University of Tennessee Athletics
King Takes 2nd in 50y Free at NCAA Championships
March 20, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Finals Results (PDF) |??Prelims Results (PDF)??
COLUMBUS, Ohio ??? The University of Tennessee swimmers and divers tallied 59 points on the first day of the 2008 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Sophomore Michele King posted one of the fastest times in history in the 50y freestyle with a second-place 21.86 readout. The time is also a Lady Vol best and makes the York, Pa., native the seventh-fastest performer in history.
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???Michele???s swim was unreal,??? head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. ???We???ll see tomorrow, but I think it really lit a fire under everybody. They see that it is possible to rise above what everybody else is doing and to be great. We are so happy for Michele. She has come such a long way from last year when she was really struggling to find herself at this meet. Now I think she realized she can do just about anything she wants.???
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Senior Lauren LeRoy scored the first points of the meet for the Lady Vols by placing ninth from the one-meter board. LeRoy was 13th in the prelims with a score of 271.10 before jumping up in the rankings tremendously. She churned out a 301.20 in the next session to take first in the consolation finals, ninth overall.
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???In the prelims, Lauren dove solidly,??? head diving coach Dave Parrington said. ???The tops of her dives were there, but she was trying to force her finishes a little. The judging was pretty tight so 13th in the prelims was a little disappointing because we expected her to be in the finals.
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???At this meet we have the opportunity to move up in the consolation finals. After being disappointed and angry, she channeled that anger into a positive performance and moved up to ninth. I am very proud of her for that and I think that will carry over well for tomorrow.???
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The 200y freestyle relay team of King, junior Carly Mathes, senior Christine Magnuson and junior Brittany Nauta picked up seventh in the 200y free relay in 1:29.62. The foursome set the school record (1:29.07) at the Southeastern Conference Championships in February and had the second-fastest time in school history in today???s prelims (1:29.21).
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It seems we had a hard time getting things going today,??? Kredich said. ???The first relay [in the prelims] was really solid, but not great. I thought we could have been better. We made some mistakes in those races so we really just didn???t get on track. The same thing happened to start off the relay tonight. We had two great splits and two that were pretty off.???
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Magnuson???s second swim of the evening was in the consolation finals of the 50y free. After missing the championship finals by a mere .02 seconds, the Tinley Park, Ill., product easily won the evening session. Her first-place (ninth overall) time of 22.20 was .14 seconds ahead of second-place Jenny Bradford of Kentucky.
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The Lady Vols will hope to rack up more points tomorrow, the second day of the national championship meet. The prelims will begin at 11 a.m., with the finals slated for a 7 p.m. start.
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Preliminary Recap
COLUMBUS, Ohio ??? On the first day of the 2008 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, the University of Tennessee qualified two swimmers and its 200y free relay team for the finals, which will begin at 7 p.m. this evening. Lady Vol Lauren LeRoy will compete in the one-meter diving preliminaries this afternoon.
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UT came off the blocks strong as sophomore Michele King led the trio of junior Carly Mathes, senior Christine Magnuson and junior Brittany Nauta to fourth in the 200y free relay. The York, Pa., product recorded a time of 22.16 through the first 50 yards, helping secure the teams??? 1:29.21. Her split was the third-quickest leadoff split of the race. Tennessee???s time ranks just behind the school record (1:29.07) set by the same foursome at the Southeastern Conference Championships in February.
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Head coach Matt Kredich entered three Lady Vols in the 50y free race. King, who tied for fourth at the conference meet, qualified for the championship finals with a 22.23 mark this morning. She was followed closely by Magnuson in 22.25. Magnuson won this event at the SEC Championship meet with a personal-best and school-record 22.03.
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Junior Brittany Nauta also competed in the 50y free, finishing with a 23.38 readout.
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Making her debut at the national championship meet, freshman Aleksa Akerfelds swam a 4:47.42 in the 500y free to place 35th out of 54 competitors. Another freshman who took to the water for the first time at NCAAs, was Tricia Weaner. The Gettysburg, Pa., native touched the wall first in her heat (2:01.94) and 44th overall. Mathes was 53rd in 2:02.80.
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Tennessee???s contingent in the 400y medley relay consisted of freshman Morgan Farrell, King, Mathes and Nauta. The team missed the cut for the consolation finals by 1.19 seconds, coming in 19th in 3:40.43. Farrell???s leadoff split of 54.99 set a new career-best for the Pensacola, Fla., product.
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