McSharry, Crooks Break School Records, UT Collects Double-Digit Wins in Day Two of Tennessee Invite

McSharry, Crooks Break School Records, UT Collects Double-Digit Wins in Day Two of Tennessee Invite

November 16, 2023 | Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Mona McSharry bested her own record in the 100 breast and Jordan Crooks broke the school record in the 200 free, as Tennessee went on to win 10 events during day two of the Tennessee Invitational on Thursday evening at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

McSharry earned a time of 56.87 to set a new SEC record and break her previous UT record of 57.16, also marking the first fallen record of the season. Crooks set a new Tennessee best in the final event of the night, the 800 free relay, after swimming the first 200 yards of his leadoff split in 1:32.07.

The Vols opened the evening with a victory in the 200 medley relay, earning the top mark in the conference so far this year of 1:23.14. They ended the day with a splash in the 800 free relay with a time of 6:19.77, which is the eight-fastest effort in school history and the top time in the SEC so far this year. Landon Driggers had the second-fastest time in the nation so far this year in the 400 IM, touching the wall in 3:43.96. Individual first-place finishes for the Vols were also secured by Crooks (100 fly) and Harrison Lierz (100 back).

Joining McSharry with Lady Vol individual victories was Josephine Fuller, who touched the wall in 52.11 to take the 100 back.

During the finals, Tennessee collectively posted six new top-10 times in program history and recorded 12 new personal bests. Here is a breakdown of each event during finals as well as notable efforts during prelims in the morning slate:

Diving
Bryden Hattie excelled on 3-meter with 411.30 points, which was good enough to secure first. Nick Stone earned a score of 333.55 to earn a top-5 finish in the event. Freshman Harper Thornett scored over 300 points, notching a total of 303.15.

On platform, Maddie Reese tallied a first-place finish with a score of 269.60. Tanesha Lucoe came in third, notching 262.60 points. Elle Renner was the next highest-scoring Lady Vol, earning a total of 220.00.

200 Medley Relay
The Vols started the night out scorching hot, as a relay team consisting of Lierz, Flynn Crisci, Crooks and Gui Caribe swam an NCAA "A" cut time of 1:23.14 to win the event. This effort marked the fourth fastest in school history and became the new top time in the SEC this season.

The women's A relay that consisted of Fuller, McSharry, Sara Stotler and Jasmine Rumley opened things for the Lady Vols during the evening slate. The squad touched the wall in 1:36.79, which was good enough for second.

100 Fly
Crooks continued his impressive outing at the Tennessee Invite with an SEC-leading time of 45.30 in the 100 fly, marking his second individual win of the meet. Caribe came in third after touching the wall in 46.58, while Micah Chambers tallied a fourth-place finish with a 46.75 effort. Björn Kammann, Martin Espernberger and Lierz rounded out the Vols in the top 10. Jack Flanagan and Griffin Hadley set personal-best marks with times of 48.74 and 48.22.

Stotler tallied a fourth-place finish in the event, touching the wall in 52.92. Brooklyn Douthwright and Katie Mack rounded out the Lady Vols in the top 10, with Douthwright swimming a 53.50 and Mack posting a new personal-best time of 53.89. Tori Brostowitz also gave a 53.76 effort, which gives her a new career-best mark.

400 IM
The Vols swept the 400 IM, as UT swimmers filled the top three places. Driggers secured the win with a 3:43.96 effort, which is the second-fastest time in the nation so far this year. Gus Rothrock finished second after notching a personal best of 3:45.82, and Aidan Crisci earned third after touching the wall in 3:46.00. Those two times are now ranked fifth and sixth in school history. Joey Tepper tallied eighth with a personal-best mark of 3:49.76.

Freshman Molly Blanchard was the top finisher for the Lady Vols in the 400 IM, touching the wall in 4:17.98. Fellow swimmer Sophie Brison also swam in the event, posting a 4:23.49 effort.

200 Free
Joaquin Vargas was the top finisher for the Vols in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:35.23 and placing fourth. Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla, Nikoli Blackman, Jack Stelter, Caribe and Will Jackson all earned top-10 times, with Caribe's mark of 1:36.15 earning him a new personal best.

Kate McCarville finished in the top eight in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:47.99. She was followed by Douthwright and Stotler, who tallied times of 1:46.01 and 1:46.69. Lauren Wetherell posted a personal-best effort of 1:48.77 during the meet.

100 Breast
McSharry dazzled in the 100 breast, finishing first and breaking her own previous school record with an NCAA "A" cut effort of 56.87, which currently stands as the top time in the nation this year. That mark would have been good for first at NCAAs last season. Emelie Fast came in third with a mark of 59.07. Brostowitz also set a new personal best, swimming a 1:00.66.

F. Crisci tallied a third-place finish in the event, touching the wall in 52.95. Joe Jordan's effort of 54.22 earned him 10th overall.

100 Back
Fuller took the second victory for the Lady Vols in the 100 back, touching the wall in a time of 52.11. She currently holds the top mark in the SEC in the event, and this effort would be the third fastest in the conference.

Lierz secured the sweep for Tennessee in the 100 back, swimming a 45.71 and placing first. Kammann came in seventh after touching the wall in 48.52.

800 Free Relay
In the final event of the night, a relay consisting of Crooks, Caribe, Vargas and Ponce de Leon Castilla secured a victory, the eight-fastest mark in school history and the top time in the conference so far this season for the 800 free.

On the women's side, the relay squad of Douthwright, Julia Burroughs, Stotler and McCarville touched the wall in 7:10.17, placing first and notching the top time in the SEC so far this season.

Team Scores
Men
1. No. 14 Tennessee - 826
2. No. 12 Virginia - 556
3. No. 22 Alabama - 469
4. Kentucky - 357
5. Duke - 52
6. South Carolina - 40
7. North Carolina - 39
8. No. 19 Virginia Tech - 23

Women
1. No. 1 Virginia - 713.5
2. No. 18 Tennessee - 598
3. No. 24 Alabama - 417
4.. Kentucky - 300.5
5. No. 22 Arkansas - 281
6. No. 15 North Carolina - 36
7. Virginia Tech - 15
8. No. 16 Duke - 13
9. No. 17 South Carolina - 5

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

Starting out the day in the 100 fly, Espernberger led the way for the Vols with a time of 52.86, which was the fastest time during prelims. Four more UT swimmers secured top-10 marks, as Kammann, Crooks, Chambers and Caribe each posted finals-qualifying efforts. Stotler notched the second-fastest time with a 1:00.60 mark during prelims. Douthwright was the next Lady Vol to finish, touching the wall in 1:02.23.

Driggers touched the wall in 4:19.84 in the 400 IM to secure the top time going into finals. Tepper tallied the third-fastest time during prelims with a 4:23.89 effort. Fellow swimmers Rothrock and Aidan Crisci also had top-10 times, setting the Vols up well for finals. The freshman duo of Blanchard and Brison posted the two fastest times for the Lady Vols in the event, swimming a 5:08.63 and a 5:09.13.

In the 200 free, Vargas posted a 1:50.45 to have the fourth-fastest time. Ponce de Leon Castilla finished right behind him in fifth, and Tepper, Stelter, Blackman and Jake Narvid rounded out the Vols in the top 10. On the women's side, McCarville swam a 2:09.09 to notch the sixth-fastest time during prelims. Fellow Lady Vol Wetherell came three spots behind her after touching the wall in 2:03.65.

McSharry posted the top time in the 100 breast prelims, finishing with a time of 1:06.72. Freshman Emelie Fast tallied the sixth-fastest time with 1:09.66 mark, and Kailee Morgan's effort of 1:10.69 gave her the ninth-quickest time. Jed Garner and F. Crisci led the way for UT on the men's side, having the fourth and fifth-fastest marks during the event. Jordan's time put him in ninth after touching the wall in 1:04.63.

Lierz notched a time of 55.71 in the 100 back, securing the second-fastest time during the morning session. Kammann touched the wall in 57.07, which was the ninth-quickest effort. Fuller's time of 1:01.94 put her in second heading into finals.

In diving, Hattie earned the highest score on 3-meter with 384.30 points, setting him up well for a strong finish on the day. Nick Stone tallied a total of 338.80

Women's Personal Bests (9)
Tori Brostowitz: 100 Breast (1:00.66) / 100 Fly (53.76)
Brooklyn Douthwright: 500 Free (4:49.44)
Summer Eaker: 500 Free (4:50.47)
Emelie Fast: 50 Free (23.09)
Katie Mack: 100 Fly (53.89)
Mona McSharry: 100 Breast (56.87)
Amber Myers: 50 Free (22.77)
Lauren Wetherell: 200 Free (1:48.77)

Men's Personal Bests (16)
Gui Caribe: 200 Free (1:36.15)
Aidan Crisci: 200 IM (1:46.82)
Jordan Crooks: 200 Free (1:32.07)
Martin Espernberger: 500 Free (4:32.65)
Jack Flanagan: 100 Fly (48.74)
Jonathan Freeman: 500 Free (4:29.69)
Griffin Hadley: 100 Fly (48.22)
Charlie Krone: 500 Free (4:25.57)
Jacob McDonald: 50 Free (20.54)
Jake Narvid: 500 Free (4:18.39)
Gus Rothrock: 400 IM (3:45.82) / 200 IM (1:45.64)
Joey Tepper: 400 IM (3:49.76) / 500 Free (4:15.70)
Harper Thornett: 3-Meter (322.90)
Ryan Williams: 200 IM (1:47.49)

Top-10 Times in Tennessee History (10)
1st - 100 Breast - Mona McSharry (56.87)
1st - 200 Free - Jordan Crooks (1:32.07)
1st - 400 Free (LCM) - Joey Tepper (3:52.15)
4th - 200 Free Relay - Crooks, Caribe, Blackman and Chambers (1:16.03)
4th - 200 Medley Relay - Lierz, F. Crisci, Crooks and Caribe (1:23.14)
4th - 500 Free - Joey Tepper (4:15.70)
5th - 400 IM - Gus Rothrock (3:45.82)
6th - 400 IM Aidan Crisci (3:46.00)
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)
8th - 800 Free Relay - Crooks, Caribe, Vargas and Ponce de Leon Castilla (6:19.77)
9th - 200 IM - Gus Rothrock (1:45.64)

Quotables
"I thought the team as a whole performed really well today. In a variety of events, a lot of people had multiple swims. I thought they did a pretty decent job of transitioning from the long-course format to the short-course format tonight. We were not as good at it today as we were yesterday. It's the reminder that there's fatigue that's carried into the morning and the evening sessions of a multi-day meet. We need to be a little bit better with that. Really impressed with some people's performances with a lot of swims already racked up in the meet. Some really good performances. We got an "A" cut and a "B" cut yesterday in our relays. Missed the opportunity tonight in the 800 free relay, but we are looking forward to getting that at another opportunity. Overall, a pretty good day.

"Mona (McSharry) had a phenomenal swim. She's a model for consistency, the process and the drive to get better. All of those pieces are continuing to fall into place for her, because she's just so driven and so consistent with it. A great leader for our team and a fantastic competitor." - Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn

"I think things started out really well with the performance that we had this morning in the 100 butterfly. It was great to have five guys in the A heat tonight. Really important to get as many as we can get into the A finals at the end of the year from a point scoring basis. That led in really effectively into the 400 IM. Those guys crushed it, went one, two, three. That was probably, to me, the team highlight of the night was that performance collectively from those three guys. Really pleased to see some of the swims we had in a few of the other races. I thought Joaquin (Vargas) and Rafael (Ponce de Leon Castilla) did a nice job in the 200 freestyle. Really happy to see Gui (Caribe) growing more in that event, both in the individual and on the relay. Really good swims from Flynn (Crisci) on the 100 breaststroke, that's really good for him at this time of year.

"I do want to just circle back to the medley relay and then one thing about the last relay. Medley relay was fantastic. I think that was our cleanest relay performance of the meet. Four really good legs. Then, at the end of the night, at the end of a tough day of racing, Jordan (Crooks) led off that relay in a school record time. Really significant to see him grow up into that event. There's a lot of great Vols that have swam the 200 free, it's one of the big-time events in college swimming, the 200 men's freestyle. Really excited for the leadership he showed taking on that assignment and also raising the standard for the whole team in putting together that performance." - Associate Head Coach Rich Murphy

"On the boards, the highlight of the day was a strong win by Bryden Hattie on 3-meter in a competitive men's event. Also, a very pleasing win by Maddie Reese on the platform. She got her NCAA zone qualifying score in her first time out on platform, so that was exciting. Also, some also strong performances from the ladies on platform.

"Really pleased and excited to see on the men's side some really strong performances. Freshman Harper Thornett went into the final there and was a very pleasant surprise for us. On top of that, he also earned his NCAA zone qualifying score on 3-meter, which was a huge plus too because he's a freshman. Consistent performance from Nick Stone today. Across the board, all of the divers did some really good stuff. At this time of the year in an invitational setting like this, in a championship-type format, the first time out there's always some hiccups here and there that we try to work through. It will help us get better for the championship season. This is our first time up on the platform in competition this year. The higher you go, the greater room for error. Pretty happy with those performances today." - Diving Coach Dave Parrington

Friday's Order of Events
Prelims (9:30 a.m.)
200 back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly

Diving (2 p.m.)
Women's 1-Meter (prelims)
Men's Platform (finals only)
Women's 1-Meter (Finals begin at approximately 4:15 p.m.)

Finals (5 p.m.)
Men's Platform
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
400 Free Relay