Crooks, McSharry Tally Two Victories Each in Double Dual Against Florida and Kentucky

Friday, November 3

Knoxville

11:00 AM

University of Tennessee

Florida

Crooks, McSharry Tally Two Victories Each in Double Dual Against Florida and Kentucky

November 03, 2023 | Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving

Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Reigning NCAA Champion Jordan Crooks and fellow Olympian Mona McSharry earned two individual wins a piece in Tennessee's double dual against Florida and Kentucky on Friday Afternoon at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

The No. 6 Lady Vols triumphed over No. 19 Kentucky with a score of 228-72, but fell against the seventh-ranked Gators 193-107. The sixth-ranked men also defeated the No. 25 Wildcats 238-60, but lost against third-ranked Florida 169-131.

Crooks placed first in the 50 free and 100 free, while McSharry swept the breast events. The Vols also had individual victories by Landon Driggers, Martin Espernberger and Bryden Hattie, and the Lady Vols earned first-place finishes from Josephine Fuller, Tanesha Lucoe and Camille Spink.

The Vols narrowly took first in an electric 400 free relay, as the squad consisting of Crooks, Micah Chambers, Björn Kammann and Gui Caribe finished in 2:54.04. Crooks opened with a 42.96 split to give UT the early advantage, but the Gators were leading going into the final leg. That's when Caribe threw down a blazing 42.01 to complete the come-from-behind victory for the Big Orange.

On the women's side, Spink, Katie Mack, Jasmine Rumley and Brooklyn Douthwright took second with a time of 3:19.16. The Lady Vols also had a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:37.63 and a team consisting of Fuller, McSharry, Mack and Rumley. The Vols' relay squad of Harrison Lierz, Flynn Crisci, Crooks and Caribe, also tallied second in the event, touching the wall in 1:25.99.

In the 50 free, the defending NCAA champion Crooks won the event with a time of 19.02, which is tied for the fastest time in the nation this season. He then went on to take first in the 100 free, touching the wall in 42.57, which is the fastest time in the SEC and fourth-fastest in the country. Crooks was followed by Caribe, who had a 43.14 performance in the event. Joaquin Vargas secured second in the 200 free, coming to a finish in 1:36.86.

Spink tallied a first-place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:46.65. She went on to place second in the 50 and 100 free as well, touching the wall in 22.58 and 48.97, respectively.

Joey Tepper and Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla tallied second and third in the 1000 free, touching the wall in 9:10.80 and 9:11.25, respectively. Tepper went on to place third in the 500 free with a time of 4:24.97.

McSharry swept the breast events with a sub-minute performance of 59.65 in the 100 breast and a 2:12.68 mark in the 200 breast. She also added a third-place finish in the 50 free. On the men's side, Flynn Crisci touched the wall in 55.17 in the 100 breast, which was good enough for second.

The Vols and Lady Vols swept the 200 IM, with Fuller and Driggers taking first in the event. Fuller finished with a time of 1:59.29, while Driggers touched the wall in 1:48.48.

Martin Espernberger won the 200 fly with a time of 1:44.46. Kammann tallied a third-place finish in the 100 fly, touching the wall in 48.15.

Fuller had a time of 52.92 in the 100 back and 1:56.06 in the 200 back, which was good enough for second in both events. Lierz also tallied two second-place finishes in the 100 back and 200 back, touching the wall in 47.60 and 1:45.01. Driggers tallied third in the 200 back, having a mark of 1:45.01.

In diving, Lucoe finished first on 3-meter with a score of 303.80. In the men's 3-meter, Hattie scored 414.35 points to win the event. Hattie also tallied a second-place finish on 1-meter, securing 348.50 points. Lucoe had 274.20 points on 1-meter to obtain second. Owen Redfearn set a new personal-best score on 3-meter, securing 347.90 points.

Quotables
"I thought we competed really well today. These are two SEC teams, we have an incredible conference. Florida has been a conference winner many times. We love competing against them every season and it was great. They're a very good opponent. They exposed us in some areas and we made some errors. They're ultimately too good to make some errors against, and they exposed those for us. We'll get those pieces cleaned up before we head into the next phase of the season." - Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn

"Really good competitive presence throughout the meet. I think we did an outstanding job of sticking to our process before and after races. That's something that we're specific about and want to establish early in the season, carry throughout the season and progress through it. The men stayed really even emotionally, which I think was really important because it took us a while to win certain races. Even after we started winning, it was a lot of back and forth. The team is an outstanding second half of the dual meet team, and we're continuing to get off to a better start as the year progresses. A lot of growth was shown between last week's meet an this week's meet. It was good to have the whole men's team together, where last week at Texas A&M we didn't travel the guys who went to the Pan American Games. It was really good team energy today, and I'm really pleased and excited about the efforts and competitiveness that I saw.

Jordan (Crooks) was outstanding today. Josh (Liendo) is one of the best swimmers in the NCAA and also the world. We're always excited with the level of competition we get in the SEC, and I think Jordan prepared really well today. He managed the emotions of the day really well. We were very fortunate to have his mom and sister here, so we're excited that they were able to join us. Jordan is one of the best Tennessee athletes of all time. We are really fortunate that he's here and such an outstanding teammate." - Associate Head Coach Rich Murphy

"Both Florida and Kentucky have traditionally strong diving programs, and of course their swimming programs as well. Going against a really good field of divers, I was happy to see a lot of strong performances from our divers both Vols and Lady Vols alike. The highlights were Bryden (Hattie) bringing in a really good score and a win on 3-meter, and also a strong second-place on 1-meter in a strong competition. That was great to see because we've focused a lot on his 1-meter up to this point in the season, so that was really good to see. On the men's 3-meter, I'm really proud of Owen Redfearn pulling out a third-place finish with a career best, and that was huge for him. In the women's events, Tanesha Lucoe also got a win on 3-meter against a very good field, and then she pulled out second on 1-meter. I'd like to shout out Elle Renner with a really strong performance on the lowboard in particular. A lot of consistency. At this time of the year, everything we do is building towards the championship season. This was another step in that direction. For the most part, I felt like we had a lot of positives, but there is still a lot to work on. I feel like we're headed in the right direction." - Diving Coach Dave Parrington

Up Next
UT will conclude its fall season by hosting the Tennessee Invitational on Nov. 15-17 at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.