University of Tennessee Athletics
Aqua Vols Set to Compete at SEC Championships
February 15, 2005 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 15, 2005
The 17th-ranked men's swimming team begins competition Wednesday at the SEC championships in the University of Florida's Stephen E. O'Connell Center. The championships run Wednesday through Saturday, with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals following at 5:30 p.m. each day.
Tennessee's lineup is smaller than in recent years due to some injuries to key swimmers and divers. The Vols are taking only 14 team members but it is a group head coach John Trembley expects to compete well.
"We have a small contingent of athletes that are eager and well prepared," Trembley said. "Some of our objectives at this meet include swimming lifetime bests and matching team goals posted for the NCAAs."
The Vols will be shorthanded with junior All-America Casey Dauw being inactive. Dauw reaggravated his shoulder injury after the North Carolina State meet Feb. 6, and is still having some tenderness. The original injury was suffered prior to the UNLV Invitational last December. Dauw, who already has qualified for the NCAA championships, hopes to return for NCAAs March 11-13.
"We have decided to error on the side of caution and hold Casey out," Trembley said. "He won't travel or compete. Casey knows he has more important objectives to accomplish in getting healthy and being one of our team leaders in competition."
The Vols already have 30 points accrued from the diving competition held last weekend. Sophomore Jevon Tarantino is getting his legs back under him after missing six weeks of diving training due to an emergency appendectomy at the end of December. Tarantino gained two top-10 finishes and a runner-up score on the 3-meter board.
Junior John Venditti earned two top-16 places with his back-to-back 15th finishes on the 1-meter and 3-meter. Venditti is recovering from some missed time of his own after having wrist surgery early in the year.
Players Mentioned
