KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, January 18. DIVER Staley McCartney recorded her first-ever win in Lady Vol attire this afternoon, helping eighth-ranked Tennessee defeat No. 22 Indiana, 172-128, at the Student Aquatic Center. The junior broke personal records from both springboards and earned top honors from three meters with a score of 291.90. Following her three-meter win, UT swimmers took six of the remaining seven events.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Staley is definitely the MVP of the day,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That was an incredible performance. It really inspired her teammates and got them to be a little more focused on competing and racing. That was a big lift for the team.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am just really excited,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d McCartney said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worked really hard and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that everything came together. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really special that all the girls are so excited. Carly [Mathes] said she was waiting behind the blocks and it would make her day if I won.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Also having an outstanding meet was freshman Aleksa Akerfelds, senior Christine Magnuson and junior Carly Mathes. Akerfelds, the defending Division I National Swimmer of the Week posted wins and new personal-best times in both the 500y and 1000y freestyle. Magnuson swam the fastest of her career in the 200y fly and 500y free, while Mathes earned a team-high 27 points with three wins today.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We had some phenomenal swims today,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kredich said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think Carly had the best dual meet she has ever had. She was a real leader today. Christine, as usual, was very tough. Aleksa just keeps getting faster and faster. Betsy Lange also had a great meet. We had a lot of people step up today that we count on to win events.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In the first swimming event of the day, the 200y medley relay, Tennessee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A\u00e2\u20ac\u009d team of freshman Tricia Weaner, sophomore Michele King, Magnuson and junior Katie Gehring was neck and neck with Indiana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A\u00e2\u20ac\u009d team, but finished second by a mere .11 seconds. The squad\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time of 1:42.20 is UT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second NCAA provisional cut in the event. Tennessee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B\u00e2\u20ac\u009d team of freshman Morgan Farrell, sophomore Alex Barsanti and juniors Betsy Lange and Ashley Quinn was third in 1:45.95.<\/p>\n
In the 1000y freestyle, Akerfelds, pulled ahead of Indiana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Amanda Smith with about seven laps to go to post a new personal-best time of 9:52.93. The freshman continues her streak of setting a new personal record each time she swims the event, as she started the season with a 10:00.22 readout. New this year to the distance events, junior Sarah McCall finished fifth in 10:20.05.<\/p>\n
Weaner, along with juniors Brittany Nauta and Mathes represented UT in the 200y freestyle. Mathes demolished the competition as she was 2.59 seconds ahead of second-place Presley Bard of IU. Her time of 1:48.19 is her quickest of the season and an NCAA \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B\u00e2\u20ac\u009d cut. Weaner and Nauta also scored points for Tennessee in third and fifth place, respectively.<\/p>\n
Farrell led the Lady Vols in the 100y back by finishing second with a time of 58.65. Senior Danyelle Vincent helped the Big Orange by tallying points in the No. 4 position.<\/p>\n
Indiana was ahead, 49-44, going into the sixth event of the day- the 100y breast. Freshman Martina Moravcikova and sophomore Bryttany Curran took the second and third spots, respectively, behind Hoosier Sarah Stockwell. Moravcikova\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time of 1:03.86 was just .31 seconds from Stockwell, while Curran recorded a 1:04.89 readout.<\/p>\n
Magnuson posted a new personal best in the 200y butterfly, 2:00.21, to strengthen her position as the sixth-top performer in school history. It is the second win and NCAA \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B\u00e2\u20ac\u009d cut in the event for Magnuson. Sophomore Jamie Saffer picked up points for the Orange and White by taking third (2:04.73), while Lange stopped the clock in a season-best 2:09.40 for sixth.<\/p>\n
It was King\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s win in the 50y freestyle which put UT ahead of the Hoosiers, 77-73. Her time of 23.42 gave the York, Pa., native her third 50y free win of the season. Rounding out the top five were Gehring (24.00), Quinn (24.07) and senior Laura Fehrman (24.11), as they took the third through fifth positions.<\/p>\n
Three of UT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s four divers recorded season bests from the one-meter board. Senior Lauren LeRoy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s zone-qualifying score of 301.20 ranked her second and was a season best. McCartney finished in a season-high third place with a personal-best 260.55 score. Senior Vicky Linnell was fourth (260.03), while freshman Jill Pierce had a season-best 230.92 points to place seventh.<\/p>\n
From three meters, McCartney grabbed her first collegiate win with a career-high 291.90 points. LeRoy and Linnell came in third and fourth with scores of 280.21 and 273.00, respectively. Pierce was eighth with 222.38 points.<\/p>\n
After the diving break, Mathes grabbed her second win of the day in the 100y freestyle. The Kettering, Ohio, native stopped the clock in 50.97 to pick up nine points for the team. Nauta and Gehring also contributed to the UT cause by placing third (52.10) and fourth (52.17), respectively.<\/p>\n
In the 200y back, Weaner led her teammates by grabbing runner-up honors in a season-best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:58.89. Vincent came in at fifth (2:08.45), while junior Maria Jugan turned in her fastest time of the season at 2:09.95.<\/p>\n
Moravcikova, who won the 200y breaststroke versus Northwestern on Jan. 5, added another first-place finish this afternoon by touching the wall in an NCAA \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B\u00e2\u20ac\u009d qualifying time of 2:17. Indiana boosted its team score by taking the No. 2 through No. 4 spots, but was still down, 120-106, with four events left.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People really stepped up in their roles and had some great wins,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kredich said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For instance, Martina really took control of the 200y breaststroke. The best part about that is that she put herself in the race and she won the race.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Tennessee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only contingents in the 500y free, Akerfelds and Magnuson, picked up the top-two placements, both with personal-best and NCAA qualifying times. Akerfelds\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 4:51.53 earned the Bronxville, N.Y., native her second win of the day, while Magnuson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time of 4:51.86 was good for second. They now occupy the No. 12 and 13 spots on the list of UT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all-time top performers in the 500y free.<\/p>\n
With just minutes to catch her breath, Magnuson turned around and won the next event, the 100y fly. From Tinley Park, Ill., Magnuson grabbed a team-high fourth place at the 2007 NCAA Championships in the 100y fly. Her time today, 54.32, is her sixth NCAA provisional qualifying mark this season. Also contributing points were Lange and Saffer who finished third (57.27) and fourth (57.65).<\/p>\n
Mathes added another nine points to the Orange and White\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s score by winning the 200y IM. The junior All-American posted an NCAA \u00e2\u20ac\u0153B\u00e2\u20ac\u009d cut in the event by touching the wall in 2:03.69, over a second faster than Indiana\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Allison Kay. Two freshmen, Weaner (2:06.72) and Akerfelds (2:07.50), were fourth and fifth, respectively.<\/p>\n
To cap off the meet, the Tennessee foursome of Fehrman, Nauta, Gehring and Mathes grabbed the top spot in the 400y freestyle with over four seconds to spare in 3:26.91. Quinn, Curran, Lange and McCall were third (3:34.55).<\/p>\n
Special thanks to Tennessee for contributing this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, January 18. DIVER Staley McCartney recorded her first-ever win in Lady Vol attire this afternoon, helping eighth-ranked Tennessee defeat No. 22 Indiana, 172-128, at the Student Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n