University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Tennessee Invitational
Diving, Relays Lead Vols on Opening Day
November 16, 2011 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Nov. 16, 2011
Final Stats |
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Photo Gallery 2
BY AMANDA PRUITT
UTSPORTS.COM
Behind strong diving performances by a senior and a freshman and second-place finishes in two relays, the 13th-ranked Vols ended the first day of the Tennessee Invitational in second place.
The Vols (3-1, 2-0 SEC) tallied 204.5 points through six events at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, placing them second of five teams. Louisville leads with 241, and LSU is third with 158.5.
"It was an interesting day with long-course format in the morning and short course at night," Tennessee head coach John Trembley said. "Some teams came very prepared to swim fast and that's great. It builds competition. We had some very very fine individual performances and some surprises too. We had some guys who were off also, but that happens in November."
Senior Ryan Helms led the way for the Vols in the 3-meter diving event, finishing second with a score of 397.70. Freshman Mauricio Robles scored a new career-best of 389.50 to finish just behind Helms in third.
"There's always room for improvement," Helms said. "That's the thing I like about diving. That's the sport that can never be perfected. I was really pleased with my performance today. I had some misses, which I can work on, but for the most part, I was really pleased with my night."
Helms led the competition through four rounds but missed on one of his newer, challenging dives on his fifth trip to the springboard. The competition featured Texas A&M diving star, Grant Nel from Australia, who was in the running for the NCAA title in diving last year.
"For him and Ryan to go head to head in a fantastic three-meter competition and for Mauricio to be right on their heels was really exciting," Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. "It's good for us to be in that situation. Each one of the divers did some really good things, maybe didn't finish all their dives the way they would like, but that's kind of where we're at in the season. For what we're doing, I'm pleased with that."
In the pool, the Vols recorded a pair of NCAA B-cut times in the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Oystein Hetland, Jacob Thulin, Ricky Henahan and Ed Walsh finished second, recording an NCAA B-cut time of 1 minute, 20.93 seconds. Henahan, Jake Epperson, Hetland and Ryan Harrison swam the 400 medley relay in 3:17.13.
LONG COURSE MORNINGS
The Tennessee Invitational features an usual setup with the preliminary races being held in long-course format using the full 50 meters of the pool. In the evening, the finals took place in the typical 25-yard short course.
Prior to the tournament being set up, swimmers could qualify for the NCAAs by swimming a long course, but that rule has since been changed.
Trembley said that while the swimmers could no longer clock NCAA A-cut or B-cut times in preliminaries, the long course format was good training for swimmers whose sights are set on the Olympic Games and other international events that take place in 50-meter pools.
"Being an Olympic year, we have a lot of athletes who will be preparing for their Olympic trials and other long-course meets in the future of their careers beyond college," Trembley said.
NOTABLE SWIMMING PERFORMANCES
Senior Carl Jones, celebrating his 23rd birthday, recorded a season-best time in the 500 free, finishing in fourth in 4:31.52. It was the second-fastest time by a Vol this season. The time was six seconds better than his previous best to start his final year in orange and white.
Freshman Tristian Slater clocked a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley final, swimming in 1:49.83, which was good for the best time by a Vol this season in the event.
Walsh was the Vols' lone swimmer in the finals of the 50 freestyle. He finished seventh in 20.66.
Tennessee Invitational
Wednesday Results
Team Scores (Through 11 Events)
1. Louisville: 241
2. Tennessee: 204.5
3. LSU: 191
4. Kentucky: 125.5
5. Southern Illinois: 82
200 Free Relay: 1. Louisville (Andrews, Blondell, Schlytter, Hoekstra) 1:19.63; 2. Tennessee (Hetland, Thulin, Henahan, Walsh) 1:20.93; 3. Southern Illinois (Wolfe, Parsons, Arbelaez, Wolfe) 1:21.73; 4. Kentucky (Russell, Lott, Bullock, Reed) 1:21.87; 5. LSU (Tuomola, Jungfleisch, Wepasnick, Saco) 1:21.93; 6. Louisville (Lloyd, Chastain, De Lucca, Crapse) 1:22.13 ... 7. Tennessee (Johnson, Storvik, Hjelm, Taylor) 1:22.22; 16. Tennessee (McFall, Epperson, Paul, Prono) 1:25.97.
500 Free: 1. Riley Martin (Louisville) 4:18.16; 2. Travis Green (Kentucky) 4:26.64; 3. Pedro Oliveira (UL); 4. Carl Jones (UT) 4:31.52; 5. Craig Hamilton (LSU) 4:31.52; 6. Dillon Love (LSU) 4:32.74; 7. Shane Kleinbeck (UT) 4:33.06; 8. Ben Scheffer (UT) 4:34.59
200 IM: 1. Alex Burtch (Louisville) 1:49.48; 2. Scotty Gunter (Louisville) 1:49.60; 3. Tristian Slater (UT) 1:49.83; 4. Carlos Almeida (Louisville) 1:49.84; 5. Nick Kunkel (LSU) 1:51.31; 6. Albert Lloyd (Louisville) 1:52.08; 7. Sean Roddy (LSU) 1:51.21 1:52.21; 8. Ricardo Alvarado Jimenez (LSU) 1:52.44
50 Free: 1. Andrei Tuomola (LSU) 19.94; 2. Alex Forbes (UK-unattached) 20.08; 3. Joao De Lucca (Louisville) 20.46; 4. Samuel Hoekstra (Louisville) 20.54; 5. Michael Saco (LSU) 20.60; 6. Caryle Blondell (Louisville) 20.61; 7. Ed Walsh (Tennessee) 20.66; 8. Juan Arbelaez Osorio (Southern Illinois) 20.82
3-Meter Diving: 1. Grant Nel (Texas A&M) 411.55; 2. Ryan Helms (UT) 397.70; 3. Mauricio Robles (UT) 389.50; 4. Greg Ferrucci (Kentucky) 379.90; 5. Daniel Helm (LSU) 373.50; 6. Brent Sterling (UT) 358.65; 7. Corey Cowger (UK) 316.80; 8. Mattew Vieke (LSU) 316.55.
400 Medley Relay: 1. Louisville (Andrews, Almeida, Colins, De Lucca) 3:14.94; 2. Tennessee (Henahan, Epperson, Hetland, Harrison) 3:17.13; 3. LSU (Kunkel, Alvarado, DePadua, Tuomola) 3:18.23; 4. Louisville (Blondell, Chastain, Oliveira, Burtch) 3:18.27; 5. LSU (Young, Decker, Greef, Saco) 3:18.55; 6. Louisville (Young, Haefner, Lopez, Edelen) 3:20.77.
