University of Tennessee Athletics
Morning Success Translates into Evening Triumphs at NCAAs
March 19, 2011 | Women's Swimming & Diving
March 19, 2011
By Todd Mounce, Media Relations Graduate Assistant
AUSTIN, Texas - The morning prelims on day two of the NCAA Championships set the tone for the entire day as the Tennessee Lady Vol swimming and diving team turned out an array of impressive performances on Friday evening at the national meet held at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
"We had a lot of swims tonight and that is a great thing," Lady Vol Head Swimming Coach Matt Kredich said. "We set that up in the morning with a really solid session."
Competing in six swims on the day, including two `A' finals, junior Jenny Connolly had UT's best finish by grabbing fifth in the 100y fly, touching in at 52.14 seconds. The West Lafayette, Ind., native's clocking in the event ranks as the seventh fastest readout in Lady Vol history. Friday also marked the first time she has competed in the 100y fly at the NCAA Championships.
In the 100y back, Connolly notched sixth after swimming a time of 52.22 seconds. By finishing sixth, Connolly tied Catherine Byrne (1989, 1992) for the best finish in the 100y back at the national meet. She also improved on her event finish from a year ago, where she notched seventh in her hometown.
"Jenny swimming six races today proved she was a real trooper," Kredich said. "I'm really proud of her for the way she approached it and I think we learned a lot to help set her up to do something even better next year."
Freshman Lindsay Gendron dazzled in the 200y free `B' final, registering a career-best mark of 1:43.75 to finish ninth. The consolation final winning time ranks second on both UT's performance and performers list, only behind U.S. Olympian Christine Magnuson.
Kelsey Floyd, a sophomore, made her first career appearance in the 100y fly finals, touching in at 52.79 seconds to finish 11th. Last season, Floyd competed in the event at NCAAs but did not make the top 16 cut.
Senior Martina Moravcikova was in a bit of uncharted waters on day two, as the Prague, Czech Republic, product never swam in an NCAA finals heat. The opportunity sparked excitement as she nabbed 12th in the 100y breast with a clocking of 1:00.49. Her previous-best NCAA finish in the event came last season, where she took 20th.
The Big Orange 200y medley relay squad had a slight change in the finals, as freshman Mary Kate McNeilis replaced Lindsay Gendron on the free leg. McNeilis, along with Connolly, Moravcikova and Floyd earned 14th after a 1:38.77clocking. The time was also the exact same mark that was swum in the preliminary round.
The 800y free relay was solely raced in the finals and Gendron, freshman Alex Frasier, senior Aleksa Akerfelds and Floyd teamed up for a 11th-place finish. The quartet recorded a clocking of 7:06.12, which is the second-fastest readout in Tennessee history.
"Alex Frasier really struggled at the SEC Championships and that is not unusual for a freshman," Kredich said. "Over the last three weeks she put in a lot of good work and today she was just fantastic. She came to Tennessee with this kind of fear for the 800y free relay, which is why she didn't swim in it at the conference meet. She changed her outlook, earned a spot on it and was the only person on the relay who either swam faster individually or faster than they did at the conference championships."
Connolly added three more All-America certificates to her already impressive tally that now stands at 15, including seven First-Team honors. Floyd increased her A-A certificate total to nine and Gendron has now picked up five honors at the championships.
Akerfelds now has two A-A honors in the 800y free relay to go along with one in the 1650y free, Moravcikova grabbed her first A-A accolade in an individual event and now has three total. McNeilis now has two A-A awards on relays and Frasier picked up her first A-A honors of her young career.
At the conclusion of 14 events, the Big Orange remains in 12th with 101 points. California sits atop the leader board with a score of 295, while Georgia (274.5) and Southern Cal (253) are in second and third. The Orange and White scored more points in two days this season than they did in three days last season.
In the morning prelims, senior Tricia Weaner, junior Kirstyn Colonias, sophomore Brooke Watson and freshmen Alex Frasier, McNeilis and Lauren Solernou all competed.
Frasier notched 36th in the 200y free with career-best time of 1:47.18, ranking her fourth on UT's performers list. Solernou, McNeilis and Weaner all competed in the 100y back. Solernou placed 35th (53.96), McNeilis grabbed 39th (54.13) and Weaner nabbed 52nd (55.39). Colonias notched 42nd in the 100y breast (1:02.33) and Watson finished 47th in the 100y fly (54.20).
Saturday will conclude the NCAA Championships with Orange and White swimmers in action in all six swimming events. Akerfelds (1650y free), Floyd (200y fly) and the 400y medley relay squad are all seeded in the top ten of their respective event.
The prelims of day three will begin 11 a.m., with the finals starting at 7 p.m. CT. Events on tap for the final day are: 1650y free, 200y back, 100y free, 200y breast, 200y fly, platform diving and 400y free relay.
Live video will be available on ESPN3.com for the evening session, while live stats are available for both sessions at http://www.star-meets.org/results/NCAA/2011%20Women/index.htm.
