Brown Leads Sprinters on Day 2 of SECs

Thursday, February 15

College Station, TX

All Day

University of Tennessee

SEC Championships: Day 2

COLLEGE STATION, TX - 2018.02.14 - SEC Swimming and Diving Championships

February 15, 2018 | Swimming & Diving

Photo Gallery Results

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Sophomore Erika Brown captured her first SEC individual title to lead the Tennessee sprinters Thursday at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships at Texas A&M Natatorium.

Brown pulled away from the pack in the back half of the 50-yard freestyle to reach the wall in 21.39 seconds, lowering her school record set in November to take gold.

She closed the night as part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team, her third gold medal of the meet.

Tennessee earned a total of six medals Thursday night. Junior Kyle DeCoursey was second in the men's 50 freestyle, redshirt junior Zhipeng (Colin) Zeng was second in the men's 1-meter and sophomore Meghan Small was third in the women's 200 individual medley. The Tennessee men also took third in the 200 free relay.

Through two days and 15 complete events, Tennessee is second in the men's standings with 411 points with Florida leading with 432. The Lady Vols are third with 337.5, and host Texas A&M is first (469).

SPRINTING AWAY IN THE 50: Brown, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, stamped an exclamation point for the Tennessee freestyle group, which qualified 12 swimmers for the 50 freestyle between the men and women.

Three Lady Vols reached the championship final. Brown was joined by defending champion Madeline Banic (fourth, 22.07) and freshman Bailey Grinter (sixth, 22.26).

For the men, junior Kyle DeCoursey earned silver in the 50 freestyle while dropping his school record he set in the prelims to 19.12. He was the top seed in the final but was beat out at the wall by Auburn's Zachary Apple (19.08).

Sophomore Alec Connolly, a local standout from Knoxville, won the consolation final of the men's 50 freestyle to take ninth overall in a career-best 19.48.

RELAY GOLD & BRONZE: Madeline Banic, Erika Brown, Bailey Grinter and Stanzi Moseley teamed up for a conclusive victory in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:27.26. Auburn's team was second in 1:28.10.

The Lady Vols have now won two of three relays so far this meet, having won the opening 200 medley relay.

The men's 200 freestyle relay team of Alec Connolly, Kyle DeCoursey, Braga Verhage and Ryan Coetzee initially placed fourth in 1:17.00 but moved up to a bronze-medal finish when winner Auburn was disqualified.

THREE-VOL DIVING FINAL: Redshirt junior Colin Zeng earned his first career SEC medal, taking second with a season-best score of 455.60. LSU's Juan Hernandez had a near-perfect run, setting the SEC record in 479.10 to win.

Three Vols reached the 1-meter final. Senior Liam Stone, the defending champion, was sixth and freshman Will Hallam took eighth.

ANOTHER IM MEDAL: Sophomore Meghan Small, the defending champion in the 200 IM, posted a third-place finish while lowering her school record to 1:53.05.

UP NEXT: The meet resumes Friday with preliminaries for the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 freestyle and women's 3-meter springboard starting at 11 a.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Central). The finals start at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Central). All sessions will be streamed on WatchESPN.

UT RECORDS BROKEN: Three more school records fell, giving Tennessee six in the meet.

Women's 50 Freestyle - Erika Brown - 21.39 (old record: 20.50 - Erika Brown - 2017)

Men's 50 Freestyle - Kyle DeCoursey - 19.12 (old record: 19.14 - Barry Murphy - 2009)

Women's 200 IM - Meghan Small - 1:53.05 (old record: 1:53.31 - Meghan Small - 2017)

QUOTES
Tennessee Head Coach Matt Kredich:
"I thought our 50 freestylers competed really well top to bottom. Most of them dropped times. We had some significant improvements. That actually helped us get back into the sort of racing mindset. I felt we were a little lost in some of our 500s and 200 IMs. The 50s helped us get our focus back. We did a good job bringing that into the evening. Sprinting is a strength of ours. We take pride in our speed, and that's in all the strokes, not just freestyle. We aren't one trick ponies. The 200 free relays were also a big point of pride. I was pleased to see both get on the podium. When you break school records, that's also something to celebrate. Two SEC titles and three school records. That's a good night."

Tennessee Diving Coach Dave Parrington:
"First of all, I'm really pleased with the performance of all four guys. Nick Rusek has come back from injuries recently, but still put some points on the board. Will Hallam made his first career SEC final against a very quality field was a big moment for him. Liam and Colin were expected to be there in the finals, but you can't take anything for granted. As for the final, that was just an amazing competition. Give all credit to Juan (Hernandez). He put together a phenomenal list. Colin started a tad slow and made up ground at the end. Given his circumstances of being ill and having an injury during practice, he competed well, and I was excited for the way the event went."

Tennessee sophomore Erika Brown:
(On improvements this year)
"This year, I pretty much just started to realize I need to invest in my teammates. That's our motto at Tennessee. It's all about putting energy into your teammates. I think by doing that, I became a lot happier. A happy swimmer is a fast swimmer."