University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
SEC Championships (Day 3)
Stone Wins Gold, Breaks SEC Record
February 19, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 19, 2015
| Men's |  |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Women's | |
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Men's | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Florida | 707.5 |
| 2. Georgia | 634 |
| 3. Auburn | 540.5 |
| 4. Tennessee | 537.5 |
| 5. Alabama | 424.5 |
» Full Results
| Women's | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Georgia | 804 |
| 2. Texas A&M | 648 |
| 3. Florida | 547 |
| 4. LSU | 404 |
| 5. Tennessee | 389 |
» Full Results
Stone smashed the SEC and school record in the finals of the 3-meter springboard. He hit his final dive for 83.30 points to finish with 463.50 points and his first SEC gold medal. He is the first freshman to win an SEC diving title since Robles won platform in 2012.
Robles won his second medal of this SEC meet, taking the bronze medal in the 3-meter competition to go along with his gold on 1 meter. His total of 432.20 is a career high and the sixth-best score in program history.
AUBURN, Ala.--Tennessee freshman Liam Stone smashed the SEC and program record en route to a victory on the 3-meter springboard Thursday at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships.
Stone finished with 463.50 points to earn his first career gold medal and was joined on the awards podium by teammate Mauricio Robles, who finished third in 432.20. Sophomore Michael Howell also added team points in diving with a 12-place finish.
After three days of the championships, the UT men sit in fourth place as well with 437.5 points, thanks to diving's contribution of 74 points from the Vol divers. They trail third-place Auburn by 13 points. Florida leads with 610.5 points.
The Tennessee women have a total of 389 points, putting them in fifth place. Georgia leads with 804 points.
"I felt confident that (Stone) could vie for one or two titles here, but I also knew that Mauricio was a seasoned vet and a proven competitor," said Head Diving Coach Dave Parrington. "For Liam to take the lesson and bounce back from the one-meter, I guess he's a quick learner.
"Both Liam and Mau were rocks of consistency. They set the stage for the big final and Liam was incredibly composed. His first two dives weren't great, but they weren't bad, so he could still challenge. His fourth dive is a key dive on his list and he had an incredible hurdle and takeoff. The moment he got off I thought `Oh, this could be big' and the judges recognized that. By the time he got to his final dive, it was just a matter of doing a solid dive."
After falling behind in the first two rounds, Stone scored a 78.00 or higher in the remaining four rounds to win his first SEC medal and break both the SEC record and UT school record with a 463.50.
"This morning I felt really good and wanted to have fun," said Stone. "(The first round) wasn't the start I was looking for and I knew I needed to pick it up a little. I was hitting those last four dives in training.
"Consistency is always the key. I knew I just needed to try to repeat (preliminaries) again and I tried to get into that same state of mind. I was pretty shocked to be honest. Winning the prelims was a good feeling and then it was tough knowing that I had to try to do it again, but I just stayed focused and did my dives."
Robles, who won the gold medal in the one-meter on Tuesday, earned his second medal of the week with a 432.20 score.
"I was happy with my performance, with two personal bests today," said Robles. "Liam did really, really well (and) I was really happy with him. We were really excited (after the prelims) and we were just positive that we could do this. We do practices like we do competitions, pushing each other, and having the whole team cheering for both of us was amazing. It gives you more confidence having your teammate there and knowing that you can do the dives well was really awesome."
Tennessee had another strong night across the events with 17 student-athletes advancing to the evening finals. Six of them reached the championship final.
Tennessee's individual medley racers broke school records during the preliminary session and continued that pace in the night session. Sam McHugh (3:40.64) and Amanda Carner (4:07.27) both finished in fourth place, just shy of the podium, but they both dropped more time on their school record.
"The 400 IM is an event that we made a commitment to a few years ago that we really wanted to get better at," said Head Coach Matt Kredich. "It takes some time to develop the skill set and the endurance to swim a great 400 IM. Nobody embraces the combination of hard work and skill work as well as Tristan Slater and Amanda Carner.
"Sam McHugh came in and basically has been a sponge all year in trying to pick up skills and work ethic and those guys swam some really high-level swims. We look at the 400 IM as being a strength for us now, so I think it was a really good night for the program in general."
Senior Jacob Thulin finished eighth in the A final of the 100-yard butterfly in 46.97 after posting the third-fastest time in UT history during the morning preliminaries. Thulin qualified for the A final after failing to qualify for a finals race last year in Athens at the 2014 SEC Championships.
Women's 400 IM
Amanda Carner had already broke the school record in the 400 IM during the preliminary session Thursday morning, and that trend continued during the finals. Carner finished fourth overall, swimming a time of 4:07.27, good for a NCAA B-cut.
Lauren Driscoll finished second in the B final (10th overall), cementing her No. 2 spot in UT history with a career-best 4:10.01. Colleen Callahan, who had claimed the No. 5 spot in school history earlier in the day, finished fifth in the B final (13th overall) in 4:13.64. Micah Bohon finished 23rd (7th in the C final) in her first SEC final with a time of 4:15.99. All three swimmers in the consolation finals earned B-cuts.
Men's 400 IM
After setting the school record with a blazing 3:41.32, freshman Sam McHugh improved on his school-record performance by finishing in fourth (3:40.64). McHugh fell .29 seconds out of earning the bronze medal, but did earn a NCAA automatic qualifying time.
In a thrilling B final, Tristan Slater won his final SEC 400 IM race by winning in 3:44.54, edging out Markham of Georgia on the final touch. Slater jumped into second place in UT history with that time, just behind McHugh's effort earlier in the preliminaries.
Women's 100 Fly
Tennessee sent a trio of flyers to the 100 Fly finals, led by Harper Bruens, who swam the tenth-fastest qualifying time in preliminaries. The junior finished 14th overall (6th in B final) with a B-cut time of 53.37. Anna DeMonte and Heather Lundstrom both earned B-cuts as well in the C final, where DeMonte (53.35) finished fourth and Lundstrom (53.82) finished eighth.
Men's 100 Fly
Three more Vols swam in the three men's finals, all of them earning a NCAA B-cut. Jacob Thulin (46.97) and Ryan Coetzee (47.49) finished eighth in the A and B finals, while Tyler Mills (47.49) finished fifth in the C final.
Men's 200 Free
Sean Lehane represented the Vols in the 200 freestyle and finished seventh (1:35.76), a shade off his preliminary time that was .01 seconds off his career-best time. Gustav Aberg Ledjsgtrom (1:35.99) and Troy Tillman (1:36.23) finished 12th and 14th overall (fourth and sixth in the B final), earning B-cuts in the process.
Men's 3-meter Dive
Liam Stone and Mauricio Robles earned the two best preliminary scores Thursday afternoon and the duo finished within the top half once again, giving the Vols two more medals. Stone, competing in his first SEC final, won the gold medal by scoring a 463.50, breaking both the school and conference record. Robles (432.20) earned his second medal of the week by finishing with the bronze medal.
Although he didn't make the final, Michael Howell also earned some important points for the Vols by finishing in 12th place with a career-high score of 318.75.
