Tennessee Swimming and Diving Sweeps Purdue

Erika Brown won the 200 free and 100 fly against Purdue. Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

The Tennessee swimming and diving program opened up its busy weekend with a sweep of Purdue Friday at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

Team Scores:

Men: Tennessee 193, Purdue 105
Women: Tennessee 185, Purdue 113

RESULTS

Tennessee Swimming and Diving Press Release

Senior Braga Verhage had a strong performance against Purdue, winning two individual events and helping to lead the 200 freestyle relay to victory to close out the meet.

“Braga’s whole year has been different,” associate head coach Lance Asti said. “He has been a real spark plug in training and he has really come alive over the last two months and is now seeing the results in competition. He’s always been a great competitor but now he is starting to put a really nice training background behind that competitive edge and he is coming along very well.”

The Perth, Australia native touched the wall first in the 50 free (20.25) and 100 butterfly (48.63) while swimming second in the 200 free relay, putting down a 19.81 split, helping to lead the relay team to a first place finish.

Verhage was a part of the 200 medley relay to begin the day, swimming leadoff and posting a split of 21.88.

“He has been more consistent, he is showing up to train day in and day out and that brings a snowball effect. He continues to get better in training,” Asti said. “He has a clear vision for himself and what he is looking for in practice and in race execution. I am really proud of him.”

Senior Nathan Murray and junior Josh Walsh stood out Friday, winning the 200 backstroke and 200 freestyle, respectively. Murray took the win in the 200 back, hitting the wall in 1:49.21 while Walsh earned his 200 free win with a time of 1:37.80.

“We swam well and competed exceptionally well,” Asti said. “We won the close races, that’s something we look for. Tennessee finishes are something we take pride in, no one beats us to the finish and I felt like we executed that really well today.”

On the women’s side, junior Bailey Grinter and senior Stanzi Moseley led the women as Grinter won two individual races while swimming with Moseley on the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay. The duo combined to bring home four wins for the Lady Vols.

Grinter turned in two strong swims in the 100 backstroke (54.25) and 100 free (50.29) and swam the leadoff leg on the 200 medley relay and was second into the water on the 200 free relay. The Edwardsville, Ill., native posted a split of 25.72 on the 200 medley and 22.34 in the 200 free.

“Bailey had a great day today,” Tennessee swimming and diving associate head coach Ashley Jahn said. “She continues to get better and better in practice, making little changes that she takes into the race and I am really happy with what she did today in both the relays and her individual events.”

In practice, Grinter has focused on where she can find speed, building up her tempo off of that.

“Bailey is a beautiful swimmer,” Jahn said. “She hangs onto a ton of water and I think finding that balance between hanging onto that water and finding a little bit more tempo, she is doing a great job.”

Moseley brought home both the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay, swimming anchor and posting splits of 22.87 and 23.26, respectively. The Bakersfield, Calif., native finished second in her two individual events, the 100 back (54.54) and 100 fly (54.42), placing behind teammates Grinter and Erika Brown.

“Stanzi had a great day today as well,” Jahn said. “I loved seeing her in the 100 back and 100 fly and then on the relays. One of the things we want from all of the swimmers is to be comfortable in any position and so, Stanzi loves anchoring. We have put her in some different positions so this is one of the first times she has anchored more recently and it was a good pace to have her today.”

The diving team faced its toughest competition of the season, going up against a talented Purdue squad. Sophomore Grace Cable placed second on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard with scores of 292.20 and 317.33.

“Grace was in a very close competition on the 1-meter, I believe Purdue’s diver knocked her off on her final dive,” diving coach Dave Parrington said. “It would have been nice to have gotten that win but she set a personal best on 1-meter which is always great to see.”

Will Hallam and Keegan Richardson turned in strong performances Friday as well with Hallam finishing second on the 1-meter (311.85) and third on 3-meter (360.15). Richardson came back from an ankle injury to place third and fourth on the one and three meter boards.

Richardson scored 300.15 on 1-meter, finishing third, and posted a score of 291.53 on 3-meter for a fourth place finish, while battling back from an ankle injury.

“It is difficult to come back so quickly, to stand on the end of the board and jump when you have an ankle injury is not easy,” Parrington said. “I have to say, he probably surprised me a little bit today. On 3-meter, one of the dives he just got off this morning before the meet. He showed his toughness and that’s what we want, Tennessee Tough. I am proud of him.”

Purdue Press Release

A springboard sweep by divers Emily Bretscher and Greg Duncan along with a pair of victories in the women’s breaststroke events highlighted Purdue swimming & diving’s dual meet at top-10 Tennessee on Friday.

Jinq En Phee, Sylvia Kobylak, Bretscher and Duncan accounted for the Boilermakers’ combined six event victories. Phee (100) and Kobylak (200) teamed up for the breaststroke sweep for the second-straight dual.

The No. 3 Tennessee women were victorious 185-113. On the men’s side, the 10th-ranked Volunteers won 193-105.

Bretscher and Duncan led the way as the Purdue divers had three of the top four finishers in both of the women’s events and finished 1-2 in men’s 3-meter. While accounting for a combined nine event victories early this season, Duncan (5) and Bretscher (4) are the primary reason why the Purdue divers have won all 10 events in which they’ve had an entry over the first three meets.

Both Boilermakers had to rally to complete their springboard sweeps, overcoming deficits in the sixth and final round of their second events. Duncan’s list-high score of 73.95 in the final round on 3-meter allowed him to overtake teammate Ben Bramley. Duncan was victorious on 1-meter by 54 points. He finished with list scores of 365.85 on 1-meter and 369.98 on 3-meter.

Tennessee’s Grace Cable and Bretscher were separated by only .15 tenths of a point entering the sixth and final round of the 1-meter event. Bretscher’s score of 54 in the find round was enough to complete a springboard sweep vs. Tennessee for the second year in a row. The junior is a Knoxville native and had the honor of competing in her hometown Friday. She finished with list scores of 295.65 on 1-meter and 345.38 on 3-meter. Maggie Merriman and Emily Meaney also finished among the top four in both events.

Victorious in the 100 breast (1:01.63) in a meet featuring the Volunteers for the second year in a row, Phee was one of 11 Boilermakers to account for a Purdue season-best time Friday. It was her third victory of the season in her premier event.

Meanwhile, Kobylak is proving she’s equally elite in the 200 breast (2:15.82). The freshman now has victories in the event against both nationally ranked Notre Dame and Tennessee over the last two weeks. She held off UT’s Nikol Popov and Emily Sykes in a race in which the first- and third-place finishers were separated by just .73 hundredths of a second.

Both 50 freestyle races and the men’s 200 free relay also produced very tight finishes. Jade Knueppel (23.53) and Ryan Hrosik (20.28) both accounted for Purdue season-best times. Knueppel was out touched by the Vols’ Megan Sichterman by a .01 hundredth of a second, while Hrosik was bested by Braga Verhage by just .03 hundredths. Tennessee won the men’s 200 free relay by .02 hundredths of a second. Hrosik, Nikola Bjelajac, Gabi Gomez Treig and Ryan Lawrence accounted for the Boilermakers’ season-best time of 1:21.30.

Freshman Mallory Jump was Purdue’s top finisher in three individual events – the 100 and 200 backstroke as well as the 100 butterfly – for the second meet in a row. Nathan Barsanti (100 and 200 fly), Keelan Hart (100 and 200 free) and Nick McDowell (500 and 1,000 free) joined Bretscher, Duncan and Jump as those to be their team’s top finishers in multiple individual events.

Natalie Myers (200 free, 200 back, 200 IM), Nick Sherman (100 free, 100 breast, 200 IM), Jack Smith (100 and 200 back, 100 fly) and Barsanti (100 and 200 fly, 200 IM) all registered personal season-best times in three individual events. Myers was Purdue’s top finisher in the 200 IM while also accounting for a team season-best mark. Smith did likewise in the 200 back.

McDowell swam the 1,000 free and 200 free back-to-back, with some women’s heats of the 200 free in between of course. He posted a Purdue season-best time of 9:09.68 in the 1,000 and then came back with a personal season best of 1:42.02 in the 200.

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Shawn

4 years ago

Tennessee’s Taylor Abbott won the 1000fr, 200fly, and 500fr in case you missed that…