Tennessee Sweeps LSU on Senior Day

Saturday, January 27

Knoxville

12:00

University of Tennessee

LSU (Senior Day)

January 27, 2024 | Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving

Results Photo Gallery

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 12 Lady Vols and 11th-ranked Vols earned 27 total victories and saw four new top-10 times as Tennessee swept LSU at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center on Saturday.

The Lady Vols defeated No. 25 LSU 204-94. The women did not lose a single swimming event on the day, winning 14 total, and two new top-10 marks were set by Camille Spink in the 200 free and Emelie Fast in the 200 breast.

On the men's side, the Vols beat the Tigers 196-104. The Big Orange earned 13 victories on the day, and two new top-10 times were set by Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla in the 1000 free and Jordan Crooks, Gui Caribe, Nikoli Blackman and Björn Kammann in the 400 free relay.

The Lady Vols opened competition in the 200 medley relay, where the squad of Josephine Fuller, Mona McSharry, Katie Mack and Camille Spink finished first with a time of 1:35.84 - the fastest UT time so far this season. The Big Orange also had a relay team finish second in the event, as the lineup of Olivia Harper, Fast, Brooklyn Douthwright and Abby Samansky posted a collective 1:38.01 effort.

Kate McCarville and Lauren Wetherell posted the two fastest times in the 1000 free, earning marks of 9:50.38 and 9:51.99. In the 200 free, the Lady Vols posted the four fastest times in the event. Douthwright finished first with an effort of 1:44.04, while Spink set a new personal-best mark of 1:44.63 to tie for the eighth-fastest result in school history. Fuller swam a 1:45.60 and Julia Mrozinski touched the wall in 1:45.71.

Elle Caldow, Mack, Amber Myers and Harper filled the top four spots in the 100 back. Caldow earned the win with a time of 52.75, Mack touched the wall in 53.78, Myers posted a 54.80 effort and Harper finished the event in 54.86. In the next race, Kailee Morgan and Tori Brostowitz went one-two in the 100 breast, posting respective efforts of 1:00.69 and 1:02.13.

Sara Stotler raced to a first-place finish in the 200 fly, posting a time of 1:56.39. Jordan Aurnou-Rhees (2:01.79) came in fifth. In the 50 free, McSharry went on to earn a victory after touching the wall in 22.12. Samansky (22.69), Jasmine Rumley (22.71) and Julia Burroughs (22.88) placed fourth, fifth and sixth. Having won every event of the meet entering the first break, the Lady Vols led the Tigers 95-36.

Kicking off the second half of the meet, Spink placed first in the 100 free with a time of 48.03. Douthwright came in second, coming to a finish in 49.08. Fuller earned a victory in the 200 back, touching the wall in 1:54.13. Elle Caldow and Amber Myers came in third and fourth, posting efforts of 1:56.10 and 2:02.27.

McSharry tallied her second victory of the day in the 200 breast, touching the wall in 2:06.63. Fast came in second with a time of 2:09.28 - the seventh-fastest mark in program history. Morgan came in third with a 2:13.93 effort.

Mrozinski and Alyssa Breslin were the top two finishers in the 500 free, posting efforts of 4:42.77 and 4:45.09. Mack went on to earn her first individual victory as a Lady Vol after placing first in the 100 fly and touching the wall in 53.88.

In the final individual event of the day, Fuller finished first in the 200 IM with a time of 1:57.11. Douthwright and Fast came in second and third, posting efforts of 1:57.60 and 2:00.69.

The Lady Vols closed things out in the 400 free relay, where a team of Samansky, Spink, Burroughs and Mrozinski touched the wall in 3:15.17 to take first.

In diving, the Vols swept on 1-meter, as Bryden Hattie (366.15), Jacob Reasor (348.15) and Nick Stone (332.33) finished first, second and third, with Reasor setting a new personal best. Hattie then went on to place first on 3-meter with a score of 400.35 and Stone came in second with 353.40 points.

Tanesha Lucoe placed second on 3-meter, scoring 309.75 points. Maddie Reese (257.70) and Callie Borda (222.23) earned fourth and fifth place. On 1-meter, Elle Renner was the top finisher for the Lady Vols, tallying a score of 279.45 points. Bailey Davenport set a new personal best (278.78), and Lucoe (271.43), Lynae Shorter (264.08), Reese (255.75) and Borda (205.28) rounded out the scoring for the Big Orange.

On the men's side, Harrison Lierz, Flynn Crisci, Crooks and Caribe tallied a victory in the 200 medley relay, touching the wall in 1:24.34.

In the 1000 free, Rafael Ponce de Leon Castilla posted his two fastest 50-yard splits in the closing moments of the race to come from behind and touch the wall in a personal-best time of 8:57.18. The effort marked the fourth-fastest time in program history and was the third best in the SEC this season.

Blackman earned his first individual win of his Tennessee career in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:36.10. Joaquin Vargas came in third, finishing with a time of 1:36.63.

Ryan Williams earned a time of 48.15 in the 100 back to come in second. Lierz finished right behind him with a 48.73 effort and Driggers placed fourth after touching the wall in 49.34.

In the 100 breast, F. Crisci came in second after posting a time of 53.34. Joseph Jordan finished right behind him, touching the wall in 55.64.

Marin Espernberger tallied a first-place finish in the 200 fly, touching the wall in 1:43.64 - three seconds faster than second place. Gus Rothrock came in third and Aidan Crisci came in fourth with times of 1:46.50 and 1:47.63.

Crooks once again dazzled in the 50 free, placing first with a time of 18.80 - more than half a second faster than second place. Blackman and Micah Chambers finished third and fourth, posting efforts of 20.09 and 20.26. The Vols entered the first break with an 81-50 advantage.

After the intermission, Caribe raced to a 42.60 finish in the 100 free to take first. Will Jackson came in fifth with a time of 45.61. Landon Driggers took first in the 200 back, touching the wall in 1:45.37. Vargas came in fourth, posting a 1:48.75 effort.

Rothrock and Jordan placed third and fourth in the 200 breast, posting times of 2:02.14 and 2:02.70. Joey Tepper tallied first in the 500 free with a mark of 4:22.98. Ponce de Leon Castilla came in third, touching the wall in 4:24.29.

The Vols ended up earning the top three spots in the 100 fly. Crooks posted a season-high 45.18 to finish first, Kammann came in second with a 46.87 and Lierz placed third after touching the wall in 47.09.

In the 200 IM, the Vols swept the Tigers to earn their final individual victory of the meet. Driggers (1:47.41), Rothrock (1:47.51) and A. Crisci (1:49.20) earned the top three spots for the Big Orange in the event.

The Vols ended things by posting the tenth-fastest time in school history in the 400 free relay as a team of Crooks, Caribe, Blackman and Kammann posted a time of 2:51.54.

Quotables
"I thought our women's team and our whole combined team did a great job with their performances today. So proud of our seniors in how they have led this team and how they swam at the meet today. I'm really proud of how everybody else honored the seniors with their performances as well.

"(Camille Spink and Emelie Fast) had great performances. They've both been getting better at a lot of things this year, and it was nice to see them take a couple of elements that they wanted to execute, get a little more confident in their race plans and execute those today in a competitive environment." - Associate Head Coach Ashley Jahn

"Really excited for our men's team, our women's team and especially our seniors. They really care a lot about the other men on the team, and it's really cool to see them have a great day and a solid win against LSU here on senior day. We have eight seniors and a fifth year, so nine guys total that we honored today on the swimming side. We also have two seniors on the diving side, so I'm just really excited for them and I appreciate their sweat over the years and their service to the program.

"I think Rafael (Ponce de Leon Castilla) had a tough opponent who had a good swim last week. We knew that coming into this meet it was going to be a big task to come out with a win. I think coming out of that medley relay having success there, Rafael set himself up and he cares a ton about the team. It was really cool to see him get the win, and I also think that propelled into the efforts that we saw from Nikoli (Blackman) in the 200 free. That really got us going, and I think it was really cool to see the first half of the meet how we asserted ourselves into the competitive aspect of the day." - Associate Head Coach Rich Murphy

"A big thank you to our class of seniors. Just a great group of individuals and divers who have given a lot to our program, so just really proud of that group. Another strong day by Bryden. I felt like his 1-meter was maybe a little sharper than his 3-meter, but he did some nice stuff on 3-meter, he missed his last dive there at the end which is a little out of character. Really happy with his performance, another steady performance. A couple of more dual meet wins, racking his numbers up to 65 wins. Just really proud of Bryden and his performance. Nick and Jake, Jake a PB on 1-meter by quite a bit I think. Really solid job. Really, really proud of him and his effort there coming off of a tough fall with some knee stuff, so I'm really happy with him. Nick was real steady today, Owen did some good stuff, did a good job the entire exhibition event as did Harper. Really happy with the guys.

On the women's side, a strong 3-meter performance from Tanesha. Missed her last dive which cost her maybe getting a PB to be honest with you. She had a real solid list, did some great things. We dove just Tanesha and Maddie up there because we're giving Elle an opportunity to get her platform zone score, which she proceeded to do so. That was really, really nice to see. She backed that up with a nice strong 1-meter performance. I'd like to commend Bailey who was diving exhibition a great deal and racked up a zone 1-meter score with a PB. Just good to have Lynae back on the boards after being out with an injury. Really strong performance throughout the boards, there was a lot of emotion going on with senior day, especially that group. Just proud of their efforts." - Diving Coach Dave Parrington

Tennessee will now begin preparations for the SEC Championships in Auburn, Alabama, on Feb. 19-24. In addition, many Tennessee athletes will compete in the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, over the upcoming weeks.