University of Tennessee Athletics
Vol Facts: Tennessee Summer Swimming
August 21, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
The 2014-15 Swimming and Diving may start about a month from now out on the ocean's edge at Wilmington, N.C., but the action in the pool has been heated all summer long. August especially has been quite the hot month, both in recent weeks in Knoxville, as well as in terms of the competition around the world. Tennessee has many representatives at several major international tournaments, from championships in both Berlin, Germany, and Australia's Gold Coast region, to more local venues, such as Irvine, California.
Rocky Top Hits So. Cal.
Tennessee represented well out in Irvine, Calif., in early August at the 2014 Phillips 66 National Championships. Six current Vols, 10 current Lady Vols and one former Vol flew out to Southern California and competed in a myriad of events for the chance to make the United States rosters at the Pan-Pacific Championships, the 2015 World Championships, the World University Games and the Pan American Games. 2011 alum Brad Craig earned a first place finish in the B final of the 50-meter breaststroke final and a fourth-place finish in the A final of the 100-meter breaststroke. Junior Sean Lehane earned seventh place overall in the 200-meter backstroke, while teaming up with Craig, Troy Tillman and former Minnesota Golden Gopher Kyler Van Swol to earn second place in the 4x100 Medley Relay. Incoming freshman Sam McHugh won the C final in the 400-meter IM.
Meanwhile, the Tennessee women also racked up some impressive results. Senior Molly Hannis led the way with three A final appearances, including a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke with a 2:29.06 time. Tennessee Aquatics also garnered several top relay finishes. The team of Amanda Carner, Hannis, Harper Bruens and Faith Johnson earned a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 Medley Relay. Meanwhile, Mary Griffith, Carner, Madeline Tegner and Erica Laning earned an identical placement in the 4x200 Freestyle Relay.
Flying Springbok
Ok, rugby it is not, but South Africa's swimming team has a bit of orange sprinkled in during their time at the 2014 Hancock Prospecting Pan-Pacific Championships at Australia's Gold Coast. Ryan Coetzee, part of Tennessee's incoming freshman class, will begin his tournament Saturday morning with the preliminary heats of the 100-meter butterfly in a field which includes the United States' Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.
GAL Takes Berlin
Jumping across the pond and into the heart of the German capital finds us the younger of the two Big Orange Swedes in competition. Gustav Aberg Lejdstrom represented both his native Sweden in the 2014 European Championships in Berlin, where he has been busy competing in several preliminary events. He began the tournament Monday by swimming the anchor leg of Sweden's 4x100 freestyle relay team (50.06). The Scandinavians' 3:20.74 time was good for a fifth place finish in their heat.
Swimming in heat two of eight in the 200-meter freestyle, Ledjstrom began Tuesday morning with a fourth-place finish in fifth with a time of 1:53.02. Then on Thursday, Ledjstrom finished in fifth place in heat two of 100-meter freestyle preliminary competition with a time of 51.27. The UT junior will also swim in the third heat in the 50-meter freestyle competition Saturday afternoon.
California, here I come!
One of the Golden State Vols represented the Big Orange and Tennessee Aquatics in the open water distance events this June in Castaic Lake, Calif., just north of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. After earning two top-15 finishes in the 800 and 1500-meter freestyles in Irvine, David Heron completed the 10k race with a time of 1:51.31, less than a minute behind the winner and good for fifth place overall out of 53 racers. The Mission Viejo, Calif., native matched this finish in the 5k race, finishing with a time of 55:38, edging out sixth place by a couple hundredths of a second.
