University of Tennessee Athletics
Lady Vol Swimming & Diving Team Finishes Fourth At SECs
February 21, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 21, 2009
Finals
AUBURN, Ala. - Led by final day fourth-place finishes from junior Michele King, sophomore Aleksa Akerfelds and the 400y free relay team, the Tennessee women's swimming and diving team wrapped up the 2009 Southeastern Conference Swimming & Diving Championships with a fourth-place team finish at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.Florida won the meet with 744 points, while Auburn (730.5) edged Georgia (725). Tennessee scored 394.5 points, distancing itself from fifth-place Arkansas (299).
"We had some phenomenal races at this meet," Lady Vol head coach Matt Kredich said. "Jenny (Connolly's) 100y back on Friday night was phenomenal, and it's great to have two conference champions. We set some records along the way, too. I felt our whole team wasn't in sync, but we'll learn from that. In order to be competing for the top spot in this conference we need to have the whole team competing at a high level every day."
King swam a career-best 48.24 to place fourth in the 100y free, while seniors Brittany Nauta (49.45) and Katie Gehring (50.16) finished 13th and 16th, respectively. King and Nauta's prelim and finals times were both NCAA 'B' cuts, while Gehring, competing in first-ever SEC final, snagged a 'B' cut with her prelim time of 49.61.
Georgia sophomore Morgan Scroggy used a stong final 25 yards to win the 100y free in 47.88.
Akerfelds placed fourth in the 1650y free in 16:03.34. Her performance is the second-fastest in Lady Vol history and the seventh-fastest in the country this year. Last season at the SEC Championships, Akerfelds placed second, setting the UT record, in 16:00.11.
"Aleksa's mile performance was the most courageous race of the meet," Kredich said. "She hasn't been able to do much the past three weeks (due to injury), but she had an impressive race. She had the fastest last 200 of anybody in the race, and just a great finish."
Georgia freshman Wendy Trott won the 1650y free in 15:51.41 - the top time in the country this season.
The 400y medley relay team of Connolly, King, Nauta and Gehring capped the meet with a fourth-place finish in an NCAA 'B' time of 3:16.09, the second-fastest performance in Lady Vol history.
Auburn won the 400y free relay in an SEC record time of 3:12.00.
Connolly set her second Lady Vol record of the meet by finishing runner-up (10th overall) in the consolation final of the 200y back in 1:54.41. Connolly's performance bettered the old mark of 1:55.53 set by Jacque Fessel at the 2004 SEC Championships, and is also an NCAA 'B' cut.
Sophomores Tricia Weaner (1:57.22) and Morgan Farrell (1:59.51) finished 13th and 15th, respectively in the 200y back finals. In the prelims, both hit season-best times as Weaner qualified to finals with a time of 1:55.94 and Farrell finishing in 1:57.70.
Florida's Gemma Spofforth won the 200y back in an American record time of 1:48.34.
Sophomore Martina Moravcikova (2:12.74) and junior Alex Barsanti (2:13.31) finished 5-6 in the 100y breast final, while freshman Samara Gelb (2:15.01) and senior Sarah McCall (2:16.08) placed 11th and 13th, respectively. "This was our best night of racing," Lady Vol head swimming coach Matt Kredich said. "We were really aggressive in every race. Tonight was a great way to wrap up the meet. Next week hopefully we can improve some of our 'B' cuts and relays."
The Lady Vols will host a last chance meet at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1.
The NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in College Station, Texas, are from March 13-15.
Overall at the 2009 SEC Championships, the Lady Vols had seven NCAA 'A' cut performances, 28 'B' cut times and 35 season-bests.
King and Saffer each captured SEC individual championships. King tied for the 50y free title in 21.90 on Thursday evening, while Saffer captured the 100y breast crown in 59.84 on Friday. Her prelim time of 59.79 set an SEC Championship record.
Connolly was part of four school records. Individually, the West Lafayette, Ind., native set new marks in the 100y back (51.34) and the 200y back (1:54.41). She joined King, Weaner and Saffer on the record-setting 200y medley relay (1:38.04). Senior Carly Mathes joined Connolly, King and Saffer on the 400y medley relay that set the new UT mark of 3:34.90. Akerfelds also tied her own 500y free record (4:42.91). Connolly's time in the 100y back is the third-fastest in NCAA history.
Additionally, Connolly (100y back), King (50y free) and Saffer (100y breast) all automatically qualified for the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in their signature events.
Lady Vols By The Numbers at the 2009 SEC Swimming & Diving Championship
SEC Champinship Records: 1 (Jamie Saffer, 100y breast - 59.79 in prelims)
SEC Champions: 2 (Saffer, 100y Breast; Michele King, 50y free)
Tennessee Records: 5 (200y medley relay - 1:38.04; 400 medley relay - 1:34.90; Jenny Connolly, 100y back - 51.34, 200y back - 1:54.51; Aleksa Akerfelds, 500y free - 4:42.91)
NCAA 'A' cut performances: 7 (King, 50y free - 2; Saffer, 100y breast - 2; Connolly, 100y back - 3)
NCAA 'B' cut performances: 28
NCAA Zone Diving cuts: 7
Season-bests: 35
Preliminaries
AUBURN, Ala. - Juniors Michele King and Alex Barsanti and sophomore Martina Moravcikova advanced to the championship finals in their respective events during the prelim heats of the final day of the Southeastern Conference Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.Led by King, four Lady Vols swam season-bests and NCAA 'B' cut times in the 100y free prelims. King recorded a time of 48.62 to earn the fourth seed in the championships finals. Seniors Brittany Nauta and Katie Gehring made the consolation finals in career-best times. Nauta tied for 12th in 49.28, while Gehring was 16th in 49.61. Freshman Abbie Alton (49.67) just missed consolation finals.
King, who tied for the 50y free title on Thursday, shared third-place in the 100y free at the 2008 SEC Championships, while Nauta was 13th.
Moravcikova finished fifth in a career-best readout of 2:12.51 in the 200y breast prelims to make the championship finals. Junior Alex Barsanti also made the championship final cut, placing eighth in 2:14.12. Senior Sarah McCall (2:16.46) and freshman Samara Gelb (2:16.49) finished 15-16 in the 200y breast prelims to makes the consolation final. Junior Jamie Saffer (2:16.56) just missed the consolation final, finishing 17th.
Moravcikova is in the 200y breast finals for the second consecutive year. The Prague, Czech Republic, native was fifth in the event a year ago. Barsanti set the UT record of 2:11.14 in the event on Jan. 30 in a dual meet against Florida.
In the 200y back prelims, freshman Jenny Connolly (1:55.77) and sophomores Tricia Weaner (1:55.94) and Morgan Farrell (1:57.70) finished 10th, 11th and 15th, respectively, to move on to tonight's consolation finals. Each performance was a career-best and an NCAA 'B' cut. Connolly and Weaner should be within striking distance of Jacque Fessel's Lady Vol 200y back record of 1:55.53 in the finals.
Weaner will be looking to improve on her 11th-place finish from a year ago.
The finals begin at 6 p.m. tonight starting with the fastest 1650y free heat, and will be followed by the 200y back, 100y free, 200y breast, 200y fly, men's platform and 400y free relay.
Live results can be found at www.auburntigers.com.
