University of Tennessee Athletics
NO. 13 TENNESSEE FALLS TO SIXTH-RANKED FLORIDA
January 26, 2007 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Jan. 26, 2007
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Juniors Christine Magnuson and Lauren LeRoy were the lead point-scorers for the Lady Vols in today's loss to No.6 Florida, 157-86. Tennessee won five events in Stephen C. O'Connell Center Natatorium, picking up eight NCAA provisional times and diving zone qualifying scores in the process. The 13th-ranked Lady Vols will take a 4-4 (2-3 SEC) record into the Southeastern Conference Championships in Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 2-4 for diving and Feb. 7-10 for swimming.
"We had some good swims today," Lady Vol Head Swimming Coach Matt Kredich said. "It was a tough meet for us. A lot of the good performances we had were overshadowed by the fact that Florida swam very well. There were still enough good swims to indicate we are headed in the right direction going into the SEC Championship."
For the fifth time this season, current SEC Diver of the Week LeRoy swept the one- and three-meter diving events. Her score of 367.80 from the three-meter demolishes her previous personal-best by 48.29 points and establishes her as the all-time Lady Vol leader from that height. She passed Kathy Pesek's 340.95 score which stood for almost 10 years. The Oshkosh, Wis., native's 273.45 score in the one-meter was nearly 10 points ahead of second-place Jennifer Funch of Florida. She now has 12 NCAA zone qualifying scores from the two heights.
Junior Vicky Linnell, senior Brittany Fulmer and sophomore Staley McCartney secured the fourth through sixth spots from the one-meter and third, fifth and sixth from the three-meter, respectively. Linnell earned a career-high 313.65 from the three-meter board for her third NCAA zone qualifying score of the season. Fulmer also picked up a career-high in the three-meter as her 280.80 points put her in fifth place and gave the Maryville, Tenn., native her first NCAA zone qualifying score from that height this season.
Junior Magnuson won both the 50y free (23.34) and 100y free (50.84) in NCAA provisional times. Senior Tiffany Clay picked up her second 200y breast win (2:19.05) of the season.
"Lauren [LeRoy] and Christine [Magnuson] have been two of our top performers all year and they did well again today," Kredich said. "Florida is a tough place to swim fast and dive well. They both were very focused and competed very well today."
The swimming portion of the meet started with the 200y medley relay. Tennessee's foursome of seniors Megan Tomes and Tiffany Clay, Magnuson and sophomore Katie Gehring took third place in 1:43.99. UT's "B" squad of junior Danyelle Vincent, and sophomores Sarah McCall, Betsy Lange and Ashley Quinn were fourth with a time of 1:47.84.
In the 1000y free, freshman Laura Tomes led the Lady Vols with a fourth-place 10:18.54. Sophomore Sam Maccherola was in fifth stopping the clock at 10:23.05, while senior Misty Cain was sixth in 10:43.55.
Despite a season-high and NCAA provisional cut, sophomore Carly Mathes' time of 1:49.98 was just .30 seconds behind first-place Jenne Ballatore of Florida in the 200y freestyle. Sophomore Brittany Nauta, senior Elizabeth Christy and junior Laura Fehrman placed fifth through seventh with times of 1:53.39, 1:54.31 and 1:56.69, respectively.
While Magnuson won the 50y freestyle (23.34), it was Quinn who recorded a new lifetime best. Her sixth-place 24.09 is .14 seconds faster than her previous fastest mark. Gehring also represented UT in the race by placing fourth with a time of 23.91
McCall led the Lady Vols in the 400y IM by registering a 4:32.61 readout for fourth place. Freshman Ashley Knapik followed with a fifth-place 4:34.71 and senior Ashley Yeager finished in 4:40.69.
Freshman Jamie Saffer was fourth in the 200y fly with a time of 2:05.29. Ashley Knapik registered a season-best 2:06.59 for sixth place, while sophomore Betsy Lange followed with a 2:09.00 readout.
Magnuson won her second event of the night in the 100y freestyle by touching the wall in an NCAA provisional time of 50.84. Nauta and Fehrman were fifth and sixth with times of 52.35 and 52.66, respectively. Despite swimming in exhibition, Quinn recorded her second personal-best mark of the evening clocking a 53.17 readout.
Florida swimmers secured the top-three spots in the 200y back with Vincent, Christy and Yeager finishing fourth through sixth, respectively. Vincent recorded a 2:07.30 time, Christy finished in 2:08.81 and Yeager clocked a 2:09.65 readout.
Swimming in just her second 500y free event of the season, Mathes led the Lady Vols with a fourth-place 5:01.05 time. Maccherola was fifth (5:03.67), Laura Tomes was sixth (5:05.17) and Cain finished seventh (5:18.58).
Clay, who owns the Lady Vol 200y breaststroke record, earned top honors in the event by stopping the clock at 2:19.05. Saffer, McCall and freshman Bryttany Curran finished fourth through sixth with times of 2:25.33, 2:25.44 and 2:27.10, respectively.
The last race of the evening was the 200y freestyle relay. Tennessee's "A" squad of Mathes, Gehring, Nauta and Megan Tomes earned second place in 1:33.97. Mathes' leadoff time of 23.91 is a new personal best in the 50y free for the Kettering, Ohio product. The "B" entrant of Christy, Fehrman, Vincent and Quinn finished in third place with a time of 1:37.22.
The conference championships are up next for the Lady Vols as the diving squad will compete Feb. 2-4 and swimming from Feb. 7-10. Both meets will be held in Lexington, Ky.
