University of Tennessee Athletics
UT's Trembley, Parrington, Gilliam And Chereches Honored
July 24, 2001 | Men's Swimming & Diving
April 20, 2001
The Tennessee swimming and diving squad was well represented as the Southeastern Conference announced the 2001 swimming and diving awards as voted on by the league head coaches. Tennessee senior Michael Gilliam was named as the Swimmer of the Year and head coach John Trembley was named as the Swimming Coach of the Year. Senior diver Gabi Chereches shared the Diver of the Year award while diving coach Dave Parrington shared the Diving Coach of the Year honors.
Trembley, in his 13th season at the Vol helm, led the Volunteers to a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships, the program's best since 1978, as the Vols set five school records in the process. The Vols recorded a 11-0 dual-meet mark that included an upset of top-ranked Texas and a win at the prestigious Dallas Morning News Classic. Tennessee finished second at the SEC Championships where they captured four individual and four relay titles and set an American Record. The award is the fifth for Trembley who was also named as the SEC's top coach in 1989, 1994, 1995 and 1996. Trembley's career dual-meet record now stands at 96-10 with a 53-6 mark in the SEC. The Vols have finished among the top ten in the NCAAs in 12 of his 13 seasons, including five top-five finishes.
Gilliam, who was also named SEC Swimmer of the Year by the Knoxville News-Sentinel, was the key performer for the Vols throughout the season. Gilliam was the leading dual-meet scorer for UT and was named as the outstanding swimmer at the Dallas Morning News Classic. Gilliam won Swimming Performer of the Meet at the SEC Championships as he won his third-straight SEC 100 backstroke title, finished second in the 100 freestyle and paced the Vols in four relay wins, including the American Record-setting 200 medley relay. At the NCAA Championships, Gilliam claimed his second NCAA title in the 100 backstroke with a school-record performance and participated in all four relay school-record swims. Gilliam won seven All-America honors at the 2001 NCAA Championships to give him 16 All-America honors for for his career.
Parrington won his fourth consecutive SEC Diving Coach of the Year award and his sixth overall. Parrington's divers enjoyed their now usual sucess in 2001. All three UT divers qualified for the NCAA Zone B Championships and seniors Chereches and Shannon Roy combined for a UT-record five diving All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. The Vols also won SEC titles in two of the three events with Chereches claiming his third-straight platform diving title and Roy winning his second three-meter title. Parrington was named as the Diving Coach of the Meet at the SEC Championships.
Chereches, who also won the Knoxville News-Sentinel SEC Diver of the Year award, rounded out a sensational career at UT with his third-straight SEC platform title and a runner-up finish in the three-meter event. For his effort at the SEC Championships. Chereches was named as the Diving Performer of the Meet. Chereches won three All-America honors at the NCAA Championships to give him a total of nine All-America honors for his career.
