Tennessee Wraps Up Phillips 66 Nationals with Two Gold Medals, Opens Pan Am Games with Bronze

Tennessee Wraps Up Phillips 66 Nationals with Two Gold Medals, Opens Pan Am Games with Bronze

August 05, 2019 | Swimming & Diving

STANFORD, Calif. – Tennessee showcased its speed on the final day of the Phillips 66 National Championships as Erika Brown claimed gold in the 50 meter freestyle and the 4x100m medley relay team of Bailey Grinter, Nikol Popov, Trude Rothrock and Brown landed on the top step of the podium, bringing home gold medals.

Brown capped off a successful US Nationals performance with her gold medal winning swim of 24.71 in the 50m free. The Lady Vol is now the third fastest among American swimmers in the event this year. 2016 Olympians Simone Manuel and Abbey Weitzeil hold the top two spots on the list.

It was the first time Brown had swum sub-25 seconds in the 50m freestyle.

Tennessee again showed its prowess in relays as Grinter, Popov, Rothrock and Brown blitzed the rest of the pool in the 4x100m medley relay, winning gold with a time of 4:03.62. Kentucky placed second, hitting the wall at 4:05.59.

It was the second relay medal claimed by Tennessee, following Thursday's silver medal performance in the 4x100m free relay.

Amanda Nunan turned in a strong performance in the women's 1500m freestyle swim, finishing fifth with a time of 16:20.08. The time is under the US Olympic Trials qualifying standard of 16:49.19.

On the men's side, the 4x100m medley relay of Seth Bailey, Matthew Dunphy, Kyle DeCoursey and Alec Connolly placed eighth, touching the timing wall at 3:41.23.

As a combined team, Tennessee placed third at nationals with a score of 248.5. Alto Swim Club won with a score of 271.5 and the Aggie Swim Club finished second with 258 points. Individually, the women placed second with a final score of 175.5 while the men were ninth at 73 points.

Taylor Abbott Wins Bronze at Pan American Games
Down in Lima, Peru, Tennessee distance swimmer Taylor Abbott claimed the Vols' first medal at the 2019 Pan American Games with a bronze medal performance in the 10K Open Water Race. A rising senior, Abbott finished the distance swim in 1:54:02.7.

Ecuador's Esteban Enderica won gold while Argentina's Guillermo Bertola took home silver.

Joining Abbott in Tennessee's contingent at the Pan Am Games are fellow swimmers Meghan Small and Tess Cieplucha. They are joined by LVFL Molly Hannis. Small and Hannis will swim for Team USA in the 200 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, respectively, on Aug. 6. Cieplucha will hit the water for Team Canada in the 200 breaststroke on Aug. 8.

US Nationals Results
Women's 200 Meter IM
Alexis Yager – 2:16.69 – Under US Olympic Trials time standard

Women's 1500 Meter Freestyle
5. Amanda Nunan – 16:20.08 – Under US Olympic Trials time standard

Men's 800 Meter Freestyle
Sam Rice – 8:15.54

Women's 50 Meter Freestyle
1. Erika Brown – 24.71 – Under US Olympic Trials time standard
Bailey Grinter – 25.82 – Under US Olympic Trials time standard
Stanzi Moseley – 26.91

Men's 50 Meter Freestyle
Kyle DeCoursey – 22.99 – Under Olympic Trials time standard
Alec Connolly – 23.06 – Under US Olympic Trials time standard
Nolan Briggs – 23.40
Seth Bailey – 23.58
Braga Verhage – 23.78

Women's 4x100 Meter Medley Relay – 1. 4:03.62
Bailey Grinter – 1:01.34
Nikol Popov – 1:08.68
Trude Rothrock – 59.69
Erika Brown – 53.91

Men's 4x100 Meter Medley Relay – 8. 3:41.23
Seth Bailey – 55.62
Matthew Dunphy – 1:02.24
Kyle DeCoursey – 53.70
Alec Connolly – 49.67