University of Tennessee Athletics
SEC Swimming & Diving Championships Day 5 Quotes
February 18, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
Matt Kredich | Tennessee Head Coach
(Opening thoughts)
"I was really proud of both teams. Really until this morning we had very consistent sessions. Every session had some exceptional performances. This morning we were a little more flat and I think tonight we bounced back a little bit but we can do better. When we needed the energy most we did not have it. We had some people really emerge as great pressure performers. Kyle DeCoursey, Meghan Small, Madeline Banic and Liam Stone were exceptional. Both teams are very young, we have a lot of freshmen. It was cool to see them grow though the meet."
Dave Parrington | Tennessee Head Diving Coach
(On Liam Stone's performance)
"I am really pleased with Liam Stone's performance. He has not gotten a lot of tower experience and has done a few events for us here and there. Probably a little of that inexperience kept him out of the final, but also he got up and did some really good dives. I think there is a lot of room for improvement but the fact that he was in the hunt to make the final was a really good thing. He's a competitor; the last dive he did was actually a dive that he got off four days ago. He is injured a little bit. He has a knee thing going on, which prevents him from practicing his last dives. Again, I am really pleased with his performance."
(On the week as a whole)
"I felt like we were very competitive across the boards. Some outstanding diving done by all the competitors here. Our divers were in the mix, we could have maybe been a little sharper in a few areas. I feel really good about where we are at and I'm really pleased with their effort."
Olivia Smoliga | Georgia | Women's 100 Free
(On winning the women's 100 Free, marking her eighth career individual SEC title)
"There's so much excitement in this meet. You battle so hard for your team and do everything you can to get points. To go 1-2-3 is pretty nice. It's the icing on the cake."
