UT Picks Up Four Wins on Day One of Tennessee Double Dual

Thursday, November 19

Knoxville, TN

10 AM

University of Tennessee

Alabama

UT Picks Up Four Wins on Day One of Tennessee Double Dual

November 19, 2020 | Swimming & Diving

Results

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee swimming and diving team opened the Tennessee Double Dual against Alabama and Virginia Thursday at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

The Vols and Lady Vols were led by Kayky Mota and Bailey Grinter, who each scored an event win for Tennessee. Mota won the men's 200 IM in a time of 1:44.32, setting a personal best and moving to third all-time in school history in the event.

Grinter took home her win in the 50 freestyle, swimming a season-best 22.11.

The Tennessee men closed the night with a strong performance in the 400 medley relay. Freshman Harrison Lierz led off the relay with a split of 47.46 before giving way to junior Michael Houlie who swam a 51.04 second leg. Mota was third into the pool for the Vols, turning in a split of 45.11. Nolan Briggs swam anchor and finished off the Vols' victory with a turn of 42.89.

The relay finished in 3:06.50, comfortably ahead of second place Virginia at 3:08.02. The quartet's time is now the fifth-fastest 400 medley relay in school history.

"We had a number of big splits," associate head coach Lance Asti said. "To have a freshman leadoff with composure and keep us in the race and then Houlie throwing down a 51.09 this time of year is solid. Kayky coming back, I think he was 45.1, is just a really nice middle section of that relay and Nolan filled in beautifully at the end. That's four solid legs that are only going to get better."

NEW TENNESSEE TOP 10 TIMES
UT had several swimmers reset the all-time top 10 lists on the opening night of the Tennessee Double Dual. Newcomer Claire Nguyen swam a 4:43.06 in the women's 500 freestyle finals, setting the event's ninth-fastest time in program history.

Fellow newcomer Kristen Stege swam a 4:44.39 in prelims of the 500 free, moving into 10th place on UT's leaderboard for the event. Stege improved her time in the final session, hitting the wall in 4:44.04, but was bumped out of Tennessee's top 10 list by Nguyen.

In the women's 200 IM, Tjasa Pintar swam a 1:57.46 in prelims, setting UT's eighth-fastest time in the event.

In the morning session, senior Alexis Yager went 1:56.18 in the 200 IM, setting a new personal best and moving into fourth place all-time in Lady Vol history in the event. In the final session, she went faster.

Yager posted a 1:55.86 in the 200 IM Thursday night, besting her time from prelims and jumping to third all-time in Tennessee history in the 200 IM.

Sophomore Scott Scanlon set a new personal best in the men's 50 freestyle, swimming 19.48. That time is now ninth-fastest in program history. It is also the first time Scanlon has gone sub-20 in the 50 free in his career.

ON THE BOARDS
In the women's 3-meter diving competition, the Lady Vols walked away with three of the top four places on the leaderboard. Junior Grace Cable won the event with a final score of 317.35, with teammate Ana Celaya Hernandez placing second with an overall score of 290.85.

Elle Renner just missed out on finishing third as she came in fourth, scoring 289.35 points. Virginia's Charlotte Bowen placed third with 290.25 points.

The men competed on the 1-meter springboard Thursday and turned in several strong performances. Junior Matthew Wade scored 342.45 points to finish second, while freshman Dillon Richardson placed third with 338.45.

Fellow freshman Bryden Hattie was fourth, scoring 333.10 points and Keegan Richardson came in fifth, totaling 311.90.

COMING UP FRIDAY
Competition resumes Friday morning with swimming preliminaries at 10 a.m. ET and diving prelims at 1:30 p.m. The final session begins at 6 p.m. Friday's events include the 100 butterfly, 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, women's 1-meter diving and men's 3-meter diving.

QUOTABLES
Associate Head Coach Lance Asti
On Kayky Mota's performance Thursday
"Kayky raced really, really well in that 200 IM. I am thrilled with the time, but it's more of the way he took control of that race. That's something we're really pushing on these guys is taking control of the race. Go into the race to win it, not just go a best time. Be competitive, that's what we want to be here, be really competitive and expect to win. That is 100 percent what he did tonight."

On Scott Scanlon's breakthrough in the 50 freestyle
"I thought he had a real breakthrough today. This morning blowing his lifetime best out of the water and then learning how to compete in a final with some NCAA level guys. For a young guy, only a sophomore, I thought he stepped up really well."

Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn
On Claire Nguyen and Kristen Stege
"I am so proud of them, they are doing an incredible job. They came into a crazy situation with COVID-19 and into a new team and into a team where we share a lot of different ideas that are new to them. They have done a great job of having an open mind and really embracing the process."

On Alexis Yager's 200 IM
"Alexis did a great job this morning, that was a phenomenal performance. Tonight, she was very composed and did what she does, she competes and figures out little ways to get better. I think she sees the areas where she can make the performance she had tonight even better still. She is excited to do that and the things we saw tonight are exciting for her other events."

Diving Coach Dave Parrington
On day one of the Tennessee Double Dual
"I was pleased, I was really happy," Parrington said. "There were so many highlights today and I just mentioned to the divers that I saw a lot of professionalism from our group. I saw them pulling for one another as a whole, the spirit and cheering for each other was all really good stuff. That's contagious and carries over into their performance."

On the women's team
"It was really nice to see Grace Cable step up and be really consistent all day long and get a good win against some really good divers. All of the girls were really steady and it's really cool to see the sophomore class really coming into their own. They were really competitive and much more composed than last year. To see that type of development also carries over into stronger performances. To see Ana Celaya Hernandez smiling and enjoying and getting the passion back, jumping like we haven't seen her jump since her freshman year. She's had the knee surgery and it's not fully there yet, but she is confident in her ability to jump without hurting herself and without being in pain. That is carrying over into better performances and her mistakes today were aggressive mistakes and those are the type of things we want to see, if you're going to make a mistake make an aggressive one. The women across the board, I am really pleased."

On the men's team
"To have a couple of our freshmen step up was great to see," Parrington said. "It wasn't expected for Bryden Hattie, he went big in the prelim. Before he got here he hadn't competed in a 1-meter event in a couple of years and hasn't trained 1-meter at all. He's done some 1-meter diving but its been for drill for his 10-meter, to see some of the stuff he is doing is really exciting. To see Dillon Richardson stepping up and scrapping and trying to beat his brother is exciting. Matthew Wade is steady Eddie and he'll continue to stronger and sharper as we go along. He is a little more seasoned than the other guys and paces himself. Keegan cheering like crazy even though his brother beat him was fantastic. Nick McCann is still coming along and Jacob Reasor is getting more and more consistent each time out. To get Will Hallam back on the board and getting some basic dives off was important, he hasn't been able to do that since his shoulder surgery. It was a really pleasing day, but we have to turn around and do it tomorrow and Saturday."