Brown’s Triple Leads Tennessee Women to Decisive Victory Over Louisville

Louisville vs. Tennessee

• Thursday, October 24, 2019
• Ralph Wright Natatorium, Louisville, KY
• SCY
• Dual Meet Format
• Live Results
• Score: Tennessee 172.5, Louisville 127.5

The #6 Tennessee women have been rolling so far this season. After opening up the season with wins at UNCW and South Carolina, they beat #3 Virginia after both team pulled out of a tri-meet with Michigan due to water qualify concerns. They kept the win streak going today, taking down Louisville by 45 points.

The Lady Vols got the first win of the day with a 1:39.41 victory in the 200 medley relay, beating Louisville (1:41.20) by almost two seconds. There seems to have been some touchpad issues, as only Louisville’s ‘A’ team had full splits.

The first individual race, the 1000 free, was a much closer affair. Tennessee’s Amanda Nunan was the early leader, but Louisville’s Maria Sumida passed her around the halfway mark. Nunan regained the lead with a 29.81 2nd-to-last lap, prompting a frenetic race to the finish. Sumida surged pass Nunan once again with a 28.04 final lap to Nunan’s 28.62, just touching her out, 9:57.81 to 9:57.88.

Tennessee earned its first inidivudal win with Meghan Small’s 1:48.59 victory in the 200 free. Teammate Trude Rothrock touched 2nd (1:48.99), giving the Lad Vols big 1-2 points early on.

Erika Brown normally sticks to the sprint free and fly, but she showed off her backstroke progress today as well, winning the 100 back by over two seconds in 53.03, good for a NCAA ‘B’ cut.

It was another super close race in the 100 breast, where Louisville’s Morgan Friesen held off Tennessee’s Alexis Yager and fellow Cardinal Kaylee Wheeler. Friesen touched in 1:02.64, with both Yager and Wheeler less than a fingernail length behind at 1:02.66 each.

All-American Grace Oglesby won her signature event, the 200 fly, with a time of 1:58.92, followed by Louisville teammate Alena Kraus in 1:59.61.

You’d normally expect to see Brown swimming the 50 free, but the Volunteers won it despite Brown’s absence, with Bailey Grinter earning a NCAA ‘B’ cut with her winning time of 22.59.

Roughly ten points separated the two teams at the first break, but the Lady Vols hit the accelerator from there and won every race from there on out.

Brown did swim the 100 free right after the break, and sure enough, she won, touching first in 48.86. Brown currently holds the top time in the nation with a 48.17 from last week’s Tennessee-Virginia dual.

Kaitlin Harty, who just transferred to Tennessee after two years at Texas, was the only woman under 2:00 in the 200 back, winning by over two seconds with a time of 1:58.55.

Meghan Small normally focuses on backstroke and IM in dual meets, but she jumped into the 200 breast today and got the win with a 2:12.89. Louisville’s Morgan Friesen was 2nd in 2:13.32, with both women under the NCAA ‘B’ cut

It was a great day for distance racing, if you like close races. Once again Sumida battled it out with a Lady Vol to a close finish, but this time she came out on the  wrong end of that battle, getting touched out by Tennessee’s Alexis Yager, 4:53.16 to 4:53.28.

Next, Brown earned her 3rd win of the day with her signature 100 fly, wining in 52.59. She holds the fastest official time this season with a 51.12 from last week’s meet.

Tess Cieplucha kept the streak going with a 2:00.30 in the 200 IM, and Tennessee wrapped things up with a 3:19.88 victory in the 400 free relay despite not even using Brown.