SEC CHAMPIONS! Lady Vols Win Second Title in Three Years

Tuesday, February 15

Knoxville

University of Tennessee

SEC Championships

Lady Vol Swim & Dive SEC Champion Graphic

SEC CHAMPIONS! Lady Vols Win Second Title in Three Years

February 19, 2022 | Swimming & Diving

2022 SEC S&D Complete Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2 Photo Gallery 3 Photo Gallery 4

For the second time in three seasons, the Tennessee Lady Vols swimming & diving program boast the title of SEC Champion, winning the conference title with 1313.5 overall points.

Thanks to the deepest roster in program history, the third-ranked Lady Vols' incredible week at the SEC Championships was fueled by 17 medals won, with seven gold, six silver and four bronze. In addition to its top performers, Tennessee saw a staggering 53 swimmers and divers qualify for the finals throughout the meet, including 30 A final marks. Adding to the impressive feat, all 22 members on UT's SEC roster qualified for at least one B final or better.

"This is an incredibly special and unique team with a number of different components," Director of Swimming & Diving Matt Kredich said. "It is almost like alchemy; you put all of these pieces together for something that is greater than the pieces themselves. The depth of this team is something that we felt we obviously needed in order to win this championship. I am so impressed with every person on our roster. Every athlete scored in a B final or higher. That is extraordinary depth. Maybe the most extraordinary thing about that is there are people that did not make this team that we also feel had the ability to score in B finals and some even in A finals. Our depth on this team is historic and having the ability to do it does not always mean you are going to do it. I am so impressed with the fact that every person on this roster has made a significant contribution in terms of points.

"The most special part of this whole thing is that we were able to do this from our home pool at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, a place where we felt was our refuge during the lockdown of the past two years. It has been a celebration of our ability to be a team and compete at the highest level."

Leading the way for Tennessee was freshman star Ellen Walshe, winning a combined seven medals throughout the week, including four gold. The Dublin, Ireland, native was named the SEC Swimmer of the Meet and received the prestigious Commissioner's Trophy as the top overall points scorer.

Walshe put together one of the best performances in SEC Championship history Thursday night, winning the 400 IM with a school-record time of 4:01.53 and then following that up with a victory in the 100 fly (50.34) less than 45 minutes later. After posting the second-fastest time in program history to win the 200 IM (1:52.97 time), she completed the sweep of her individual events for the week to score 96 points for the Lady Vols.

Walshe became the first swimmer in SEC history to win the 100 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM during the same meet. One of just three Lady Vols to ever win three individual events in a single SEC Championship, Walshe became the first freshman to ever achieve the feat. She joined Erika Brown and Christine Magnuson in the accomplishment, and they are only Lady Vols to ever win the Commissioner's Trophy as well.

Walshe's 400 IM marked the fastest time by a freshman in SEC history and ranked as the seventh-best time by a freshman in NCAA history.

In the relays, Walshe was a member of the gold medal 800 free relay squad as well as four silver medal lineups, including the program-record-setting 400 medley relay. She also swam the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

Joining Walshe in the fastest 800 freestyle relay (6:56.81) was fellow freshman Julia Mrozinski, senior Trude Rothrock, who won bronze in the 100 fly (51.26), and senior Tjasa Pintar. It was the third-best time in program history for the event, and Mrozinski's leadoff 200 free split of 1:43.21 was a new personal best and moved her into a tie for fourth in the Lady Vol record books.

On Wednesday night, Mrozinski became the first Lady Vol ever to win the 500 free while shattering the program record with a 4:35.95 time. Mrozinski finished fifth overall in the 200 free behind fellow freshman Brooklyn Douthwright, who had one of the biggest surprise performances of the week when she won silver in the event with a 1:43.45 mark.

After winning the mile last season, junior Kristen Stege defended her SEC title in the 1650 free with a program-record time of 15:42.37, making her the first Lady Vol to win the event in back-to-back years since Kathy Hoffman in 1990-91.

Stege's time marked the fastest in the nation, and her 1000 free split of 9:27.69 also set a new program record. Earlier in the meet, she placed third in the 500 free behind a 4:38.50.

After a breakout campaign last season, sophomore Mona McSharry came back with an even stronger sophomore season, bringing home a pair of medals in the breaststroke events.

During the 100 breast on Friday night, McSharry threw down a 57.50 mark to earn the first SEC gold medal of her career and become the first Tennessee women's swimmer to win the event since Molly Hannis in 2012. She took third in the 200 breast on the final night behind a 2:07.29 mark.

McSharry was also a member of the silver medal winning 200 free, 200 medley and 400 medley relays, bringing her total medal count for the meet to five.

Also on the 200 free and 200 medley relays was junior Anna-Julia Kutsch. She threw down the third-fastest time in Tennessee history during the 50 free at 21.60, which was good for silver in the event. Sophomore Jasmine Rumley won the bronze medal in the 50 free behind the fourth-best time in the program record books at 21.81 and swam the third leg of the 200 free relay.

Pintar anchored the 200 free relay and the 400 medley relay, while freshman Josephine Fuller led off both medley relay lineups. Pintar, Rumley and Mrozinski were part of the second-place 400 free relay to cap the championships, posting the second fastest time in program history at 3:11.38.

"Our athletes that went through the pandemic have had a tremendous impact on the team," Kredich said. "The level of appreciation they have for opportunities to compete, be together and train. All of the stuff we used to take for granted, we have a deep appreciation and that value system has come from our upperclassmen. Our freshmen have added incredible firepower obviously, but their personalities are incredible. They are really humble, incredibly competitive and absolutely driven to get better. Because of all of those character elements, they fit seamlessly into the value system that has already been established here.

"It is a very different championship than the one we won two years ago because it is a very different team, year and circumstance. But the echoes of that championship we can feel in the composure of our upperclassmen and the way they have influenced our freshman. Our freshmen have not been rattled at all, they have had incredible composure. They have stayed really focused and in on the process and that is because of what they have learned from the culture of the upperclassmen. There have been so many instances of me just watching the handing of the baton from the fifth year's and the seniors down to the freshman. That is what makes it feel like we are just getting started. For some people, this may be their final meet, but for most, we are heading onto NCAAs. We feel like we have learned a ton at this meet and can apply a lot of it to NCAAs."

Tennessee's freshman class had a very strong week of performances, winning five individual medals, including four gold, and combining to advance to 12 A finals, seven B finals and one C final between the seven swimmers. The group scored 427 of UT's 1,010.5 individual points (42 percent).

Sara Stotler advanced to the A final in all three of her individual events, earning the best finish of fifth overall in the 200 fly (154.60). She finished with the second-most points by a freshman 71 for the week. Mrozinski's two A final appearances helped her tally 64 points. Josephine Fuller and Summer Smith both accounted for 57 points apiece. Kate McCarville provided a trio of quality swims, earning spots in the B final in all of her individual races.

In diving, senior Grace Cable earned a pair of spots in the A final. She finished fifth overall on the 1-meter with a score of 290.65, and she was seventh on the 3-meter thanks to a season-best score of 331.45.

For the week, Tennessee posted 26 new top-10 times in program history, including five new school records.