University of Tennessee Athletics
SANGER PLACES SECOND ON 3M AT SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
February 19, 2003 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 19, 2003
AUBURN, Ala.
Two divers placing in the top four of the three-meter springboard and a school record in the 200y medley relay highlighted competition for the Tennessee Lady Vols and put the team in fourth place after day one of the SEC Championships on Wednesday.
Senior Jaime Sanger (Plymouth, Minn.) recorded a total of 516.00 on the 3m to take second place overall. The career-best score by Sanger ranks her sixth for the event in UT history.
"Jaime hadn't dove all that well on the three-meter yet this year, so it was probably a little bit of a surprise to some people that she placed second," Diving Coach Dave Parrington said. "I do have some mixed emotions because with the way things were going in the finals, I thought she had a chance at the title, but we can't be too upset with second."
Sophomore Lauryn McCalley followed closely behind Sanger, placing fourth in the finals with a tally of 510.55. McCalley recorded the highest score of the preliminary competition with a 526.20, which is the second best of her career and the fourth-highest total ever recorded by a Lady Vol. Her best score of 532.32 is third highest in school history.
"With the way Lauryn dove earlier in the prelims, I thought she had set herself up very well for the finals," Parrington said. "She made a couple of little errors here and there, and those small mechanical mistakes cost her the title."
UT's 200y medley relay squad clocked a 1:42.96 to break the 14-year-old school record of 1:43.04 set at the NCAA Championships in 1989. The Lady Vol quartet of freshman Jacque Fessel (Cincinnati, Ohio), senior Courtney Naparlo (Williamsburg, Va.), freshman Tatiana Athayde (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and freshman Abbi Terveer (Lima, Ohio) brought Tennessee a sixth place finish in the event.
"Jacque started us off with the fastest leadoff split in school history (25.56)," UT Head Coach Dan Colella said. "Everyone did a great job, and setting a school record is a fantastic way for us to kick off this meet."
In the 800y free relay, the Orange-clad squad of freshmen Randi Vogel (Maineville, Ohio), Kara Boland (Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Noelle Bassi (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) and senior Bethany Hall (Knoxville, Tenn.) placed ninth with a season-best time of 7:32.30.
South Carolina leads the meet after three events with a score of 92, followed by Auburn with 87, Alabama 83, Tennessee 79, Georgia 75, LSU 70, Florida 64, Arkansas 62 and Kentucky 51.
Competition continues at the SEC Championships on Thursday with the 500y free, 200y IM, 50y free, 200y free relay, women's 1m springboard and men's 3m springboard. Prelims begin at 10:30 a.m. CT, while finals start at 6:30 p.m.
