University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vols Finish 8th at NCAA Championships
March 22, 2008 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Complete Results (PDF)??
COLUMBUS, Ohio ??? The Orange and White made history today, placing eighth at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, its best finish since 1989, second best overall. The Lady Vols accumulated the highest point total (179.50) since the 1996 squad finished ninth with 186 points. That historic year was also the first time a Lady Vol swimmer was at the top of the podium. Nicole deMan was the only UT swimmer to claim a national championship until Christine Magnuson won the 100y fly on Friday night.
Nine Lady Vols contributed to the team total in 13 events this week, earning 26 All-America certificates. Magnuson will end her UT swimming career with the most All-America nods at 25. deMan is second with 20. Michele King brings her total to 11 certificates in her two years at Rocky Top. Carly Mathes has brought in 10, Brittany Nauta???s total climbs to four and diver Lauren LeRoy picked up her second award. Freshmen Aleksa Akerfelds, Morgan Farrell and Tricia Weaner earned All-America recognition in their first national championship meet, while sophomore Jamie Saffer made the all-time Lady Vol list with a nod in the 100y breast.
???This has been an incredibly rewarding season for Jen and me,??? head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. ???We???ve seen a big change in the culture of the team and we haven???t had to push it. It???s been a rewarding year because the team has taken over protecting the culture which is attitude, work ethic and accountability, whereas in the last few years we felt like we had to push it.
???The athletes have internalized a really unique culture in the swimming world where they work hard every day and have really high goals, but really know how to have fun in a meet and stay loose. The identity that this team has created is something that all of Tennessee should be proud of.
???Tonight I thought we raced really well,??? Kredich said. ???For Michele to get faster again and Christine get third [in the 100y free] was great.
???This morning might have been our best session. It started with Tricia [Weaner] swimming under 1:58.00 for the first time. She???s been stuck on 1:58.00 for four or five years so it was a great emotional swim for her. Jamie Saffer was fantastic. Christine was great again. She did what it took to get in [the 100y free championship final]. Michele???s two 100y freestyle swims were breathtaking. That swim-off was really one of the best relay performances I???ve seen. The morning was just fantastic.???
In the last session of the meet this evening, Magnuson and King went head-to-head once again, this time in the 100y free. King???s leadoff leg of the prelims of the 400y free relay served as a tiebreaker for the event and earned her the eighth spot in the championship final. She set a new personal-best mark in the 100y free (for the third time today) finals with a 48.26. Coincidentally, she tied with Florida???s Caroline Burckle for sixth.
Magnuson moved up from the No. 5 spot to finish third in the event. She improved upon her 42.28 readout from the prelims, touching the wall in 48.15, the second-quickest time in UT history.
The foursome of King, Nauta, Magnuson and Mathes ended Tennessee???s time at the McCorkle Aquatics Center with an eighth-place 3:16.58 readout in the 400y free relay.
Akerfelds??? career-best 16:00.11 from the Southeastern Conference Championship earned the Bronxville, N.Y., native the No. 5 seed in the 1650y free. Though the freshman was right on pace to claim a medal this evening, she finished fifth in her heat (ninth overall), with a 16:07.20 readout. The time is the third fastest in school history. After the first 1000 yards, Akerfelds registered the second-quickest time in the UT record books with a 9:43.07.
LeRoy made her final appearance as a Lady Vol this afternoon, as she competed in the platform event. LeRoy???s 201.15 in five dives put her in the 20th position.
???I???m really proud of Lauren???s effort today,??? head diving coach Dave Parrington said. ???To come to the national championships not as tower diver and to get up and give it a shot, deserves a lot of credit. I thought, realistically, she might be able to scrape a point or two. I was happy she got up there and gave it her best effort.
???Overall, I am really proud of her effort this weekend and certainly during her career. I???m sorry to see her go, but we???ll move on. Collegiately she???s done, but we have nationals coming up in mid-April and hopefully she???ll be competing for a spot at the Olympic Trials.???
The 2007-08 swimming and diving season will not conclude today, as several swimmers will compete in the long course time trials tomorrow. In addition, the national championships and Olympic trials are will include several swimmers from Rocky Top.
2008 Lady Vol All-Americans
Aleksa Akerfelds (800y FR, 1650y free)
Morgan Farrell (800y FR)
Michele King (200y FR, 50y Free, 100y Breast, 200y MR, 800y FR, 400y FR, 100y Free)
Lauren LeRoy (1m diving)
Christine Magnuson (200y FR, 50y Free, 100y Fly, 200y MR, 800y FR, 400y FR, 100y Free)
Carly Mathes (200y FR, 800y FR, 400y FR)
Brittany Nauta (200y FR, 200y MR, 400y FR)
Jamie Saffer (100y Breast)
Tricia Weaner (200y MR)
| Final Team Scores (Top 10) | ||
| 1. | Arizona | 484 |
| 2. | Auburn | 348 |
| 3. | Stanford | 343 |
| 4. | Texas A&M | 315 |
| 5. | California | 291 |
| 6. | Florida | 277.5 |
| 7. | Georgia | 198 |
| 8. | TENNESSEE | 179.5 |
| 9. | Michigan | 130 |
| 10. | Indiana | 128 |
COLUMBUS, Ohio ??? The Tennessee swimming and diving team came into the final day of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships with an eighth-place 120 points. The Lady Vols plan to add to those points and improve their ranking this evening, as two individuals and the 400y free relay team will race in the championship finals.
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Christine Magnuson easily qualified for the ???A??? finals in the 100y free with the third-fastest time in school history, 48.28. She will compete for the Orange and White as the No. 5 seed in the championship final.
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A swim-off between Michele King and Auburn???s Emily Kukors was required to determine the last spot in the ???A??? finals, as both registered a time of 48.54. The mark was a career best for King and the fourth-fastest time UT history (before the 400y free relay). Coincidentally, King also tied with an Auburn swimmer at the Southeastern Conference Championships in the same event. She and AU senior Kara Denby shared third place at the conference meet in February.
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Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich and the Auburn coaching staff decided to use the leadoff leg of the 400y free relay to decide who would make the championship finals. King swam faster than Kukors giving Tennessee the early lead and earning herself the No. 8 seed in the evening session of the 100y free. She came in with a new personal-best time of 48.30.
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The 400y free relay foursome of King, junior Carly Mathes, Magnuson and junior Brittany Nauta led the eight-team field for the majority of the race. Denby (the winner of the 100y free prelims) caught up to Nauta in the last 50 yards, grabbing the third seed in the championship finals for Auburn. UT touched the wall third in the heat (fifth overall) with a school-record 3:15.07.
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Freshman Tricia Weaner started the morning session for the Lady Vols in the 200y backstroke. The Gettysburg, Pa., product came in second in the second of six heats, but was knocked out of the top 16 before the final race, ending up in the 24th position. Her time of 1:57.46 is a career best and makes her the only current Lady Vol to have one of UT???s top-10 performances. She ranks behind former UT greats Jacque Fessel, Megan Tomes and Pam Hanson with the 10th-top time in school history.
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Sophomore Jamie Saffer registered her third personal-best time of the meet, by touching the wall at 2:14.29 in the 200y fly. In yesterday???s 100y breaststroke event, the Roswell, Ga., native set a new personal record in the prelims before swimming even faster in the finals. Her mark in the 200y fly is the fifth-fastest time in UT annals and put her just out of reach of the finals at 22nd.
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Freshmen Morgan Farrell and Martina Moravcikova also swam this morning in the 100y free and 200y breast, respectively. Farrell???s time in the freestyle (51.00) landed her in 72nd, while Moravcikova was 46th in the breaststroke with a 2:18.96 readout.
