Tennessee Swim & Dive Announces 2024-25 Schedule

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After a packed summer with 17 athletes competing at the Olympic Games, the Vols and Lady Vols are set to return to short course yardage swimming and college diving soon, as Tennessee announced its 2024-25 schedule on Monday afternoon.

The home slate for this year features two dual meets and the annual Tennessee Invitational. The Big Orange hits the road for a pair of non-conference matchups against ACC foes as well as two SEC rivals. The diving squads will go to a pair of winter invites. It's also a milestone year for director of swimming & diving Matt Kredich, who enters his 20th season with the UT program.

UT opens the season with a matchup against the Louisville Cardinals at the Mary T. Meagher Aquatic Center on October 24. For Louisville, the women enter the season ranked ninth and the men ranked 12th. This will be the fourth consecutive year the two schools have faced off. In 2023, the Lady Vols narrowly bested the third-ranked Cardinals, while the men dropped their contest to the 12th-ranked foe.

The Big Orange then begins the home slate of the schedule with the Tennessee Invitational at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center from November 19-22. This will be a four-day event that will feature a new finals-only session on Tuesday night to replicate the NCAA Championship experience followed by the traditional format of prelims in the morning, diving prelims in the afternoon and finals in the evening on Wednesday through Friday. The competition consistently features some of the nation's best swimmers and divers, and this year will be no different.

To mark the start of conference meets, the Vols and Lady Vols will take a quick road trip up I-75 to Lexington to take on the Kentucky Wildcats on December 13. For UK, the men are ranked 25th in the preseason poll. The next week the divers head to The Plains to show off their skills at the Auburn Diving Invitational from December 18-21. UT will follow up that trip with the Georgia Diving Invitational on January 3-5.

The Big Orange will then charge into a Crimson and White-filled Tuscaloosa, as the Vols and Lady Vols challenge Alabama on January 11. Bama's men and women are both ranked within the top 25 starting the season with the men coming in at 17th and the women at 23rd. This will be the first time the Vols and Lady Vols have competed at UA since 2016.

After several meets on the road, Tennessee finally competes back in its home sweet home on Rocky Top. Arkansas will be the first SEC rivalry UT will host at home on January 16, as the Lady Vols and the Razorbacks face off head to head. In the penultimate meet of the regular season, UT hosts Georgia for the final home SEC face-off and senior day on January 25. The Bulldog's men are ranked within the top 10 at eighth while their women fall just outside at 13th.

Rounding out the regular season, a two-day matchup will occur against Duke in Durham, North Carolina. This will be the first competition between the SEC and ACC schools since 2022. For Duke, the women secured their spot at 15th in the top 25. This meet will be held on January 31 through February 1 and will get the Vols and Lady Vols prepped and ready for the postseason.

SEC Championships this year will be held in Athens, Georgia, from February 18-22. In the 2024 Championship, Tennessee brought home a combined 28 medals, including eight gold.

UT will host a Last Chance Meet on February 28 and March 1 for anyone trying to secure a spot at NCAAs. The divers head back to Auburn for the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships on March 9-12 to try and secure their spots at the national meet.

The NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships will be March 19-22 with the men's championship quickly to follow being held from March 26-29. Both competitions will be held at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way, Washington.

The Big Orange is coming off a successful 2023-24 campaign that saw Tennessee post the best collective finish in program history so it is only fitting that both teams are ranked within the top 10 to begin this season. The Lady Vols open the year at fifth overall making the highest preseason start for the women since at least 2015. On the men's side, the Vols are ranked inside the top 10 for a second straight year, coming in at ninth. It's the first time they've achieved that feat since at least 2016.

The Vols (6th) and Lady Vols (4th) both finished inside the top six nationally in the same season for the first time in program history in 2023-24—just one year after leading both teams to top 10 finishes at NCAAs for the first time ever. It marked the second-best NCAA finish for the women's team ever and the highest finish by the men's team since 2001. Tennessee brought home a combined five silver and three bronze medals from the NCAA Championships. During SECs, the Big Orange earned conference titles in eight events between both programs.

The men's roster boasts five Paris Olympians, highlighted by 2023 National Champion Jordan Crooks. During his first three seasons on Rocky Top, the Cayman Islands native won an NCAA title in the 50 free and owns 21 SEC medals, including six gold. He's garnered All-America recognition in 18 events, and he owns the program record in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly.

Crooks leads a loaded sprint freestyle group for the Vols that also includes Gui Caribe and transfer Lamar Taylor. Both also competed at the Summer Games this year. Caribe is the reigning silver medalist in the 100 free at the NCAA Championships and owns the second-fastest time in program history in the 50 and 100 free. Taylor was a six-time NCAA Division II National Champion at Henderson State. He won individual national titles in the 50 free, 100 free (twice) and 100 back.

Rounding out the top performers for the Big Orange, Martin Espernberger finished sixth overall in the 200 fly at the Olympic Games. He's the reigning SEC Champion in the event and owns the program record in it as well.

For the women, UT brought in the No. 4 ranked recruiting class, which is already making waves in the swimming world as freshmen Jillian Crooks and Ella Jansen competed at the Paris Games this summer. That's in addition to the veteran Lady Vols roster that returns Brooklyn Douthwright, Josephine Fuller, Mona McSharry and Camille Spink. In total, the women boast seven Olympians on their roster.

Douthwright owns eight SEC medals in addition to being a champion in the 200 free and 400 medley relay during her time on Rocky Top. Fuller led the Lady Vols at the NCAA Championships last year, earning seven All-American certificates. She finished inside the top five in all three of her individual events, including winning the bronze in the 200 IM.

McSharry is back for a fifth year after adding her name to the Irish history books. She won a bronze medal in the 100 breast at the Paris Games, making her just the second Irish swimmer ever to medal at the Summer Games and the first to do so in a breaststroke event. She's the reigning NCAA silver medalist in both breaststrokes, and she's finished fourth or better in seven of her eight events at the national meet.

For Spink, she earned three gold medals and four silver at the SEC Championships as a freshman, winning the 50 and 100 free. During her NCAA Championships debut, she won a silver medal on the 800 free relay and bronze on the 400 medley relay.

For the most up-to-date information about the program, follow Tennessee swimming and diving on Instagram and Twitter and like us on Facebook.

2024-25 Swimming & Diving Schedule
Oct. 24 // at Louisville // Louisville, Ky.
Nov. 19-22 // Tennessee Invitational // Knoxville, Tenn.
Dec. 13 // at Kentucky // Lexington, Ky.
Dec. 18-21 // Auburn Diving Invitational // Auburn, Ala.
Jan. 3-5 // Georgia Diving Invitational // Athens, Ga.
Jan. 11 // at Alabama // Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Jan. 16 // Arkansas (Women Only) // Knoxville, Tenn.
Jan. 25 // Georgia (Senior Day) // Knoxville, Tenn.
Jan. 31-Feb. 1 // at Duke // Durham N.C.
Feb. 18-22 // SEC Championships // Athens, Ga.
Feb. 28-March 1 // Last Chance Meet // Knoxville, Tenn.
March 9-12 // NCAA Zone B Diving Championships // Auburn, Ala.
March 19-22 // NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships // Federal Way, Wash.
March 26-29 // NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships // Federal Way, Wash.

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Gui Caribe

Jillian Crooks

Jordan Crooks

Brooklyn Douthwright

Martin Espernberger

Josephine Fuller

Ella Jansen

Mona McSharry

Camille Spink

Lamar Taylor

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