Vols Earn Top-10 Win As Tennessee Splits Meet at Louisville

Thursday, October 20

Louisville, KY

2:00 PM

University of Tennessee

Louisville

Vols Earn Top-10 Win As Tennessee Splits Meet at Louisville

October 20, 2022 | Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving

Results

By: Kensi Juszkiewicz, Media Relations Student Assistant

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Thanks to an all-around effort that saw the Vols win 11 of their events, 13th-ranked Tennessee men's swimming & diving earned a top-10 win against Louisville on Thursday afternoon at Ralph Wright Natatorium, while the Lady Vols posted the top time in seven events but fell just short with their side of the meet.

The Tennessee men won big behind a 176-124 score against No. 10 Louisville, while the women lost 163-137 to the 10th-ranked Cardinals.

Leading the way for the men, Jordan Crooks posted two season-best times to finish first in both the 50 free and 100 fly. With a mark of 46.04 in the butterfly event, Crooks' mark moved into first nationally, while his time of 19.35 in the 50 free ranked as the second-best time in the country this season.

Gui Caribe also notched multiple nationally-ranked times. With a mark of 19.40, Caribe's performance in the 50 free leads all NCAA freshmen and ranks him third overall in the country. His time also tied for fifth in Tennessee history in the event. In the 100 free, his first-place finish of 42.81 checked in at fourth in the nation and narrowly missed cracking the top 10 in the program record books. Caribe also recorded an impressive 18.87 split as the anchor of the 200 medley relay.

In a close 100 breast race between the top three, Jarel Dillard posted the best time, touching the wall in 53.62. Only .14 seconds behind was Michael Houlie, who took home a third-place finish. In tight battle during the 200 breast, Lyubomir Epitropov and Houlie took home first and third, as Epitropov touched the wall in 1:58.85 and Houlie posted a 2:01.73.

Joaquin Vargas dominated the 500 free, posting a time of 4:24.55 to win the event. He also recorded a solid second-place finish in the 200 free behind a 1:36.85 mark.

UT popped off during the 200 back event, with Harrison Lierz, Nick Simons and Landon Driggers sweeping the podium. Lierz finished with a time of 1:46.07, while Simons and Driggers came in close behind at 1:46.66 and 1:46.75, respectively. In the 100 back, Lierz (47.58) came in second merely .05 seconds behind first place. Simons threw down a 48.80 mark to take third.

In another sweep, Gus Rothrock, Lierz, and Driggers tallied one, two and three in the 200 IM. Rothrock led the pack with a 1:49.68 finish, while Lierz and Driggers touched the wall shortly after at 1:49.78 and 1:50.27.

Martin Espernberger and Joel Giraudeau notched second- and third-place finishes in the 200 fly, touching the wall in 1:47.34 and 1:48.69, respectively.

The men opened their meet with a bang, taking first and third during the 200 medley relay. The team of Lierz, Houlie, Crooks and Caribe posted a time of 1:25.66, and Nick Simons, Jarel Dillard, Luke Brice and Scott Scanlon finished in 1:27.66.

The men capped off the meet with the 400 free relay, where Aleksey Tarasenko, Björn Kammann, Vargas and Crooks secured a win with a time of 2:54.64. Entering the final leg of the event, the Vols faced more than a second and a half deficit before Crooks threw down a 41.62 split to lift UT to the win in the event.

"The resiliency was really impressive," Associate Head Coach Rich Murphy said. "I think Louisville always brings out a strong effort from our men and our women. Nothing came easy today nor did we expect it to. I'm really impressed with how we closed the meet, especially winning the last relay, winning the IM, winning the 100 fly and winning the 500 free. That is the kind of DNA we want to have as a program, closing events like that at the end of the meet, knowing that the meet was in question throughout. I thought the support of one another was outstanding. Jordan was fantastic. Gui really gave us a spark and I really love the energy he's bringing. I think again for us this season, Harrison Lierz has been vital to our team's success. Across the board, I thought we had a lot of people contributing points today. It was a total team effort. It was really pleasing to see."

Nick Stone secured the best scores for Tennessee in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. He posted a second-place score in the 3-meter (340.28) and third place in the 1-meter (296.85). Owen Redfearn also appeared on the podium for third place in the 3-meter with a score of 335.10.

Tanesha Lucoe was the women's top finisher in the 1-meter dive with a score of 267.75 for third place, while Grace Cable ranked fourth in the 3-meter with 281.55.

"First off, I am a little disappointed, Matthew Wade hurt his hand this morning. It was a real downer for the whole team to be honest with you, "diving coach Dave Parrington said. "And certainly for him. I was really happy with our two freshmen. In the first event, we had our share of inconsistencies in the men's 1-meter. We had some bright spots that I'm very proud of. On the 3-meter, those guys bounced right back. It was great to see. Owen Redfearn stepped up for a Zone-qualifying score. He actually did really well all day, so that was a really good thing for him. So, with the men, a solid job. Especially considering we didn't have Matt or Bryden Hattie there. It's a whole different story if those two guys are in there.

"On the women's side I had mixed reviews, certainly on the 3-meter I was a little disappointed. Like the men, there were bright spots in a few areas, but we needed them to step up despite the environment; it was definitely loud, there was music playing and it was a raucous crowd. It's not what we are accustomed to. I would've liked for us to step up and handled it a little better. It was good to see Elle Renner get her Zone-qualifying score on the 1-meter. We've got to get back, think it through a little bit and put it all back together."

The Lady Vols dominated the 200 free, where Julia Burroughs and Brooklyn Douthwright tied for first place with a 1:48.79 finish and Abby Samansky followed close behind for third (1:50.49) to complete the sweep. Burroughs also competed in the 200 medley relay alongside Josephine Fuller, Mona McSharry and Emma Carlton. The squad earned second place and marked a 1:39.44 time.

Kristen Stege remained undefeated this season in the 1000 free, touching the wall in 9:53.58 and taking home first place for the Lady Vols. Behind her came Claire Nguyen (10:06.66) and Lauren Wetherell (10:12.23), who notched spots for third and fourth place. Stege (4:55.13) also grabbed a third-place finish behind Kate McCarville in the 500 free, as the latter posted a time of 4:54.40 to take second.

Fuller swiftly recorded the fastest times in the 100 back (53.35) and 200 back (1:56.45). She was followed in both events for third place by her teammates: Olivia Harper (55:47) in the 100 back and Bayley Stewart (2:00.71) in the 200 back. Fuller also secured a first-place finish in the 200 IM, completing the event with a mark of 2:01.28.

McSharry and Kailee Morgan both earned top-three finishes in the breaststroke races. McSharry swept both events, touching the wall in 1:00.79 in the 100 breast and 2:12.94 in the 200 breast. She also took third in the 50 free (22.95). Morgan placed third in each race, recording marks of 1:02.43 (100 breast) and 2:16.16 (200 breast).

Sara Stotler finished at second place in both the 100 fly (54.91) and 200 fly (2:01.06) events.

"Congratulations to a really competitive Louisville team," Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn said. "They always bring their competitive selves to every opportunity and they did that again today. Congratulations to them for a great performance. I think our team today did a lot of things really well. I'm really proud of their competitive efforts. The Lady Vols that were here at the meet did a really great job of competing and putting together really strong performances. We just need to be a little bit better. We're going to compete with team that we have; it's very competitive and we can still get better. Looking forward to continuing to progress through the fall as we head into the Tennessee Invitation and through the rest of the season."