University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Florida (Senior Day)
Seniors Lead in Loss to Florida
January 28, 2012 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Jan. 28, 2012
In their final home dual meet at Allan Jones Aquatic Center, Tennessee's senior class took full advantage of their last opportunity Saturday.
The Vols seniors played a role in seven of the team's eight event victories, although 20th-ranked Tennessee lost the meet to seventh-ranked Florida 171-129.
"Overall, Florida is very deep, deeper than we were," Tennessee interim head coach Lars Jorgensen said. "We kind of knew that coming in. I think they're going to be the favorites in the SEC Championships in a couple weeks.
"I thought we competed hard. We kind of ran out of steam during the middle of the meet where their depth kind of showed up. I was really proud of the way they competed and the way they trained. We did everything we could and just came out short."
The final dual match loss was certainly not from lack of effort, particularly by the Vols swimming or diving in their final meet before the SEC Championships, which will be hosted in Tennessee's home waters Feb. 15-18.
Seniors Ricky Henahan, Jake Epperson and Ryan Helms led the way for the Vols, taking first in a combined five individual events. Henahan and Epperson were also part of the winning 200-yard individual medley relay, while Henahan swam the anchor leg in the 400 freestyle relay.
The Vols remaining two seniors, Carl Jones and Derek Paul also competed.
"I thought our seniors were really excellent today," Jorgensen said. "Ricky Henahan was phenomenal was part of four winning races. Jake Epperson winning the 100 breast and Ryan Helms on the diving boards were excellent too. Our seniors did really good.
On the springboards, Helms turned in one of the best dual meet performances of his career. He swept the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions. He won the 3 meter with a career-best score of 442.35, which is the third-best total in Tennessee diving history.
Henahan, the 11-time All-American from Rochester, N.Y., clocked two individual wins of the day in the 100 and 200 backstroke in addition to being part of two winning relay teams.
"Going into the meet, it was my senior meet, so I had a lot of good emotions going into it," Henahan said. "I was pretty pumped up for it, and it was a pretty good day for me."
The Vols won three of the first five races, starting with their leading 200 medley relay team of Henahan, Epperson, Oystein Hetland and Ed Walsh, who touched the wall in 1:28.47.
Henahan won the 100 backstroke for the fifth time this season in 48.24 seconds. A few minutes later, Epperson swam his fastest 100 breaststroke of his final year in an NCAA B-cut time of 55.14.
From there, Florida started extending its lead by taking advantage of its depth. The Gators got 1-2-3 finishes in both the 200 butterfly and 500 freestyle.
Later in the meet, Henahan picked up his second win, taking the 200 backstroke in 1:47.28, his best time of the year.
Tennessee only non-senior to win an individual race was a first-year swimmer: freshman Tristan Slater from England. He won the 200 individual medley for the second week in a row. Jorgensen said as well as the seniors swam in their final meet, Slater has the promise to be one of the standouts for Tennessee in the coming years, along with sophomore Sam Rairden and others.
"He's going to be good one day, he really is. I hope it's in a couple weeks. He's a really hard-working kid and versatile. He can do a lot of things. I was extremely proud of him in the 200 IM at the end against some really good Florida IM-ers. He's really one of our future stars on the team."
The Vols picked up a win in the final race of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, after Florida's top team was disqualified on a stroke infraction.
INSIDE DIVING
Helms showed both consistency and excellence on the springboards Saturday and swept both the 1-meter and 3-meter for the third time this season. He also pulled off the feat in the double dual match against Indiana and Kentucky and again on the road against Louisville.
Helms won the 1 meter with a score of 386.17. Mauricio Robles was third (310.28) and Jordan Mauney was fourth (298.58).
On the 3 meter, Helms scored big with a 442.35, beating his previous career high of 426.30.
"I was really proud of Ryan today," Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. "Sometimes on Senior Day you can get a little emotional and you're not sure what to expect. But like has been his trait, he was able to manage his excitement of the day. It was a solid job on the 1 meter. He didn't dive super well, but he was consistent and that was good.
"On the 3 meter, he stepped up the sharpness a little bit and there's still more of that to come, which I'm excited about. No misses. Very consistent and excellent score on the 3 meter and a great way to go out."
Sterling was second in the 3 meter with 359.63 and Robles was fourth with 345.08.
B-CUT TIMES IN FREESTYLE
The Vols scored their first NCAA B-cut qualifying times in a pair of sprint relays this season. Both came via second-place finishes.
Rairden, a sophomore All-American in the backstroke, swam the 200 freestyle in 1:37.79, good for a B-cut time. Walsh, the junior team captain, secured his B-cut time in the 50 freestyle with a time of 19.97.
NEXT UP
Tennessee does not race again until Feb. 15 when the SEC Championships begin in Knoxville.
Florida 162, Tennessee 138
200 Medley Relay: 1. Tennessee (Henahan, Epperson, Hetland, Walsh) 1:28.47; 2. Florida (Homer, Elliott, Cieslak, Norton) 1:30.05; 3. Florida (Curby, Munch, Martin, Turner) 1:30.98; 4. Tennessee (Scheffer, Paul, McFall, Johnson) 1:32.50; 5. Florida (Hamilton, Wallace, Huen, Heil) 1:35.20.
1000 Freestyle: 1. Jaston Taylor (UF) 9:16.64; 2. Nicholas Caldwell (UF) 9:20.78; 3. Sam Petersen (UT) 9:21.11; 4. William Silva (UF) 9:25.73; 5. Carl Jones (UT) 9:27.07; 6. Brian Howell (UF) 9:34.09.
200 Freestyle: 1. Marcin Cieslak (UF) 1:37.65; 2. Sam Rairden (UT) 1:37.79; 3. Jonathan Jordan (UF) 1:39.01; 4. Scott Heil (UF) 1:40.17; 5. Carlos Omana (UF) 1:41.09; 6. Shane Kleinbeck (UT) 1:42.72.
100 Backstroke: 1. Ricky Henahan (UT) 48.24; 2. Matt Curby (UF) 50.01; 3. Ben Scheffer (UT) 50.04; 4. Christian-Paul Homer (UF) 50.27; 5. Austin Ringquist (UF) 51.43; 6. Colin Hamilton (UF) 52.54.
100 Breaststroke: 1. Jake Epperson (UT) 55.14; 2. Matt Elliott (UF) 55.15; 3. Ricky Munch (UF) 56.79; 4. Derek Paul (UT) 56.91; 5. Renato Prono (UT) 57.00; 6. Dan Wallace (UF) 57.17.
200 Butterfly: 1. Cameron Martin (UF) 1:48.49; 2. Connor Signorin (UF) 1:49.63; 3. Gabriel Huen (UF) 1:49.79; 4. Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (UF) 1:50.08; 5. Tristan Slater (UT) 1:50.74; 6. Ryan McFall (UT) 1:58.17.
50 Freestyle: 1. Bradley Deborde (UF) 19.57; 2. Ed Walsh (UT) 19.97; 3. Oystein Hetland (UT) 20.16; 4. James Turner (UF) 20.51; 5. Matt Norton (UF) 20.52; 6. Isaac Taylor (UT) 20.92; 7. Jacob Thulin (UT) 20.96.
1-Meter Diving: 1. Ryan Helms (UT) 386.18; 2. Michael Lewark (UF) 318.23; 3. Mauricio Robles (UT) 310.28; 4. Jordan Mauney (UT) 298.58; 5. Christopher Jones (UF) 291.53; 6. Brent Sterling (UT) 290.18.
100 Freestyle: Bradley Deborde (UF) 44.48; 2. Sam Rairden (UT) 44.81; 3. Ed Walsh (UF) 45.14; 4. Matt Norton (UF) 45.37; 5. James Turner (UF) 45.96; 6. Scott Heil (UF) 46.53; 7. Jacob Thulin (UT) 46.62; 8. Clint Johnson (UT) 46.79.
200 Backstroke: 1. Ricky Henahan (UT) 1:47.28; 2. Connor Signorin (UF) 1:48.14; 3. Ben Scheffer (UT) 1:48.77; 4. Austin Ringquist (UF) 1:50.59; 5. Colin Hamilton (UF) 1:53.08.
200 Breaststroke: 1. Matt Elliott (UF) 1:59.27; 2. Jake Epperson (UT) 2:00.78; 3. Dan Wallace (UF) 2:04.05; 4. Ricky Munch (UF) 2:07.19; 5. Derek Paul (UT) 2:08.98; 6. Brian Howell (UF) 2:09.79; 7. Renato Prono (UT) 2:11.82.
500 Freestyle: 1. Jonathan Jordan (UF) 4:29.06; 2. Jason Taylor (UF) 4:30.21; 3. Nicholas Caldwell (UF) 4:31.25; 4. Shane Kleinbeck (UT) 4:34.55; 5. Tristan Slater (UT) 4:35.04; 6. William Silva (UF) 4:35.54; 7. Sam Petersen (UT) 4:35.89; 8. Carl Jones (UT) 4:38.83.
100 Butterfly: 1. Marcin Cieslak (UF) 47.77; 2. Oystein Hetland (UT) 48.51; 3. Christian-Paul Homer (UF) 49.24; 4. Bradley Deborde (UF) 49.24; 5. Gabriel Huen (UF) 49.81; 6. Ryan McFall (UT) 50.59; 7. Jacob Thulin (UT) 50.90.
3-Meter Diving: 1. Ryan Helms (UT) 442.35; 2. Brent Sterling (UT) 359.63; 3. Christopher Jones (UF) 354.45; 4. Mauricio Robles (UT) 345.08; 5. Michael Lewark (UF) 310.50; 6. Jordan Mauney (UT).
200 Individual Medley: 1. Tristan Slater (UT) 1:50.80; 2. Carlos Omana (UF) 1:51.19; 3. Matt Curby (UF) 1:51.20; 4. Carmeron Martin (UF) 1:53.11; 5. Jake Epperson (UT) 1:54.51; 6. Austin Ringquist (UF) 1:54.71; 7. Ben Scheffer (UT) 1:56.28; 8. Derek Paul (UT) 2:00.35.
400 Freestyle Relay: 1. Tennessee (Rairden, Walsh, Johnson, Henahan) 3:01.24; 2. Florida (Wallace, Heil, Solaeche-Gomez, Signorin) 3:03.67; 3. Tennessee (Taylor, Hetland, McFall, Slater) 3:06.37; 4. Florida (Jordan, Curby, Taylor, Huen) 3:08.77; 5. Florida (Munch, Hamilton, Ringquist, Silva) 3:12.86.
