NCAA-Leading Efforts, SEC-Best Times Highlight Day One of Tennessee Invite

NCAA-Leading Efforts, SEC-Best Times Highlight Day One of Tennessee Invite

November 15, 2023 | Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Two NCAA-best times and a pair of SEC-leading efforts highlighted the first day of the Tennessee Invitational on Wednesday night at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

The Vols opened the night with a victory in the 200 free relay, touching the wall in 1:16.03–the best time in the nation so far this season. On two different occasions, Jordan Crooks posted an NCAA-leading effort. The first came during the 200 free relay thanks to his 18.46 split. The reigning NCAA Champion followed that up by winning the 50 free individual event in 18.40.

The duo of Josephine Fuller and Mona McSharry led the way for the Lady Vols, notching SEC-best times so far this year in the 200 IM and 50 free, respectively.

During the finals, Tennessee collectively tallied three victories, earned four NCAA "A" cut marks, posted six new top-10 times in program history and recorded 13 new personal bests. Here is a breakdown of each event during finals as well as notable efforts during prelims in the morning slate:

200 Free Relay
The Vols' relay squad of Crooks, Gui Caribe, Nikoli Blackman and Micah Chambers secured first after touching the wall with an NCAA "A" cut time of 1:16.03, which is the fastest effort in the nation so far this year and fourth fastest in program history. Crooks' split of 18.46 set the mark for the fastest 50 free time in the nation this year until he bested this effort later in the evening.

For the Lady Vols, the A team of McSharry, Amber Myers, Jasmine Rumley and Camille Spink posted an NCAA "A" cut 1:27.22 effort, which is the fastest time in the conference this year and tied for the sixth-fastest time in school history. Both B relays for the men and women took fifth.

500 Free
Joey Tepper placed second after tying his personal-best time of 4:15.70, which is also the fourth-fastest effort in program history. Jake Narvid posted a 4:18.39 to come in third and set a new personal best. Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla and Charlie Krone rounded out the Vols in the top 10, with Krone setting a new personal best of 4:25.57. Jonathan Freeman and Martin Espernberger also notched personal records during the event, touching the wall in 4:29.69 and 4:32.65.

On the women's side, Kate McCarville placed fourth with a time of 4:43.23, and Alyssa Breslin posted a 4:43.27 to come in fifth. Brooklyn Douthwright swam a 4:49.44 to secure eighth and set a personal best, while Summer Eaker also set a personal best after touching the wall in 4:50.47.

200 IM
Josephine Fuller swam a 1:55.37, which was good enough for third in the event and was the fastest mark in the SEC so far this season. Sara Stotler tallied a ninth-place finish with a time of 1:57.96. Douthwright rounded out the Lady Vols in the top 10, posting a 1:57.97.

Landon Driggers finished fourth overall in 1:43.93. Three more personal records were set by Gus Rothrock, who had the ninth-fastest time in program history with a 1:45.64 effort, Aidan Crisci and Ryan Williams.

50 Free
Crooks continued his excellence in the event with an NCAA "A" cut 18.40 first-place effort, which is the fastest time in the nation so far this season. Caribe came right behind him in 19.27 seconds, and fellow Vol Blackman posted a 19.70 to come in fifth. Chambers finished ninth with a time of 19.51. Jacob McDonald also set a new personal best of 20.54.

McSharry touched the wall in 22.01, which is the top time in the SEC so far this year and was good enough for second. Fuller and Rumley finished ninth and 10th with 22.63 and 22.70 efforts, respectively. Myers and Emelie Fast also set new personal bests during this event, posting times of 22.77 and 23.09.

400 Medley Relay
The Vols' relay squad consisting of Harrison Lierz, Flynn Crisci, Crooks and Caribe came in first with a 3:05.52 effort, which is the fastest time in the conference this year and sixth fastest in school history.

The Lady Vols had a team that consisted of Fuller, McSharry, Mack and Douthwright finished second in the event, touching the wall with an NCAA "A" cut time of 3:31.22.

Diving
In diving, Bryden Hattie posted a score of 359.55 to come in second on 1-meter. Owen Redfearn finished sixth with a score of 3:06.55. Nick Stone rounded out the Vols in the top 10 with 290.50 points.

On 3-meter, Elle Renner placed second, totaling 312.55 points in the event. Tanesha Lucoe came in fifth with a score of 301.10. Lynae Shorter tallied a ninth-place finish, posting a 277.25.

Team Scores
Men
1. Tennessee - 346
2. Virginia - 269
3. Alabama - 227
4. Kentucky - 164
5. Duke - 34
6. South Carolina - 25
7. North Carolina - 11
8. Virginia Tech - 6

Women
1. Virginia - 350
2. Tennessee - 288
3. Alabama - 202
4. Kentucky - 117
5. Arkansas - 110
6. North Carolina - 26
7. Virginia Tech - 7
8. Duke - 5
9. South Carolina - 1

Prelim Notables
During the morning session, all events were held in long course meters format.

Starting the day out in the 400 free, the Lady Vols had four swimmers in the top seven times of the event. Lauren Wetherell touched the wall in 4:15.77 to have the third fastest time in the event, while Kate McCarville, Aly Breslin and Brooklyn Douthwright also landed within the top seven times of the event. On the men's side, Joey Tepper threw down a 3:52.15 to set a new LCM school record that has been standing since 2008 by two seconds. Jake Narvid posted a time of 3:54.38 to finish second and also break the previous school record of 3:54.54.

On the women's side of the 200 IM, Tennessee had two swimmers in the top six fastest times, with Josephine Fuller tallying a 2:14.93 to have the fourth fastest time and Camille Spink posting touching the wall in 2:15.44 to post the sixth fastest time. Landon Driggers tied for the fastest time with a 2:01.93 effort in prelims. Gus Rothrock rounded out the Vols in the top 10 with a 2:05.40.

Rounding out the swimming prelims in the 50 free, McSharry and Spink went three and four with 25.37 and 25.38 efforts. Jasmine Rumley also posted a time of 26.09 to have a top 10 time for the event. On the men's side, three Vols had top-five times. Crooks swam a 21.95 and Caribe finished in 22.52 to finish one-and-two. In his first swim as a Vol, Nikoli Blackman touched the wall in 22.95 to post the fifth-fastest time during prelims.

In diving, Tanesha Lucoe scored 320.10 points on 3-meter - the second most during prelims. Maddie Reese tallied 301.40 points to come in two spots behind Lucoe and give the Lady Vols momentum going into finals. On men's 1-meter Hattie totaled a score of 340.40 to secure the second-best point total out of all the prelim dives.

Women's Personal Bests (4)
Brooklyn Douthwright: 500 Free (4:49.44)
Summer Eaker: 500 Free (4:50.47)
Emelie Fast: 50 Free (23.09)
Amber Myers: 50 Free (22.77)

Men's Personal Bests (9)
Aidan Crisci: 200 IM (1:46.82)
Martin Espernberger: 500 Free (4:32.65)
Jonathan Freeman: 500 Free (4:29.69)
Charlie Krone: 500 Free (4:25.57)
Jacob McDonald: 50 Free (20.54)
Jake Narvid: 500 Free (4:18.39)
Gus Rothrock: 200 IM (1:45.64)
Joey Tepper: 500 Free (4:15.70)
Ryan Williams: 200 IM (1:47.49)

Top-10 Times in Tennessee History
1st - 400 Free (LCM) - Joey Tepper (3:52.15)
4th - 200 Free Relay - Crooks, Caribe, Blackman and Chambers (1:16.03)
T-4th - 500 Free - Joey Tepper (4:15.70)
6th - 400 Medley Relay - Lierz, F. Crisci, Crooks and Caribe (3:05.52)
T-6th - 200 Free Relay - McSharry, Myers, Rumley and Spink (1:27.22)
9th - 200 IM - Gus Rothrock (1:45.64)

Quotables
"Really happy with the relay presence. Winning both of those relays was very good. Jordan (Crooks) was outstanding. There are not many guys that have done 18.40, and he's doing it routinely. Really appreciate his effort on the relays. There was really good team energy throughout the morning session and the evening session. I thought it was a really good first day of the meet, and we were better tonight this morning which was what we expected. We're hoping for a better day two than day one." - Associate Head Coach Rich Murphy

"I thought our team performed really well today. Really different experience between the prelims this morning being long-course meters, and the course tonight being short-course yards. Thought that our team did a great job overall managing that pretty big change and getting themselves ready to compete, race and perform at a really high level.

"Was really exciting to have one of our athletes back competing with us again. She's been out for a year just with some injuries. Was really happy, her performances this morning allowed her a second swim tonight after not competing for a year. Really proud of Regan Rathwell and how she's managed everything. Really impressed with Josephine Fuller, Brooklyn Douthwright, Mona McSharry and basically our whole freshman class on the women's side as a whole. I thought they performed really well." - Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn

"There were a lot of highlights today. Elle Renner on 3-meter in the women's final had her highest finish ever in this type of competition. There were some points left on the boards that we left behind. She was really consistent through prelims, and I was really proud of her for coming in second on the women's 3-meter. On the women's side, Maddie Reese in the prelims had her NCAA zone qualifying score, which she had not done to this point. She was stressed about that, so that was a huge pressure reliever for her to get that score out of the way. Tanesha (Lucoe) and Lynae (Shorter) made the final tonight too, so that was good too.

"On the men's side, very strong performance from Bryden Hattie who finished second to the Kentucky guy (Samuel Duncan) who put up one of the best performances I've seen him do. Bryden was solid today and did a really nice job. Owen Redfearn and Nick Stone dived really consistently all day long. A lot of positives and some points left on the board, which at this time of the year is kind of a good thing. We don't want to be at our sharpest at this point, but we do want to see positive, technical changes and competitive mindsets. I saw a lot of that today." - Diving Coach Dave Parrington

Thursday's Order of Events
Prelims (9:30 a.m.)
100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back

Diving (2 p.m)
Men's 3-Meter (Prelims)
Women's Platform (Final)
Men's 3-Meter (Final begins at approximately 3:15 p.m.)

Finals (6 p.m.)
200 Medley Relay
100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
Men's Diving Team Event
800 Free Relay