Erika Brown Brings Home Silver on Day Two of NCAAs

March 21, 2019 | Swimming & Diving

AUSTIN, Texas – Erika Brown won the Lady Vols' first medal of the 2019 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Day Two from the Jamail Texas Swimming Center at the University of Texas.

Brown brought home the silver medal in the 50 freestyle for the second-straight year, winning the third silver of her career at NCAAs. Brown swam a 21.23 to clam the second step on the podium, behind Olympian and NCAA Champion Abbey Weitzeil. It took a record breaking performance from Weitzeil to best Brown as the California-Berkley swimmer turned in a 21.02, the fastest 50 freestyle in history.

On the night, Brown earned a pair of First Team All-America honors, the first coming with the 200 freestyle relay team and the second in the 50 freestyle. The Charlotte, N.C. native now has eight All-America honors to her name, all of them first team.

In the 200 Individual Medley, Meghan Small finished seventh overall at 1:53.57, earning First Team All-America honors. Small has earned nine All-America honors in her three years on Rocky Top with four of them being first team accolades.

Tess Cieplucha placed 13th overall in the 200 IM to claim All-America Honorable mention. It is the juniors third All-America honor of her career.

The Lady Vols' night began with a sixth place finish in the 200 freestyle relay at 1:27.31. The quartet of Brown, Stanzi Moseley, Bailey Grinter and Madeline Banic swam the program's fifth-fastest time in school history.

By finishing in the top-8, the 200 freestyle relay team earned First Team All-America honors.

Tennessee's 400 medley relay team of Small, Nikol Popov, Banic and Grinter finished 4th in the B final with a time of 3:31.53. The relay was 12th overall, garnering All-America Honorable mention.

After not scoring on the first night, the Lady Vols came back strong, scoring 69 points on Thursday. Tennessee sits ninth overall in the standings through seven events. Stanford is currently first with 173.5 points.

The Lady Vols lead all SEC teams in points with the closest conference team being Auburn with 52.

The championships are available to watch on ESPN3 with live stats and scoring available through texassports.com, divemeets.com and the Meet Mobile app.

QUOTES:
Tennessee Head Coach Matt Kredich
On Erika Brown
"Erika is a phenomenal racer and loves to compete," Kredich said. "She is always tremendous in the second half of the race and has a knack for getting her hand on the wall. We felt like she did a great job closing in the 50 free but just ran out of space. I believe that was her second fastest swim ever and I am really impressed with the way she competed in a different stage and level than she has before."

Tennessee Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn
On the team's performance during Day Two
"It all started with the morning swim," Jahn said. "We had to recalibrate and decide what type of team we're going to be. I feel like we did that and put some good times up on the board. Sinclair Larson and Amanda Nunan got us started with the 500 and I'm really proud of them, they both had great performances. Our 200 IM was great, Alexis Yager unfortunately didn't get a chance for a second race but she still put together a fantastic swim. For Tess and Meghan to both make it back tonight was awesome, it's hard to make it back at this meet, it's really competitive. Anytime we get a second swim it's a big deal and Tess put together a great 200 IM and scored points for her team. Meghan held her place, scored points for the team and has more races tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does."

On Erika Brown's 50 Freestyle
"Erika did really well tonight, we're all proud of her. Anytime a Tennessee Lady Vol gets on the podium, it's a really big deal. The second place performance was incredible. I know she is very competitive and wanted to win but it was an awesome race."

Junior Erika Brown
On the 50 Freestyle Final
"I was really excited to race and obviously there was some great competition," Brown said. "I'm happy with the swim and it went well but I really wanted to get that win for the team."

UP NEXT: The championships continue on Friday with the prelims and finals of the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 200 medley relay. The prelims begin at 10 a.m. ET and finals at 6 p.m. ET.

2019 NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE (EASTERN TIME)
FRIDAY
Swimming Prelims (10 a.m.)
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
200 Medley Relay

Swimming Finals (6 p.m.)
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
200 Medley Relay

2019 NCAA WOMEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING
Thursday Tennessee Results
200 Freestyle Relay – 6. (Erika Brown, Stanzi Moseley, Bailey Grinter, Madeline Banic), 1:27.31
500 Freestyle – 33. Sinclair Larson, 4:42.08
                           37. Amanda Nunan, 4:43.10
200 Individual Medley – 7. Meghan Small, 1:53.57
                                         13. Tess Cieplucha, 1:56.33
                                         40. Alexis Yager, 1:58.16
50 Freestyle – 2. Erika Brown – 21.23
                           18. Madeline Banic, 22.14
                           36. Bailey Grinter, 22.53
                           37. Stanzi Moseley, 22.56
400 Medley Relay – 12. (Small, Popov, Banic, Grinter), 3:31.53