Tennessee Double Dual Wraps Up with a Pair of Wins for the Vols

Saturday, November 21

Knoxville, TN

10 AM

University of Tennessee

Alabama

Tennessee Double Dual Wraps Up with a Pair of Wins for the Vols

November 21, 2020 | Swimming & Diving

Full Results

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee swimming and diving team wrapped up the Tennessee Double Dual Saturday, claiming two more event wins at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

Senior Kayky Mota won the men's 200 butterfly Saturday, giving him a clean sweep of the butterfly events after his 100 fly win Friday. His time of 1:42.58 is under last season's NCAA invite mark and places him third all-time in UT history.

Over on platform, freshman Bryden Hattie threw down a massive score, totaling 449.80 en route to the win. The Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, native leapt up the top 10 list on platform, landing at third all-time in school history. He sits behind three-time Olympian Gabi Chereches (458.95) and three-time national champion Zhipeng (Colin) Zeng (507.15) on the platform leaderboard.

Over the three day double dual, the Vols and Lady Vols took down Alabama. The men's team beat the Tide 208-180, while the women were victorious with a score of 231-158. Against Virginia, Tennessee's men fell 206-178 and the women dropped to the Cavaliers 219-168.

NEW TENNESSEE TOP 10 TIMES
In the women's 200 breaststroke, freshman Mona McSharry swam a 2:08.03 in Saturday's finals, jumping to third all-time in Lady Vol history. Her time is an NCAA B-cut and was under last season's NCAA invite time. It is the second consecutive day McSharry has posted a time that ranks top three in Tennessee history.

On Friday, McSharry swam a 58.28 in the 100 breast and is third all-time in UT history in the event.

After lowering her 10th-ranked time in the 200 breast Saturday morning, Emily Sykes returned in the finals with an even quicker time, going 2:10.26. She now sits sixth all-time in UT history in the 200 breaststroke. Sykes' swim gives her an NCAA B-cut.

The Vols and Lady Vols were strong in the breaststroke events all weekend and junior Michael Houlie continued that trend in the men's 200 breast. The Cape Town, South Africa, native swam a new personal best 1:54.77 in finals, moving to fifth on Tennessee's all-time leaderboard for the event.

Freshman Jordan Tiffany swam UT's fifth-fastest 200 butterfly Saturday night, stopping the clock in 1:43.96. His time is a new lifetime best and gives him an NCAA B-cut. Tiffany's finals time improved upon his prelim swim of 1:45.12.

In the mile, Kristen Stege swam 16:08.26 to set the seventh-fastest time in Lady Vol history, with Claire Nguyen touching the wall in 16:14.01. Nguyen's swim places her ninth all-time.

The Lady Vols closed out the three day meet with a strong swim in the 400 free relay, posting a 3:14.35. McSharry led off with a 49.41 split and handed off to Bailey Grinter who turned in a 48.60. Trude Rothrock was third into the water, swimming a 48.35. Tjasa Pintar anchored the rely and swam the fastest split at 47.99.

The 400 free relay ranks as the 10th-quickest in program history and is an NCAA automatic qualifier.

ON THE BOARDS
Flexing its diving strength, Tennessee also saw Matthew Wade and Dillon Richardson finish second and third, respectively, on platform. Wade scored a personal best 382.45, while Richardson totaled 340.70. Wade's scored moved him to fourth all-time in UT history, with Richardson moving into eighth place.

On the women's side, Ana Celaya Hernandez and Grace Cable finished two-three on platform. Hernandez scored 252.10, while Cable total 251.70.

Kara Holt and Elle Renner rounded out the top six for the Lady Vols, scoring 240.40 and 218.30.

UP NEXT
The next competition for Tennessee swimming and diving will be Jan. 5-7, with the divers traveling to Athens, Georgia, for the Georgia Diving Invitational.

QUOTABLES
Associate Head Coach Lance Asti

On Kayky Mota and Jordan Tiffany in the 200 butterfly
"They showed real aggressiveness. They both looked like they wanted to compete and both looked like they were trying to win. That was a really nice swim for Jordan Tiffany, for a freshman, and I think he's fifth all-time at Tennessee. Hd did a great job going underwater, swimming that race underwater. Kayky has done a really good job of guiding and leading Jordan, putting Jordan under his wing and raising up that next generation."

On the breaststroke group's strong performance over the three-day meet
"It just keeps getting better and that breaststroke group, it's amazing how those guys support each other. Brett Champlin has made some huge progress in that event as well, he challenges them in their pullouts. Even the guys in the earlier heat are out there trying to inspire them."

Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn

On the takeaway from the Tennessee Double Dual
"This was really a great competition and we had three great days that were packed full of events. Our team did great preparing and did a great job of racing. They did well preparing for their next swim day after day. In this current COVID environment we can't take that for granted. I think all the time off we had in the summer and the uncertainty in the fall, with not as many competitions as we would normally have in a normal year, the team took advantage of every opportunity that was available to them over the last couple of days."

On Mona McSharry's preparation during the week
"She is incredibly professional. She thinks about what she is preparing for and plans for how she wants to get there. She executes the plan and for the most part the results are maybe not 100 percent exactly what she wants to have because of her competitiveness, but she is learning something every single time and is getting plenty of information to take away from it."

Diving Coach Dave Parrington

On Bryden Hattie's platform performance
"We got a little glimpse of what we've got to look forward too. Bryden showed us what he's got and there is a lot more in there. He's got a lot of experience internationally and at the senior national level in Canada and at the junior and senior world level. This is a whole different deal and it was great to see him get up there and show us what he's got. Good to see him move up to third on the top 10 list behind two of our all-time greats in Colin Zeng and Gabi Chereches who was a three-time Olympian."

On how the weekend went for both the men and women
"I was very pleased across the boards so to speak. For the most part we showed a lot of consistency. Obviously, we had some rust still, some competitive rust which is to be expected. We just need more competition, but for the most part I was very pleased. The consistency on tower today maybe did exceed my expectations to a degree. I was not 100 percent sure what to expect. I am happy with where we are at and we'll keep building and having the type of depth we've got is nice. I think the biggest thing that was good to see was the sophomore class of women and the development they have made in the level of composure, level of what they expect from themselves and how to compete. That really showed this weekend."