Tennessee men hold off LSU, 166-134

The University of Tennessee swimming and diving team won its season opener 166-134 over Louisiana State Friday in Baton Rouge, La. With the win, the Vols improve to 8-0 all time against LSU.
 
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead with victories in the 200 medley relay and 1000 freestyle. The relay team of sophomore Ricky Henahan, junior Brad Craig, junior Michael DeRocco and freshman Herbie Behm placed second in the medley relay at 1:30.61. Co-captain Geoff Sanders led the Vols in the 1000 freestyle in third (9:33.11). Juniors Carl Jones (9:40.87) and Scott Friderichs (9:51.93) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
 
The Big Orange then raced back with wins in the next three events.
 
In his very first event as a Tennessee Volunteer, redshirt freshman Ryan Harrison narrowly defeated teammate Michael Christy (1:40.54) to win the 200 freestyle with a 1:40.13 mark. Junior Chris Winchell finished third (1:41.99)
 
Henahan won the 100 backstroke at 49.48 while sophomore Anders Storvik placed third (50.80).
 
Craig won the 100 breaststroke at 56.35. Sophomore Jake Epperson finished third (57.36) and junior Mattias Kahlin placed fourth (57.85).
 
Junior Patrick Beasley grabbed third place in the 200 butterfly (1:53.96), while Sanders placed fourth (1:54.09) and freshman Seth Wensel finished seventh (2:00.05).
 
The Vols had a strong performance in the 50 freestyle with three scorers. DeRocco placed second (20.92) while freshmen Behm (21.21) and Ed Walsh (21.28) placed second and third.
 
Coming off a sterling freshman campaign, Ryan Helms claimed the one- and three-meter diving events. Helms scored 312.00 on the one-meter with co-captain Michael Muscari in third at 301.20 and freshman Jordan Mauney in fourth with a 288.15 mark. On the three-meter, Helms scored an impressive 397.57, less than seven points off his career-best mark. Muscari again placed third (315.30) and Mauney took fifth (300.08).
 
After winning in his first collegiate event, Harrison led the Vols in the 100 freestyle, finishing third (46.45). Walsh (46.61) and Behm (47.90) placed fourth and fifth respectively.
 
Storvik won the 200 backstroke for the Big Orange at 1:50.15. Christy (1:52.38) and Winchell (1:53.71) scored in third and fifth place, respectively.
Winning his second event of the day, Craig took first in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:03.40 time. Epperson took second place with a 2:05.71 mark and Kahlin finished fifth at 2:10.37.
 
Sanders took second in the 500 freestyle (4:34.79) with support from Jones in fourth (4:44.53) and Friderichs in sixth (4:53.32).
 
DeRocco earned his first win of the season in the 100 butterfly with a 49.36 time. Freshman Giles Smith placed third at 50.49 and Henahan finished sixth at 51.41.
 
The school-record holder in the 200 individual medley, Christy took first in the event with a 1:52.53 time. Craig took second (1:52.82) and Epperson finished fourth (1:56.56).
 
Tennessee took second in the final event—the 400 freestyle relay. The relay team of Smith, DeRocco, Harrison and Storvik swam a 3:05.62 and scored four final points for the Vols.
 
With the win the Vols improve to 1-0 overall and in Southeastern Conference play. The Big Orange will travel to Louisville, Ky. to take on the Louisville Cardinals Friday Oct. 23.



LSU’s highly-touted freshman swimmers Andrei Tuomola and Craig Hamilton enjoyed a stellar start to their collegiate careers with two wins apiece against Tennessee Friday in the LSU Natatorium, but the Volunteers emerged victorious, 166-134.

The LSU women will take on the Lady Volunteers Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT) in the LSU Natatorium. The Tigers (0-1, 0-1 SEC) will return to action in a week when they welcome the defending national champions of Auburn to Baton Rouge on Oct. 23.

“Coming in, we knew we would be going toe-to-toe with a quality SEC opponent,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “It certainly lived up to what we thought it would be. It was a boxing match. We won an event or two, and then, they came back and won an event, so it kind of went back and forth.

“Our guys hung tough. We had some really quality races for this early in the season. A few races could have gone either way, and we came out on the short end of a few of them, but who knows? The score could have been closer than it was. I give credit to Tennessee. They’re a solid and well-coached team, and they came in here on the road and got the victory.”

Tuomola, Finland’s national record-holder in 50-meter freestyle, claimed wins in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races and played a major role in relay competition. The freshman swam to victorious times of 20.62 and 45.16 seconds in the 50 and 100 free, respectively, and also spearheaded the team’s 400 free relay team to a first-place finish with a lead-off split of 45.14.

Hamilton swept the middle- and long-distance freestyle races with wins in the 500 and 1000 free. The Edinburgh, Scotland, native took the 1000 free in an impressive clocking of 9:23.19, the fifth-fastest time in program history, and reached the wall first in the 500 free in 4:34.15.

The Tigers opened the meet on a strong note, seizing victories in the first two races. The 200 medley relay foursome of James Meyers, Tuomola, Hannes Heyl and Sean LeNeave captured the victory with a time of 1:29.92. Hamilton followed with the win in the 1000 free.

LSU’s 200-butterfly combo of LeNeave and Martin Jungfleisch gave the Tigers a boost with a 1-2 finish in that race. LeNeave secured the win with a mark of 1:51.57, and Jungfleisch came in second with a 1:52.45 clocking.

In diving, sophomores Matt Vieke and Brian Gemberling each finished with runner-up honors in springboard competition. Vieke tallied 319.88 points in the three-meter to earn second, while Gemberling posted a score of 305.99 in the one-meter to come away with second-place in that event. Freshman Jesse Lyman recorded scores of 242.02 and 247.73 in the one- and three-meter, respectively.

The Tigers also received solid efforts from junior Luis Gonzalez, freshman Nick Kunkel and Heyl. Gonzalez placed second in the 1000 free with a mark of 9:29.69, and Kunkel finished second in the 200 backstroke (1:51.97). Heyl registered runner-up finishes in both the 100 fly (49.79) and 100 back (49.54).