University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vol Swimming and Diving Teams Open Season
October 27, 2000 | Women's Swimming & Diving
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.----The University of Tennessee women's swimming and diving team, ranked No. 23 in the nation, kicked off the 2000-01 campaign on Friday by playing host to the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division Dual Meet Extravaganza at the UT Student Aquatic Center.
The Lady Vols notched a pair of wins over the University of Kentucky, 207-111, and the University of South Carolina, 237-72. The team also dropped a pair of dual meets to No. 4 University of Georgia, 220-99, and to No. 8 University of Florida, 201-118. Tennessee is now 2-2 on the season and 2-2 in SEC action.
The meet featured competition in 20 lanes with all five teams represented in a one-heat final in each event. The Lady Vols earned a pair of overall victories, including wins from junior Monica Shannahan in the 200y butterfly with a mark of 2:02.72 and senior Pam Hanson in the 200y backstroke in a time of 2:02.80. Shannahan also finished fourth in the both the 200y individual medley with a clocking of 2:07.34 and the 200y breaststroke with a tally of 2:22.05. Hanson added a fourth-place finish in the 100y backstroke, 58.15, and an eighth-place showing in the 400y IM with a time of 4:32.68.
In the diving events, Tennessee dominated both the one-meter and three-meter boards as sophomore Jaime Sanger took wins on both. Sanger recorded a score of 284.90 to win the one-meter while tallying 276.55 to win the three-meter. Teammate Lizzy Flynt, who finished second on the platform at the 2000 NCAA Championships, took third in the three-meter with a score of 269.10 while grabbing fourth in the one-meter with a total of 242.95.
"I am really pleased with the achievements the team displayed in the season-opening meet," Lady Vol head coach Dan Colella said. "We had outstanding results from Monica Shannahan and Pam Hanson in the pool and Jaime Sanger in the diving well. The format of this meet was interesting and exciting. It will be good to see our squad at a traditional dual meet in two weeks to see how the team betters its performances."
Other strong finishes for the Lady Vols on the day included a second-place finish by the 400y medley relay in the first event of the meet. The team of Bianca Jones, Shannahan, Hanson and Bethany Hall clocked a time of 3:51.62. The other relay team, the 400y free relay, finished fourth in a time of 3:33.88 with a squad of Hall, Laura Hancock, Sara Wingfield and Tanya Felton. Hall, a sophomore, also finished fifth in the 100y free with a mark of 53.16.
The Tennessee team will return to action on Nov. 10 with a rematch against Kentucky. The dual meet will begin at 5:00 p.m. in Lexington, Ky.
