No. 7 Lady Vols and No. 14 Vols Dominate Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the Pool

Friday, October 30

Knoxville, TN

3 PM

University of Tennessee

202

Vanderbilt - Women

No. 7 Lady Vols and No. 14 Vols Dominate Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the Pool

October 30, 2020 | Swimming & Diving

Men's Results vs. Kentucky Women's Results vs. Vanderbilt

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 7 Lady Vols and No. 14 Vols posted dominating performances in the pool Friday as the women defeated in-state rival Vanderbilt 202-60 at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center, while the men traveled north to Kentucky and took down the Wildcats 194.5-105.5.

Friday was the first meet of the season for the men's team and they came out firing, winning 13 out of 16 events.

"We were really using this meet to establish our competitive identity and they came out swinging," associate head coach Lance Asti said. "They came out with great leadership and tried to establish the mentality we're going to have for the remainder of the season."

Driving the attacking mentality for the Vols was a trio of upper classmen. Senior Kayky Mota and juniors Michael Houlie and Seth Thompson-Bailey all won two events each. Mota took first in the 100 butterfly (46.72) and 200 butterfly (1:45.60), while Houlie got to the wall first in both the 100 (52.74) and 200 (1:57.69) breaststroke.

Thompson-Bailey brought home wins in the 100 freestyle (44.62) and 200 freestyle (1:36.88).

"What is neat is watching those guys grab the younger guys and lead by example and also verbally," Asti said. "Saying, 'hey guys this is how you do it, this is the Tennessee way,' I was really proud of how they stood up and embraced a tough Kentucky team."

The men saw excellent production from the younger swimmers, especially the freshman duo of Harrison Lierz and Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla who both won a pair of events in their Tennessee debut. Lierz took home victories in the 100 backstroke (47.90) and 200 backstroke (1:45.08) as Castilla flexed his muscles in the distance events, winning the 1,000 free (9:10.46) and 500 free (4:26.96).

"Winning two events in their first SEC competition, that's just great," Asti said. "Coach Rich Murphy has done a really nice job preparing them for this competition and they had just amazing poise for being freshmen. We walked into this meet with 10 out of 24 guys a part of our freshman class and I think our older guys did a great job leading them and guiding them through what we expect as coaches and what we expect as a team. The freshmen responded really well. It's easy to pick out those two guys because they won two events each, but that doesn't tell the whole story. It's a real tribute to the leadership and the freshman class."

On the springboards, freshmen Bryden Hattie and Dillon Richardson stood out in their first-ever SEC competition. Hattie placed second on 3-meter with a score of 360.45 and was fifth on 1-meter, scoring 298.65.

Richardson placed sixth on both boards, totaling 270.23 on 1-meter and 311.85 on 3-meter.

"Neither one of them were intimidated in any way shape or form which is great to see," diving coach Dave Parrington said. "Not only was it an SEC competition in an SEC environment, it was arguably two of the better teams in the SEC going at each other. It'll be interesting to see how that pans out later in the season, especially at SECs."

Matthew Wade also had a strong first performance of the season on the boards, placing third on 1-meter (306.83) and fourth on 3-meter (350.93).

Competing in their second meet in back-to-back days, the seventh-ranked Lady Vols bounced back from Thursday's defeat at No. 12 Kentucky with a dominating performance against in-state rival Vanderbilt.

"It was great and I am really glad we had the opportunity, really happy and thankful that Vanderbilt was able to make the trip over to have this meet today," associate head coach Ashley Jahn said. "It was a good challenge to come off of a later evening and getting off the bus and getting prepared to compete again today. I thought our team handled it really well. It was nice for the divers to get a chance to get back-to-back competition as well. We are really happy with today."

The Lady Vols won all but one event Friday, punctuated by senior Bailey Grinter and freshman Mona McSharry winning two events. Grinter dominated the backstroke events with first-place finishes in the 100 back (55.53) and 200 back (2:04.04).

McSharry followed up her solid performance against Kentucky – winning the 100 breaststroke and helping the Lady Vols win the 400 free relay – with a pair of victories Friday. The freshman from Dublin, Ireland won the 100 breaststroke (1:00.22) and 100 freestyle (51.14).

"I think Mona is doing a great job," Jahn said. "It's who she is as a competitor and she came in with that drive to want to be better and thoughtfulness in how she is going to do that. I think she is spreading that to the rest of the team. The freshman class has been incredible in absorbing all the new information and making great changes and competing really well."

Exemplifying the abilities of UT's freshman class were Margaret Marando and Olivia Harper. The true freshmen claimed their first-career event titles Friday. Marando got to the wall in the 200 butterfly first in 2:03.30, while Harper took her win in the 50 freestyle in 23.32.

UP NEXT
Both the men's and women's squads will compete at home Nov. 19-21 as they welcome Alabama and Virginia to Knoxville and the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

MEET RESULTS VS VANDERBILT (WOMEN)
200 Medley Relay – Tennessee (Grinter, Popov, Beil, McSharry) – 1:42.12
400 IM – Alexis Yager – TENN – 4:17.63
200 Freestyle – Claire Nguyen – TENN – 1:51.10
100 Backstroke – Bailey Grinter – TENN – 55.53
100 Breaststroke – Mona McSharry – TENN – 1:00.22
200 Butterfly – Margaret Marando – TENN – 2:03.30
50 Freestyle – Olivia Harper – TENN – 23.32
100 Freestyle – Mona McSharry – TENN – 51.14
200 Backstroke – Bailey Grinter – TENN – 2:04.04
200 Breaststroke – Emily Sykes – TENN – 2:17.45
500 Freestyle – Kristen Stege – TENN – 4:51.68
100 Butterfly – Tonner Debeer – VAN – 56.08
200 IM – Trude Rothrock – TENN – 2:01.74
200 Free Relay – Tennessee (Huizenga, Samansky, Ungaretti, Sichterman) – 1:35.16

MEET RESULTS VS KENTUCKY (MEN)
200 Medley Relay – Tennessee (Lierz, Houlie, Mota, Scanlon) – 1:26.04
1,000 Freestyle – Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla – TENN – 9:10.46
200 Freestyle – Seth Thompson-Bailey – TENN – 1:36.88
100 Backstroke – Harrison Lierz – TENN – 47.90
100 Breaststroke – Michael Houlie – TENN – 52.74
200 Butterfly – Kayky Mota – TENN – 1:45.60
50 Freestyle – Scott Scanlon – TENN – 20.23
100 Freestyle – Seth Thompson-Bailey – TENN – 44.62
200 Backstroke – Harrison Lierz – TENN – 1:45.08
200 Breaststroke – Michael Houlie – TENN – 1:57.69
500 Freestyle – Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla – TENN – 4:26.96
100 Butterfly – Kayky Mota – TENN – 46.72
200 IM – Daniel Orcutt – UK – 1:48.56
400 Free Relay – Tennessee (Briggs, Scanlon, Houlie, Thompson-Bailey) – 2:58.31
1-Meter Diving – Chase Lane – UK – 352.88
3-Meter Diving – Ming Zhang – UK – 395.63