competed very well. The whole team is unified and strong. Going into postseason, I am confident that our preparation has been as good as possible.”

Women

The No. 8 University of Florida women’s swimming and diving team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday against the No. 4 Tennessee Lady Vols at the Jones Aquatic Center in their final dual meet of the 2019-20 campaign.

The Gators fell for the first time this season to the unbeaten Lady Vols by a final tally of 170.5-129.5. The 8-1 dual record is the best finish by UF since 2007-08, when the team finished with an identical dual record of 8-1.

Florida would go on to post three individual event wins, with every victory notching a B-cut for the winning Gator.

Sherridon Dressel (100 back) and Vanessa Pearl (200 breast) each posted new season-best times in their respective events. The 200 back was the final individual event won by Florida as Rosie Zavaros touched the wall first in a time of 1:56.47.

The Gators would also go on to sweep both diving events in the dual. This week’s SEC Women’s Diver of the Week Brooke Madden led the charge on the 1-meter board, winning the event with an overall tally of 297.98. Ashley McCool posted the top score in the 3-meter, with her score of 348.08.

Florida got off on the right foot to begin the meet as Emma Ball, Pearl, Dressel and Bella Garofalo combined for the top 200 medley relay swim of 1:38.54. Garofalo would anchor the squad with a free split of 22.46.

Tennessee would then go on to win the first two individual events of the meet- the 1,000 free and 200 free- before Dressel’s 100 back win. After the Dressel win, the Lady Vols would win the next three events leading into McCool’s 3-meter victory.

Overall, Erika Brown led the way for the Lady Vols with three individual wins. Amanda Nunan was crucial in distance events, picking up victories in the 500 and 1,000 free.

In addition to her 200 breast victory, Pearl was able to claim two more B-cuts with her runner-up bids in the 100 breast and 200 IM. The sophomore touched the wall in just .42 seconds behind the winner in the 100 breast, while posting a swim of 1:59.14 in the 200 IM.
Dressel was able to register another B-cut as well, finishing in third-place with an effort of 52.76. The time was just .24 off her personal-best set this season at the Georgia Tech Invitational.
In the 1,000 free, Leah Braswell posted a runner-up bid (9:58.53) and Georgia Darwent finished in third (10:03.07) as Tennessee’s Nunan won the event in a time of 9:37.08, a Jones Aquatic Center record. Savanna Faulconer added a fourth-place finish of 10:09.80.
In addition to her 3-meter victory, McCool would post a runner-up bid behind Madden in the 1-meter. Elizabeth Perez earned second-place (3-meter) and third-place (1-meter) finishes behind both her teammates.
After anchoring the winning 200 medley relay, Garofalo posted a pair of third-place finishes in the individual sprint events as she would hit the wall in the 50 free with an effort of 22.90 and the 100 free in 49.87.
Taylor Ault and Braswell rounded-out the top-three in the 500 free with Ault posting a runner-up bid of 4:49.83 and Braswell finishing behind her fellow Gator with a swim of 4:53.89.
Allie Piccirillo posted the best Florida finish in the 200 fly, earning a third-place nod with her time of 2:00.34. The effort is just 1.92 off her seasonal and personal-best set at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Fellow freshman Kathleen Golding also posted a third-place finish in the 200 free. Her swim of 1:48.57 was just .19 from a runner-up effort.
To cap off the meet, a Florida relay squad of Dressel, Garofalo, Golding and Kelly Fertel earned second-place for their combined swim of 3:20.01. UF had the fourth-best finish as well, as the relay of Gabby Hillis, Ault, Nikki Miller and Tori Bindi combined for a swim of 3:24.59.

With the Tennessee win, Florida now holds a 31-5 advantage in the all-time series as the Lady Vols have now won three of the last four matchups between the two teams.

The Lady Vols picked up back-to-back victories in 2016-17 and 2017-18, before UF posted a 173-127 win in Gainesville last year on Senior Day.

UF won the first 27 matchups between the two programs, with Tennessee claiming their first win in the series during the 2011-12 season with a final score of 178-120.

Quotables

Head coach Jeff Poppell- “I’m so proud of this group of women. They did a fantastic job today competing hard and racing tough against a strong and deep Tennessee team. Although we came out on the wrong side of the final outcome, I have no doubt that this will only help us as we move forward into the postseason.”

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