Tennessee men's swimming coach John Trembley couldn't have asked for better results from the No. 10 Vols heading into the Tennessee Invitational's final race on Saturday - the three-day meet's final day.
Tennessee, which entered the meet with a perfect 8-0 mark at the two-year-old Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, was leading Kentucky by eight points with only the 400-yard freestyle relay left.
Knowing the Vols needed a strong finish against Kentucky, Trembley decided to mix his two relay teams up, splitting his top swimmers .
It worked.
The Vols had a second- and third-place finish, just enough points to win the meet.
Kentucky's relay team of Tyler Reed, Kyle Greene, Warren Grobbelaar, and Alex Forbes won with a time of 2 minutes, 55.69 seconds. But thanks to Anders Storvik, Ryan Harrison, Mike DeRocco and Brad Craig finishing second in 2:57.98 and the Giles Smith, Jake Epperson, Ricky Henahan and Ed Walsh team finishing third, the Vols held off the Wildcats with 872.5 points. Kentucky was second with 868.5.
Alabama was third with 840 and Virginia Tech fourth with 598.
"The decision (to split the relay teams) at the end of the competition was a team decision," said Trembley.
Craig, who anchored UT's second-place relay team, said it didn't take much to get the team focused on the task at hand during a 20-minute break held prior to the final event.
"We had all the 'A' guys in the team room and we just turned up the music real loud and thought about what we had to do," Craig said. "Everybody was motivated. It felt like the last day of the SECs."
Trembley said the emotional victory could be the wakeup call for an inspired stretch-run to the end of the season.
"Coaches talk about turning points," said Trembley. "We've had a couple negative points to the season so far with a couple of injuries, and those are the wrong type of turning points. Today, by ending the meet on an upswing when we were challenged, we might have finally had that positive turning point that we needed.''
Saturday's gutsy effort also helped extend another important streak for the UT swimming program. Tennessee has not lost to Kentucky since 1959.
Meanwhile, the Lady Vols used another sterling effort from freshman Kelsey Floyd to finish third.
Kentucky won the team title with 837.5 points. Virginia Tech finished second with 799. The 13th-ranked Lady Vols finished with 790.5 and Alabama finished fourth with 752.
Floyd, who has been named the SEC's Female Swimming and Diving Freshman of the Week for the past two weeks, has a pretty good chance of making it three in a row after her performance this weekend.
Floyd provided the highlight of the day for the Lady Vols, taking first in the 200 backstroke in 1:58.12. Floyd's B-cut time provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA championships.
She also finished fourth in the 200 fly (2:02.08) and was on the second-place 400 free relay that earned a B-cut and finished in 3:23.43 with Michelle King, Jenny Connolly and Caitlin Perks.
Floyd's taking her first-year success and accolades in stride.
"It's pretty cool but I don't really think about it too much," she said. "It's definitely an honor but it's not really a goal in the grand scheme of things."
Lady Vols coach Matt Kredich says Floyd's ability to focus sets her apart from most freshmen. He'll be more of the same from her as the season progresses.
"Kelsey does a great job of preparing every week," said Kredich. "We're seen that from her all fall. We're not going to call her a freshman anymore. The adjustiing is over. She's actually a sophomore now. Now we think of her as a veteran."
King placed second in the 100 free in an NCAA B-cut time of 50.08.
Also, UT's Gabbi Trudeau finished third (263.05) on the platform and qualified her for the NCAA Zone B championships.
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