Epitropov Improves School Record, Tennessee Sweeps Invite

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Another school record was posted on the final day of the Tennessee Invitational, as the Vols and Lady Vols topped ranked opponents to sweep the annual meet at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

For the weekend, the No. 7 Lady Vols finished first in the invitational with a score of 1203.5, besting No. 16 Alabama (881.5) and top-ranked Virginia (809.5). The 13th-ranked Vols won the men's side of the meet, beating out three ranked teams in the process. No. 24 Alabama finished second with 980 points followed by No. 7 Virginia (728) and No. 23 UNLV (518).

Tennessee posted 31 top-10 performances in program history, including two new school-record times.
Day three of the invitational featured 32 new personal records broken, bringing the invite total up to 110 for the weekend.

"The general feel that we have coming out of the weekend is that we took a lot steps forward individually and some pretty important steps forward in terms of our team culture and identity," director of swimming and diving Matt Kredich said. "The fast times and great performances are always the result of improved processes and better practice habits. Every person has their own story of their progression, and improvement always comes from making some kind of decision for the better. As a coaching staff, we are seeing really good progress. It's also our jobs to identify the next step. We will take a look at where we are and will figure out how to take the next step to where we want to be, which is competing for championships."

The highlight of the night came when senior Lyubomir Epitropov improved his school-record time in the 200 breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:52.47. The 2020 Olympian narrowly missed winning the event by .01 seconds. Senior Jarel Dillard finished fourth after throwing down a time of 1:54.58.

After posting the first sub-43 100 free time of his career in prelims, freshman Jordan Crooks followed up the impressive performance by notching the fourth-fastest time in program history, touching the wall in 42.41 to win the event for the Vols. Crooks broke his time again in the final event of the meet, when he dropped a 42.33 as the 400 free relay leadoff swimmer. The mark stayed in fourth in UT history and helped propel the relay to the 10th-fastest mark in the program record books.

Micah Chambers, who was also part of the 400 free relay, placed fourth in the 100 free with a time of 42.95 after recording the ninth-fastest mark in program history during prelims at 42.93. Nolan Briggs and Seth Thompson-Bailey rounded out the relay lineup that finished third with a time of 2:51.98.

Tennessee finished second and third in the men's 1650 free behind a pair of personal-record times from Jacob Narvid (15:08.68) and Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla (15:18.86). Both marks were NCAA B Cut times.

The Lady Vols were paced by another strong performance from freshman Ellen Walshe in the 200 fly. After breaking into the top 10 of the UT record books during prelims, the Dublin, Ireland, native responded in the finals with a 1:53.96 time to move into third all time. She ended the weekend with five marks that rank inside the top 10 in Lady Vol history, including three inside the top three.

Also in the 200 fly, fellow freshman Sara Stotler recorded the sixth-fastest time in program history at 1:55.22. She finished third, while freshman Summer Smith took fifth, touching the wall in 1:57.84.

The 200 breast featured Lady Vols taking two of the top five spots, highlighted by Alexis Yager's personal-best mark of 2:07.99, which ranked fourth in the Tennessee record books. During prelims, the duo of Bayley Stewart (1:53.82) and Smith (1:54.07) threw down the fifth- and seventh-fastest times in UT history in the 200 backstroke.

In the mile, junior Kristen Stege posted a time of 15:57.63 to finish second in the event, while Claire Nguyen (16:23.94) and Alyssa Breslin (16:24.61) placed fifth and sixth, respectively.

Diving competed on the platform, combining for seven NCAA Zone qualifying scores. Sophomore Bryden Hattie, the reigning SEC champ in the event, won the men's event with a score of 392.80. Dillon Richardson finished fourth with a mark of 333.50, while Jacob Reasor checked in at fifth with a score of 322.90.

On the women's side, junior Kara Holt took second with her 249.95 score. Elle Renner (246.10) was close behind in third followed by Grace Cable (245.35) in fourth. Madison Reese posted a solid final dive to attain her zone score, finishing seventh with a mark of 226.80.

"We had a lot of positive things going on today, but it was a really positive thing that four of our five women got zone scores on the platform," diving coach Dave Parrington said. "Every single diver posted an NCAA Zones score in one event or another. Jacob got all three, so that was pleasing to see. In my mind, the big goal of the week was to get as many qualifying scores out of the way as we could. Having that under our belts gives us a chance to start experimenting with higher difficulty dives. We are on the verge of learning some new dives. Going into Auburn, we want to build on what we have done and try some new dives out.

"The highlight of the day was Elle's back two-and-a-half pike. She just learned that about a week and a half ago, and as I mentioned last night, she's had a really big academic week. She got up and did it for some seven and a half's and eights, and that doesn't normally happen on a first-time dive. That was a really exciting moment. I am really proud of all the women for getting up and competing.

"On the men's side, Bryden was a little shaky, which is uncharacteristic for him. He had to come from behind, and he had a great finish with some excellent stuff. Dillon and Jake got up and got their zone scores. It was a strong day on the platforms.

This concludes the fall slate for Tennessee. Diving will compete in a pair of invitationals during the next month and a half, beginning with the Auburn Diving Invitational on Dec. 15-18. Swimming will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 8, as UT will head to Duke to take on the Blue Devils and Queens University.

"We've had great leadership for the men and women to help shepherd a big sophomore class on the men's side and a big freshman class on the women's," Kredich said about his team's performance this fall. "In some ways, our sophomores for both classes are almost in their freshman year again because they came out of COVID. It was such a strange year with the competitive opportunities that we had. We have seen a lot of growth in the younger part of the team because of the great leadership from our upperclassmen.

"That leadership took a lot of forms, especially competitively, this week. I think our upperclassmen have committed to elite lifestyles and are seeing the rewards and benefits played out in a competitive situation like this. We have to keep following those people. Put our best leaders out in front as examples. At the halfway point, we are in a good place to be able to continue pursuing our highest goals, which are competing for championships in February and March."

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Epitropov Improves School Record, Tennessee Sweeps Invite

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Breslin

Nolan Briggs

Grace Cable

Micah Chambers

Jordan Crooks

Jarel Dillard

Lyubomir Epitropov

Bryden Hattie

Kara Holt

Jake Narvid

Claire Nguyen

Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla

Jacob Reasor

Maddie Reese

Elle Renner

Dillon Richardson

Summer Smith

Kristen Stege

Bayley Stewart

Sara Stotler

Seth Thompson-Bailey

Ellen Walshe

Alexis Yager

University of Tennessee Athletics