University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Opens Regular Season at Louisville
October 19, 2007 | Women's Swimming & Diving
LOUISVILLE, Ky.?? ??? The long-awaited Tennessee swimming and diving season will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday with a meet versus Louisville at the Ralph Wright Natatorium in Louisville, Ky. The Lady Vols hold an impressive 5-0 mark versus their BIG EAST rival, the last win coming in Knoxville last year, by a score 187-113.
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Tennessee is coming off a 10th-place finish at the 2007 NCAA National Championships, the highest placement for UT in 11 years. Seven Lady Vols (Tiffany Clay, Michele King, Lauren LeRoy, Carly Mathes, Christine Magnuson, Brittany Nauta and Megan Tomes) returned home with 26 All-America certificates and seven new school records.
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Though the majority of the Lady Vols spent the summer participating in top meets all over the country, three of them gained international experience as well. Senior Magnuson competed for the United States at the Japan International Grand Prix and was named to the U.S. National Team earlier this month. King, a sophomore, represented the U.S. at the Pan American Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, while freshman Martina Moravcikova (Prague, Czech Republic) was a member of the Czech National Team at the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Making their Lady Vol debuts this weekend will be six newcomers in Aleksa Akerfelds (Bronxville, N.Y.), Alex Barsanti (Hummelstown, Pa.), Morgan Farrell (Pensacola, Fla.), Moravcikova, Jill Pierce (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Tricia Weaner (Gettysburg, Pa.). While the rookies were in the water on Oct. 12 for the Orange and White meet, this will be their first regular-season competition.
