Lady Vols Rally in Relay to Tie No. 7 Auburn

Friday, November 14

Knoxville, Tenn.

3:00 PM

University of Tennessee

Louisville & Auburn

November 14, 2014 | Swimming & Diving

Results | Photo Gallery

Nov. 14, 2014

Inside Diving

Mauricio Robles started slow in the first round, but bounced back nicely, including diving a competition-high 73.10 in the final round to pull out a crucial victory for the Vols. Robles' dive scores increased throughout the competition to finish with a 360.85 to earn his second win of the season and first since UNCW. Michael Howell's 278.40 earned him fifth place as he increased his score from the last home meet.

Robles jumped out to a blistering start in the 3-meter event where he scored in the 70s in five of the six rounds. After falling short on his third round dive, the Monterrey, Mexico, native fought back to cut into Auburn's Fraser McKean's lead, ultimately scoring a 406.05--his second second-place result of the fall season and the second time he has broken 400 already.

"(The meet) was valuable because we've taken some of the lessons that we've been learning," said Head Diving Coach Dave Parrington. "Mau is Mau. He gets up and battles. He's a warrior, going against a really good diver from Auburn. (Diving during the breaks) lets them know what they have to do. The value was that I saw what I wanted to see and that helps more than anything else."

After struggling in her last home meet against Indiana and Kentucky, Samantha Lera provided a more consistent outing, diving strong in the final rounds to pull out a second place result in the three-meter competition. The Texas junior continued her consistent diving in the one-meter, where she jumped ahead in the early rounds and cruised to a 289.80 score, a season high and her first victory of the season.

"Samantha had a really rough last meet," said Parrington. "To see her win the one-meter (and) then come through in the final dive in the three-meter was huge. She's got to take that now and build on it, but it was a really big step in her career."

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--It all came down to the final relay and the Tennessee women's swimming and diving team came through for a spectacular ending Friday in a double dual meet against Auburn and Louisville.

Having trailed AU for most of the meet, the No. 14 UT women took first and third in the 200-yard freestyle relay to tie No. 7 Auburn 150-150 and defeat No. 18 Louisville 166-134 at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.

The No. 14 UT men lost 167.5-130.5 to No. 5 Louisville and 157-143 to No. 11 Auburn.

"It felt like in the beginning of the meet, we were 60 or 70 percent there," said Head Coach Matt Kredich. "We lost some close races and didn't feel like we were executing at a really intense desire to win. As the meet went on, I thought we really came into our own as a team of competitors. We got a lot of big contributions from people that hadn't seen themselves as key figures before. There were a lot of inspired performances, especially after the first half of the meet."

Senior Molly Hannis swept the two breaststroke for the fourth time this fall, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1 minute, 0.31 seconds and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:10.23 seconds. She also swam the second leg of the winning relay team in the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet, as well as earning second in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:02.19 seconds.

The UT distance squad led the men's team, with redshirt freshmen Evan Pinion (9:12.52) and David Heron (9:13.01) earning -cut times, as well as a 1-2 sweep of the 1000-yard freestyle. The two paired up with freshman Sam McHugh to earn a 1-2-3 sweep in the 500-yard freestyle. McHugh won the event in 4:26.73 (a career-best time), with Heron (4:28.38) and Pinion (4:29.62) finishing in second and third place respectively.

Tennessee will head back to Chapel Hill, N.C., next week, where they will compete in the 2014 Nike Cup, along with hosts UNC, Duke, NC State, Old Dominion, Notre Dame, Navy, Air Force and East Carolina, in what will be the last team meet until they hit the road in January.

"Next week will be the most competitive meet that we've had so far," said Kredich. "UNC beat us pretty good on both sides a month ago, but I think we're a different team. There is some great swimming and when you put all those teams together, it's going to be a very competitive environment. What we're looking for is to be held to a higher standard in the way we execute our races and the way we compete to win. The goal is to apply a lot of the things we've learned and worked on in practice and further out identity as great competitors. There's a lot I think we can learn and certainly a lot we can accomplish."

INSIDE THE WOMEN'S RACES

Tennessee won six of the 16 events on the afternoon, but utilized several key finishes to earn valuable points throughout the meet.

The women jumped out to yet another quick start after the 200-yard medley relay, thanks to a 1:38.94 time from the winning relay team of Hahn, Molly Hannis, Bruens and Johnson to open the swimming portion of the double dual meet. Hannis continued her fantastic afternoon, winning the 100-yard (1:00.31) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.28), before winning her heat to earn second place in the 200-yard IM (2:02.19). Amanda Carner (2:03.04) earned fourth place and Anna DeMonte (2:03.60) placed fifth to give the Lady Vols some valuable points down the stretch.

"Probably the defining moment of our season was when Molly Hannis basically demanded to be put into the 200 IM," said Kredich. "It's not an event that she's really enjoyed before, but she wanted to be in there and felt like she could swim fast enough to give us significant points in our battle with Auburn. That just sets a really powerful example for the rest of the team."

Fellow veteran Johnson also had a solid afternoon, clocking in at a season-high 22.73 to win the 50-yard freestyle--the fourth time she has done so this season so far. Johnson also earned valuable points for the team score by earning second place in the 100-yard freestyle (49.52), also qualifying as a season-best time.

Even though Auburn and Louisville won more overall events, the overall Lady Vol depth proved crucial to the UT success. Both Griffith (1:49.80) and Camryne Morris (1:50.30) earned third and fourth place respectively in the 200-yard freestyle, while Griffith also earned fourth place in the 200-yard butterfly with a season-best 2:00.36.

Heading into the final event of the meet, Tennessee needed first and third place in order to tie their SEC rivals. After falling behind early in the race, UT's A relay team of Alex Cleveland, Bruens, Cherelle Thompson and Johnson finished with a 1:30.02 time, thanks in part to a 21.75 split from Johnson in the anchor leg, a new career-best time.

Tennessee earned the much-needed third place when the B relay team of Micah Bohon, Griffith, Amy Lubawy and Hahn finished in 1:33.85 behind career-best splits from Lubawy (23.36), Bohon (23.45) and Hahn (23.26).

INSIDE THE MEN'S RACES

Tennessee won three events against AU and UL. While Mauricio Robles took control of his two competitions in the diving well, several swimming Vols turned in some quality times to keep Tennessee in the mix the entire afternoon.

Once again, Tennessee's distance corps earned several victories during the meet, led off by Evan Pinion (9:12.52) and David Heron's (9:13.51) 1-2 finish in the 1000-yard freestyle. Pinion's time set a new career-best for the Knoxville native, while Heron came close to breaking his best time set at UNCW.

"I thought our men raced very well," said Kredich. "We're getting contributions from a lot of different people and that's really important too. We've leaned really heavily on Sean Lehane in the past. In the past, when one of our best swimmers has faltered, the team is sent reeling and this time, it didn't happen. We've got a lot of people who have a really strong competitive instinct who love to race. When I take a step back and look at the depth of competitiveness on our men's team, I feel really good."

The duo once again factored in a Vol result, this time in the 500-yard freestyle, won by freshman Sam McHugh, who broke double-digits in wins this season already. McHugh took first place in the event (4:26.73), with Heron (4:28.38) and Pinion (4:29.62) taking the next two spots to give UT the sweep.

McHugh earned his second second-place finish of his career in the 200-yard IM, but added another victory in grand fashion. His 1:45.82 time in the 200-yard butterfly not only set a new career-best time in the event, but also placed him in seventh in Tennessee history, just .60 seconds behind Tristan Slater, who currently holds the fourth-fastest time in UT history.

The third UT victory came in the 100-yard breaststroke, when freshman Peter John Stevens edged out Louisville's Thomas Dahlia by .03 seconds to earn the win in 54.22. Friday marked the fourth time that Stevens has won the event, as well as the fourth time he has broken his previous career-best time.