University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
SEC Championships
Craig Claims SEC 200 Breaststroke Title on Final Day
February 20, 2010 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Feb. 20, 2010
Drew Rutherford
UTsports.com
ATHENS, Ga.--Tennessee junior swimmer Brad Craig swam to a fifth-place seed in the preliminary round of the 200 breaststroke Saturday at the SEC championships. But he didn't stay in fifth long.
"It was in the back of my mind after prelims," Craig said. "I was thinking that if I swam my race right that I could have a chance to win."
The Midland, Mich., native did win the SEC title with a season-best 1:55.53 B-cut mark. With the win, Craig beat out defending NCAA champion Adam Klein of Auburn.
"I didn't know right away," Craig said. "I could hear everybody cheering and then it slowly started to dawn on me that I won. It just shows that our training really works."
"Brad Craig's great victory over the defending NCAA champion was the highlight of our meet," head coach John Trembley. "Brad is really a warrior and he proved that with a nearly flawless race tonight."
In the 400 freestyle relay, the Vols needed to post an NCAA qualifying time. Michael DeRocco, Ryan Harrison, Ed Walsh and Ricky Henahan did just that as they swam to a fourth place B-cut 2:54.12 mark.
Other Vols scoring Saturday included Geoff Sanders in the 1650 freestyle. Sanders placed eighth in the mile swim with a B-cut 15:19.48 mark. Knoxville, Tenn., native Michael Zaczyk also scored in his first SEC meet in 14th place with a 15:36.82 time. Junior Carl Jones was 14th with a time of 15:38.52 seconds.
Henahan finished fourth in the 200 backstroke with a B-cut 1:42.74 and sophomore Anders Storvik placed 14th at 1:46.83 seconds.
Mattias Kahlin finished eighth in the 200 breaststroke with a 1:59.74 B-cut time. Sophomore Jake Epperson placed 12th at 2:00.10.
Tennessee scored 417.5 points and concluded the meet in fourth place behind Auburn- 784 points, Florida- 765 points and Georgia- 587. Alabama- 340, Kentucky- 320 , LSU-263.5 and South Carolina- 183 finished fifth through eighth, respectively.
"Congratulations to Auburn," Trembley said. "We are fourth this year in the SEC but we do not intend to stay here. After this meet, our team has a better understanding of what our future could look like."
The Vols now prepare for the NCAA championships, hosted by Ohio State, March 25-27.
Tennessee hosts a Last Chance Meet Feb. 26-27. The meet offers swimmers one final attempt to make an NCAA qualifying standard.
UT divers attempt to qualify for the NCAA championships Mar. 12-14 at Georgia Tech in the Zone B Diving Championships.
Full coverage of the SEC championships can be found at UTsports.com.
Players Mentioned
