PREVIEW: Swim & Dive at NC State

RALEIGH, N.C. – Tennessee swimming and diving is back in action Friday evening for a meet against highly-ranked NC State at Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center, with diving beginning at 4 p.m. followed by swimming at 5 p.m.

Friday's meet will be streamed on ACCNX with Andrew Sanders and Chris Reid. A second session of races will take place Saturday morning at 10 a.m. but will not be streamed or counted toward the overall team scores for the meet.

The women's meet will be a battle between top-10 teams, as the Lady Vols checked in at No. 7 in the preseason CSCAA Top 25 and State ranks third. On the men's side, the Wolfpack are fourth in the country, while the Vols are 17th. The Lady Vols are the highest-ranked team in the SEC.

Following the meet at NC State, Tennessee will host Louisville (Oct. 21) at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center for its home opener. The meet starts at 2 p.m. and will be honoring UT's Olympic Tradition, with past and present Olympians being recognized and LVFLs Erika Brown and Molly Hannis signing autographs for fans during the meet.

FRIDAY SWIMMING SCHEDULE:
200 medley relay
1000 freestyle
200 freestyle
100 backstroke
100 breaststroke
200 butterfly
50 freestyle
BREAK
100 freestyle
200 backstroke
200 breaststroke
500 freestyle
200 butterfly
BREAK
200 IM
400 freestyle relay

Smith Named SEC Female Freshman of the Week

Coming off a stellar start to her first season on Rocky Top, Tennessee's Summer Smith was named SEC Female Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday, Oct. 12.
The Agawam, Massachusetts, native finished with the most points scored by a female swimmer during Tennessee's season-opening win at UNC Wilmington, notching 18 points with a pair of victories. Smith swept the 500 and 1000 freestyles in her collegiate debut.
Smith's time of 9:59.20 in the 1000 free ranks as the fourth-fastest time in Division I, second in the SEC and first among SEC freshmen this season. Her mark of 4:52.73 in the 500 free also stands as the No. 14 time nationally and is sixth in the SEC.
In addition to her impressive debut, Smith finished second in the Las Vegas Open Water Champions Cup women's elite 5k race this past weekend, posting a time of 57:33.80.

Tennessee Opens Season with Wins at UNC Wilmington

UT brings back a total of 16 All-Americans from last season (9 women, 7 men).
The Lady Vols placed 10th overall thanks to 14 top-16 finishes during the championships.
Mona McSharry placed third and fourth in the 200 and 100 breast, respectively.
Kristen Stege placed fourth in the 1650 free and ninth in the 500 free.
The Lady Vols' 400 freestyle and 400 medley relays were the fifth-fastest in the country, while the 200 medley relay was eighth.
Matthew Wade finished sixth on the 3-meter during NCAAs in 2021.

Five Olympians Highlight Roster

Tennessee's roster is highlighted by five swimmers who have competed in the Olympics.
Four Vols swam in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this past summer: Lyubomir Epitropov, Michael Houlie, Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe, while Tjasa Pintar swam in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Besides Walshe, who is a freshman this year, everyone else is a key returner from last season.
Epitropov is the reigning SEC champ in the 200 breaststroke, helping the Vols to a third-place finish in the conference. The program record holder in the event will look to pick up where he left off last season.
The Vol record holder in the 100 breast belongs to Houlie, who won a silver medal in the event at SECs to go along with a bronze in the 200 breast.
In her first season with the Lady Vols, McSharry was named the 2021 SEC Female Freshman Swimmer of the Year. She holds the UT record in both the 100 and 200 breast and owns six All-America certificates and four SEC medals.
Pintar, an eight-time All-American, represented Slovenia in the 2016 games. During her time at Tennessee, she's medaled four times at SECs, including a pair of golds, and she was a member of both top-5 relays for UT at NCAAs last year.
Walshe comes to Tennessee as one of the top-rated recruits in the country, specializing in the butterfly and IM.

Lady Vols Sign Nation's No. 2 Class

SwimSwam released its 2021 signing class rankings ahead of the season, and the Lady Vols notched the second-rated class in the country with a staggering 16 swimmers and one diver. The group consists of some of the top freshmen in the world as well as three huge transfers.
On SwimCloud, Tennessee signed seven of the top 45 incoming freshmen, including three inside the top 10.
- #5 Julia Mrozinski (Free/Fly/IM)
- #6 Summer Smith (Fly/Back/IM)
- #8 Brooklyn Douthwright (Back/Free)
- #18 Ellen Walshe (Fly/IM)
- #30 Sara Stotler (Free/Fly/IM)
- #37 Kate McCarville (Fly/IM)
- #45 Josephine Fuller (Back/IM)
Julia Mrozinski comes to Knoxville as a European Junior Champion, a German Champion and a World Championship finalist. She's a strong freestyle swimmer, with her top converted time in the 200 projecting her for an NCAA 'A' final.
SwimSwam tabbed Josephine Fuller as the ninth-ranked domestic recruit and the top signee for the Lady Vols. In its rankings release, SwimSwam said, "Fuller is coming off a massive season that saw her vault into the top spot in the class in the 200 back, clocking 1:52.73 to win the NCSA Junior Title in March. Not only is Fuller fast enough to make the NCAA 'A' final in that race, but she's also under the 2021 cutline in the 100 back (52.9) and engineered some big time drops to get down to 1:01.7/2:12.2 on breaststroke."
The three transfers are Emma Carlton (Texas A&M), AJ Kutsch (Auburn) and Bayley Stewart (Notre Dame).
Kutsch was on the 200 free relay team that took first at SECs in 2020, posting a split of 21.15, while Carlton and Stewart should be among UT's top backstroke swimmers.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Emma Carlton

Brooklyn Douthwright

Lyubomir Epitropov

Josephine Fuller

Michael Houlie

Kate McCarville

Mona McSharry

Julia Mrozinski

Tjasa Pintar

Summer Smith

Kristen Stege

Bayley Stewart

Sara Stotler

Matthew Wade

Ellen Walshe

University of Tennessee Athletics