PREVIEW: SEC Swimming & Diving Championships

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee is set to compete at the 2022 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, which will be hosted at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center on February 15-19.

All meet information, including schedules, tickets, heat sheets/results, streaming links, parking and fan policies, can be found on the 2022 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships Central page.

Every session of the meet will be streamed on SEC Network+, and fans can also follow along with live results on UTSports.com or by using the Meet Mobile app.

Tennessee's clear-bag policy will be in place for all fans. That policy can be found here. Parking will be available in Lot SC40 off Kingston Pike near Tyson Park (PDF).

Here are a few notes about the squad ahead of the championships:

Tennessee in the Rankings

Tennessee swimming & diving is ranked No. 3 (Lady Vols) and No. 17 (Vols) in the country entering SECs. Both squads are led by some of the nation's best swimmer and divers. Below is a breakdown of Tennessee by the numbers:
- UT leads the SEC in seven different events. Freshman Ellen Walshe paces the conference in four events (100 & 200 fly, 200 & 400 IM). Sophomore Mona McSharry boasts the top times in the breaststroke events, while sophomore Bryden Hattie owns the best score in the league on the platform (and second in the country) as the reigning SEC champ in the event.
- Combined, Tennessee owns 15 times/scores that rank inside the top 10 in the NCAA this season, with 13 by the women and two by the men. McSharry owns the nation's top time in the 100 breast.
- Putting together one of the best freshman campaigns in program history, Walshe currently owns four times that rank inside the top 10 in the NCAA, including the fastest time among freshmen in the 100 fly and 400 IM.
- Going into the SEC Championships, the Lady Vols boast 16 times that currently stand as projected podium finishes.
- Look for freshman Jordan Crooks to have a strong performance on the men's side as one of the fastest sprint freestylers in the country. He is the NCAA freshman leader in the 100 free, and he leads all SEC freshmen in the 50 free as well.

UT Returns Three 2021 SEC Champions

Three 2021 SEC Champions will look to defend their titles this week, as Lyubomir Epitropov (200 breast), Bryden Hattie (platform) and Kristen Stege (1650 free) won gold last season.
Epitropov won the gold in the 200 breast, an event in which he holds the program record.
Hattie, who has won 13 events this season, is undefeated on the platform. As the SEC leader in the event, he owns the second-best score in the country with a 440.10 mark.
In her first season at Tennessee, Stege became the first Lady Vol to win the 1650 free since Leslie Mix in 1994 and broke the program record in the event. She also earned a silver medal in the 500 free. She enters the meet ranked inside the top 15 in the country in both events: 500 free (13th) and 1650 (6th).
Tennessee was on the brink of winning gold in three other events, with second-place finishes in the men's 100 breast (Michael Houlie), women's 100 breast (Mona McSharry) and the women's 400 medley relay, which returns three of its four members for this season.
UT brought home bronze medals in the men's 200 breast (Houlie), women's 200 IM & 400 IM (Alexis Yager), women's 200 free relay and women's 400 free relay.
In total, the Vols and Lady Vols combined to earn 12 medals during the 2021 SEC Championships.

Six Olympians Highlight Roster

Five UT swimmers competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics this past summer: Lyubomir Epitropov, Michael Houlie, Mona McSharry, Joaquin Vargas and Ellen Walshe, while Tjasa Pintar swam in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Epitropov, who swam for Bulgaria, is the reigning SEC champ in the 200 breaststroke. During the Tennessee Invite in the fall, he broke his own program record in the event with a 1:52.47 time.
The Vol record holder in the 100 breast is Houlie, who won a silver medal in the event at the 2021 SEC Championships to go along with a bronze in the 200 breast. He competed for South Africa.
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.
McSharry, who was named the 2021 SEC Female Freshman Swimmer of the Year, became just the second Irish swimmer ever to compete in an Olympic final after finishing eighth overall in the 100 breast. She holds the UT record in both the 100 and 200 breast and owns six All-America certificates and four SEC medals. This season, she's won six individual events, including four in the 100 breast. She owns the fastest time in the nation in the 100 breast with a 57.46 mark.
Walshe's successful freshman campaign began with great expectations following her trip to Tokyo with Ireland. She's won seven individual events this season, and she ranks inside the top 10 in program history in the 100 fly (2nd), 200 fly (3rd), 200 IM (3rd), 400 IM (5th) and 200 free (T6th).
Set to make his collegiate debut during SECs after joining the Vols midyear, Vargas represented Peru during the Olympics, competing in the 200 and 400 freestyles. During the Puerto Rico International Swim, he earned podium finishes in the 200 free (1st/1:45.68), 400 free (1st/3:43.32) and 100 back (2nd/53.72), setting the Peruvian National Record in all three short-course events.

Tennessee at Short Course Worlds

Three Tennessee swimmers competed at the 2021 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in December.
In total, the group posted 15 national-record swims throughout event.
Ellen Walshe won silver in the 400 IM with a time of 4:26.52, placing second behind former Lady Vol Tess Cieplucha.
Walshe broke the Irish National Record that had stood since 1994 with her performance. She also set the national record in the 100 fly (56.68) and 200 IM (2:08.69).
By winning the silver medal, Walshe became the first Irish woman to win a medal at the World Swimming Championships. Throughout the week, she swam five record-setting performances.
Fellow Irish swimmer Mona McSharry brought home a bronze medal with a 1:03.92 time in the 100 breast, making her the second Irish female swimmer ever to medal at the World Championships. She now holds the Irish National Records in the 50 breast (29.59), 100 breast (1:03.92), 100 IM (59.35) and 200 breast (2:20.19).
McSharry also finished fourth overall in the 50 breast. Her time in the 100 IM made her the first Irish swimmer to go under a minute in the event. Throughout the championships, she notched eight record-breaking swims.
Lyubomir Epitropov broke the Bulgarian National Records in the 100 breast (58.27) and 200 breast (2:06.44).

UT Boasts SEC-Best 16 Weekly Honors

Tennessee swimmers and divers have posted some impressive performances this season, and those efforts have been rewarded. A league-best 16 SEC weekly honors have been awarded to Vols and Lady Vols.
On two occasions this year, Tennessee student-athletes have received five of the six honors for a single week.
Jordan Crooks, Bryden Hattie, Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe have each been honored multiple times for their performances.
Here's a list of every SEC honor this season:
- Mona McSharry - Swimmer of the Week (2x)
- Jarel Dillard - Swimmer of the Week
- Lyubomir Epitropov - Swimmer of the Week
- Anna-Julia Kutsch - Swimmer of the Week
- Ellen Walshe - Swimmer of the Week
- Bryden Hattie - Diver of the Week (2x)
- Grace Cable - Diver of the Week
- Jordan Crooks - Freshman of the Week (3x)
- Josephine Fuller - Freshman of the Week
- Julia Mrozinski - Freshman of the Week
- Summer Smith - Freshman of the Week
- Ellen Walshe - Freshman of the Week

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Grace Cable

Jordan Crooks

Jarel Dillard

Lyubomir Epitropov

Josephine Fuller

Bryden Hattie

Michael Houlie

Anna-Julia Kutsch

Mona McSharry

Julia Mrozinski

Tjasa Pintar

Summer Smith

Kristen Stege

Joaquin Vargas

Ellen Walshe

Alexis Yager

University of Tennessee Athletics