KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, January 26. THOUGH the Volunteers at the University of Tennessee are fierce conference and national competitors, it has to be deemed somewhat of a surprise that they were able to take down Southeastern Conference rivals Georgia today in their home pool in both men's and women's competition.<\/p>\n
The Georgia women are expected to challenge for the NCAA team championship title in March, and though that statement still holds true, the Volunteers came out fighting, posting a couple of uspets to win the women's meet 161-139. According to information provided by UT, this was the first time Tenneessee had beaten Georgia in dual-meet action since 1989. Had this meet happened in Athens today, the coveted winning streak that Georgia boasts would have been snapped. The Tennessee men, viewed as going through a rebuilding phase under new head coach Matt Kredich, also pulled off a stunner, beating Georgia 161.5-132.5.<\/p>\n
On the women's side, Tennessee's Lindsay Gendron was the star of the meet, taking down Olympic champion Allison Schmitt in the 200 free, 1:44.63-1:45.10. Gendron would return to post another victory in the 500 free over NCAA runner-up Amber McDermott with a five-second victory and a time of 4:44.04. Both times are Gendron's best swims of the season, with three weeks to go until the SEC championships.<\/p>\n
Tennessee emerged victorious in nine other events in the women's meet. Kelsey Floyd also posted a double, winning both butterfly events with times of 52.51 and 1:56.32. <\/p>\n
Molly Hannis and Faith Johnson were also double winners in today's big win. Hannis swept the breaststroke events (1:00.89, 2:11.47), while Johnson won the 50 (22.47) and 100 (49.71) freestyles. Johnson took down Schmitt in the 100 free by a mere tenth of a second.<\/p>\n
Lauren Solernou took down Megan Roman in the 100 backstroke, winning with a time of 54.55 to Romano's 55.18. The Volunteers clinched the meet victory with wins in the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay.<\/p>\n
Georgia left the meet with wins from McDermott in the 1650 free (16:07.44), Hali Flickinger in the 200 back (1:58.33) and Melanie Margalis in the 400 IM (4:11.07).<\/p>\n
In the men's meet, Georgia came in with the advantage, boasting an Olympian, an NCAA champion and a national champion. But home crowd advantage — and possibly a bit of rest — helped the Volunteers notch the win today. Tennessee won 10 of the 14 swimming events, taking the top two spots in five of them.<\/p>\n
Sam Rairden and Sean Lehane were the MVPs of the meet, each winning two crucial races. Rairden took the 200 (1:37.74) and 100 (43.97), posting his fastest times of the season in both and leading a Volunteer 1-2 finish in the two races. Lehane contributed with wins in both backstrokes with times of 48.57 and 1:44.69. Those times also mark his fastest swims of the season.<\/p>\n
Before finishing second in the 100 free behind teammate Rairden with a 44.45, Ed Walsh won the 50 free with a 19.99, his first time under 20 seconds this season and nearly clipped his lifetime best of 19.97.<\/p>\n
Oystein Hetland was the other individual winner for the Volunteers, taking the 100 fly in 48.81. Tennessee also was able to win both relays.<\/p>\n
Georgia's men's team had their share of victories, highlighted by another triple victory by freshman Chase Kalisz. In his third meet as a Bulldog, Kalisz once again pulled off an amazing triple, taking the 200 fly (1:46.89), 200 breast (1:58.09) and 400 IM (3:49.82).<\/p>\n
Olympian Andrew Gemmell notched a win as well for Georgia, taking the 1650 free with a 15:17.87 ahead of teammate Will Freeman's 15:20.31.<\/p>\n
Matias Koski won the 500 free with a 4:26.50. He beat out Gemmell to the wall by three tenths of a second.<\/p>\n
Nicolas Fink also scored a win for Georgia, taking the 100 breast in 54.74.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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