University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Start Strong at Hoosierland
November 15, 2007 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Live Results |??Thursday's Results
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. ??? No. 12 Tennessee spent the first day of the Hoosierland Open Invitational in Bloomington, Ind., placing several swimmers in the finals of each event, registering career-best times and posting NCAA provisional qualifying cuts.
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The Orange and White of Tennessee was prevalent in the finals of each event contested today. A total of five different Lady Vols competed in the ???A??? finals, in addition to three which reached the consolation finals. Leading the group was junior Carly Mathes, who was third in the 200y IM (2:02.89) and eighth in the 50y free with a new career-best 23.73. Senior Christine Magnuson also represented UT in two finals sessions. She was sixth in the 200y IM with an NCAA ???B??? time of 2:03.77 and third in the 50y free (23.19).
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In the first event of the day, the 500y free, freshman Aleksa Akerfelds placed seventh (4:56.65) after finishing fifth in the prelims exactly two seconds quicker than her finals??? time. Mathes also earned entry into the finals as she placed eighth in the morning session with a career-best 4:59.90, but did not compete that evening. Also with personal-bests in the 500y free were freshman Tricia Weaner and junior Brittany Nauta. Weaner was 11th in the prelims and 12th in the finals in 4:54.91 to rank 19th amongst all-time Lady Vols. Nauta turned in a 17th-place performance after registering 4:57.35 in the prelims to mark a new personal best.
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In the 200y IM, Magnuson, Mathes, sophomore Jamie Saffer and Weaner were top-eight finalists. Mathes and Magnuson both earned NCAA provisional cuts with times of 2:02.89 and 2:03.77, respectively. Magnuson placed her name on another all-time Lady Vol list as she is now the 17th-fastest swimmer in the 200y IM. As if registering a career best in the prelims wasn???t enough, Saffer took 1.54 seconds off her previous fastest time to finish seventh (2:05.00), which also ranked her on the all-time Lady Vol list (20th). Weaner stopped the clock in a best 2:05.60 in the prelims and was eighth in the finals (2:05.85). Freshman Morgan Farrell was the only UT contingent in the consolation finals as she placed 13th in 2:05.53.
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???Carly is such a consistent performer,??? Lady Vol Head Coach Matt Kredich said. ???Tricia and Jamie?? had some great swims tonight, as well. Tricia did a whole lot of swimming and it was all very good. Sarah McCall swam some technically excellent swims.???
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Magnuson and Mathes, along with junior Katie Gehring represented Tennessee in the evening session of the 50y free. Magnuson finished third in both the prelims and finals with times of 23.24 and 23.19, respectively. Gehring was the second-top Lady Vol performer in the event as she was sixth after touching the wall in 23.58. Mathes registered her second career-best time of the day in the 50y free by posting times of 23.73 in both sessions. Ashley Quinn was a mere .01 seconds from her career best when she placed 11th in the prelims. The junior stepped it up a notch that evening to take 10th and set a new personal record by .24 seconds (23.59). She is now the 18th-top performer in school history.
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???Ashley and Katie are making some big steps forward in the 50y freestyle,??? Kredich said. ???Overall, I feel like we competed really well and learned a lot about our races.???
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Two more Lady Vols set new fastest times in the 50y free. Senior Danyelle Vincent competed in the ???D??? finals and finished in 24.16. Sophomore Alex Barsanti???s 24.91 in the prelims was also a personal best.
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Lady Vol relay teams took the runner-up and No. 5 positions in the 200y free relay. The foursome of Magnuson, Gehring, Quinn and Mathes came in second with an NCAA provisional cut (1:33.03), while Farrell, Weaner, Vincent and Nauta were fifth in 1:35.30.
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To conclude the first day at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center, the relay squad of Weaner, sophomore Bryttany Curran, Magnuson and Mathes were fifth in the 400y medley relay (3:46.58). Tennessee???s Farrell, Moravcikova, Saffer and Gehring came in eighth in 3:50.81.
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Live results from the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center in Bloomington, Ind., can be found on www.utladyvols.com.
