University of Tennessee Athletics

Vol Swimmers head to NCAA Championships
March 22, 2005 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 22, 2005
The No. 17-ranked Tennessee men's swimming and diving team looks to keep its record of 22 consecutive top-25 national finishes intact as it competes at the 2005 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis March 24-26.
Leading the Vols contingent of eight qualifiers is sophomore Jevon Tarantino, who is the reigning NCAA champion on the 1-meter springboard.
"Jevon Tarantino returns to defend his 1-meter NCAA championship" UT head coach John Trembley said. "It is always a challenge. However, he is looking very good and goes into the competition with great confidence."
"Certainly with Jevon being the defending NCAA champion on 1-meter, there is a little bit more at stake for him," UT diving coach Dave Parrington said. "That was last year and this is this year and we are actually not even thinking about last year anymore. Hopefully we can do just as well on both 1- and 3-meter."
Also competing for the Vols are juniors Bryan Goldberg, Tyler Gustafson and Jason Thomas, sophomores Brad Boswell, Andrew Engle and Travis Wright and freshman Octavio Alesi.
Alesi has been rampant on the Vols swimming scene since beginning competition in January. He is one of the most improved swimmers this season and looks to impress at the NCAAs.
"We are bringing a healthy team of eight competitors to the NCAA championships," Trembley said. "We are looking forward to continuing our streak of top-25 finishes and we anticipate returning to Knoxville with a great team finish and a handful of All-Americas. We are all looking forward to springboarding into next season when we will host the SEC championships and swim closer to home in Atlanta for the NCAA championships."
The preliminary session each day begins at noon while the finals sessions start at 7 p.m.