University of Tennessee Athletics
SWIM VOLS PREPARED FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
March 20, 2006 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 20, 2006
The 12th-ranked Tennessee men's swimming and diving team begins competition Thursday at the 2006 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Atlanta, Ga. Competition takes place at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.
The facility was the site of the 1996 Olympic Games and holds a special place in Tennessee history.
"The Olympic Center at Georgia Tech is special with Jeremy Linn and Tripp Schwenk winning their gold medals there," UT head coach John Trembley said. "Both of the guys keep in touch with our program. Jeremy called us about two weeks ago and Tripp spoke with us before that so they are always with us. Our guys know they keep in touch and respect that.
The Vols are looking forward to the challenge of competing not just against the best college teams in the nation but some of the best athletes in the world. The anticipation is even higher for Tennessee Aquatics as they try to put the sub-par performance of last year behind them.
"We had a very disappointing season last year, finishing 17th in the nation and sixth at SECs," Trembley added. "Of course this year we are up with a fourth-place finish at SECs and could have possibly been higher if we were at full team strength.
Trembley knows the type of competition ahead and sees the Vols matching up with well in facing some tough races.
"Georgia just edged us at SECs and it looks as if we are going to be battling teams like Georgia for position at nationals," Trembley said. "Other tough competitions for us are teams like Virginia, Indiana and Minnesota. All of them are teams trying to stay in or close to the top 10 in the nation.
Being in the top 10 is a bench mark the elite teams strive for and Tennessee looks to be fighting for such a position.
Trembley sees the strength of the Vols lying with their relay squads heading into the competition.
"We have great relay strength with all five relay events being qualified to go," Trembley said. "We also have a good number of athletes, with 11 being qualified. Only six other squads have at least that many individuals qualified which is unfortunate for the sport of college swimming.
Although the diving program is a bit down with coach Dave Parrington not having a qualifier for the first time, coach Trembley feels this is just a mere hiccup in Tennessee diving and expects the squad to bounce back and have a fine season next year with many good things to come.
"This temporary blip in our diving program is just that, temporary," Trembley added. "We have the finest diving coach in the country in Dave Parrington and that will be seen in future years as we have seen in the past.
"I am very excited about this meet," Trembley boasted. "This team up to this point from the SECs has done the best job of preparation of any of the 18 teams coach Joe Hendee and I have ever coached. We are very proud of these guys and I am looking forward to team closing out this season well.
The NCAA championships begin Thursday and conclude Saturday with preliminary competitions at noon followed with finals at 7 p.m. each day.
