White Beats Orange in Intrasquad Meet

September 25, 2021 | Swimming & Diving

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Five meet records were broken during the annual intrasquad Orange & White Meet on Saturday, as the White team topped the Orange squad, 324-272, at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

Multiple Vols and Lady Vols had strong performances throughout the day, highlighted by a mix of wins from both veteran returners as well as talented newcomers. Coaches watched as swimmers and divers went head-to-head in 32 events with lineups set by each team.

"I'm really happy with how the teams competed today," said associate head coach Ashley Jahn. "It was a very competitive morning. It was great to see the freshman class in a variety of events and see some of the upperclassmen in events they haven't swum in a while. I was really impressed with the competitiveness on the day, and I think it bodes well for our season."

Freshman Summer Smith won the 200 backstroke and 400 individual medley, setting the meet record in both events. She also finished second in the 200 butterfly. Fellow freshman Gus Rothrock swept the 200 and 400 IM, claiming the meet record in the latter event, and placed second in the 200 fly.

Two 2020 Tokyo Olympians set Orange & White Meet records as well, as sophomore Mona McSharry touched the wall first in the 100 breast and freshman Ellen Walshe won the 200 IM. McSharry also finished first in the 200 breast, a race that was decided by less than 0.05 seconds, and the 200 medley relay.

On the men's side, graduate student Kayky Mota swept the 100 and 200 fly, while sophomore Harrison Lierz won both the 100 and 200 backstroke and was part of the first-place 400 freestyle relay squad. Senior Vol and 2020 Olympian Michael Houlie won the 100 breast and 200 medley relay.

"Great job by our freshman men bringing a competitive energy to the competition," said associate head coach Rich Murphy. "It's great to have that infusion to the team early in the year. A lot of our top-end guys raced really assertively and set the tone for the competition. We had a really good commitment to end-of-race efforts, and we want to continue to amplify that as we go through our training process and into the season. We have an interesting blend of established upperclassmen leaders with guys who have been on the NCAA and SEC stage and been successful, and then we have a large nucleus of freshmen and sophomores who have a really high ceiling."

Sophomore Will Jackson touched the wall first in the 200 free and was part of the fastest 400 freestyle relay. Fellow sophomore Micah Chambers was also part of the 400 free relay and won the 50 free. Senior Jarel Dillard took first in the 200 breast, while freshman Jordan Crooks won the 100 free. Sophomore Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla posted the fastest time in the 500 free and was a member of the 400 freestyle relay. Along with Houlie, Griffin Hadley, Luke Brice and Scott Scanlon made up the top 200 medley relay squad.

For the women, 2021 SEC champion Kristen Stege posted the top time in the 500 free. Emma Carlton, Trude Rothrock and AJ Kutsch joined McSharry on the first-place 200 medley relay team. Rothrock also won the 100 fly. Freshmen Brooklyn Douthwright (200 free) and Sara Stotler (200 fly) each won events, while graduate transfer Bayley Stewart finished first in the 100 back. Stewart, Jasmine Rumley, Julia Mrozinski and Tjasa Pintar teamed up to win the 400 free relay. Rumley also took first in the 50 free, while Pintar was the fastest in the 100 free.

The diving portion of the intrasquad meet took place Thursday afternoon. Bryden Hattie, the 2021 SEC champion on the platform, looks poised for strong sophomore season. He won the 3-meter event and finished second on the 1-meter during the final preseason tune-up. Fellow sophomore Dillon Richardson came out on top on the 1-meter thanks to a pair of high-scoring dives and placed second on the 3-meter.

On the women's side, junior Grace Cable was the top performer of the meet, notching the win on the 1-meter and finishing second on the 3-meter. Freshman Maddie Reese narrowly bested Cable to win the 3-meter. Juniors Kara Holt and Emily Ann Wolfson both had solid showings as well, with Holt placing second on the 1-meter.

"I was very encouraged by what I saw," said diving coach Dave Parrington. "I was really pleased to see some of them challenge themselves with dives we haven't practiced yet and do some of them successfully. I was pleased with our performance, positivity, spirit and body language. They answered the call.

"We have two returners on the men's side who are NCAA high finishers and big scorers in Bryden and Matthew Wade. I was extremely pleased with Dillon's performance, and I look forward to see how that carries over into next week. On the women's side, Grace has come back with a vengeance. Her level of training has stepped up. Kara barely missed scoring as an All-American at NCAAs last year, but I'm pleased with her. I'm encouraged by what Emily Ann has been doing, and Maddie stepped up and won the 3-meter event. It was a really good job by her. I'm looking forward to seeing our team go against someone else."

Tennessee's director of swimming and diving Matt Kredich enters his 17th season on Rocky Top and 10th leading both the men's and women's programs. With plenty of excitement heading into the new campaign, the Lady Vols will look to continue their success from recent years with several key returners being joined by the nation's second-ranked 2021 signing class. For the men, the Vols return the majority of last season's squad, which finished third at the SEC Championships, highlighted by Hattie, Houlie and 2020 Olympian Lyubomir Epitropov.

The Vols and Lady Vols open the 2021-22 campaign on Oct. 1 with a meet at UNC Wilmington at 2 p.m. After that, Tennessee will take on a pair of tough opponents from the ACC in NC State (Oct. 15-16) and Louisville (Oct. 21). The meet against Louisville will be UT's home opener for the season.

"I think we will be in a great place next week," said Jahn. "I'm looking forward to what the trip to Wilmington is going to bring from both a team cohesion standpoint and getting to compete against UNC Wilmington. I'm looking forward to that competition and to our other meets in October. It's going to be an exciting dual meet season, and I'm looking forward to getting it started next week."

For the most up-to-date information about the program, follow Tennessee swimming & diving on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.