TENNESSEE INVITE
- November 18-20, 2021
- Knoxville, TN
- SCY
- Invite Format
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
University of Virginia sophomore Matthew Brownstead returned to Knoxville on Saturday morning at the Tennessee Invite, where he swam a time trial of 19.27 in the 50 free.
That time should be enough to ensure his invite in individual races to the NCAA Championship meet in March.
Brownstead missed the first two days of the meet for Virginia, He returned home to be with his sick grandather, but returned to the team on Saturday morning.
He didn’t swim any official scored races, but Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo confirmed that he will be part of the team’s 400 free relay on Saturday evening.
Virginia’s relays haven’t been great at this meet. They didn’t swim the 800 free relay (keeping in their tradition to not swim the race until the ACC Championships), and their “A” 200 medley relay was disqualified on Friday for an early start by anchor Matt King.
On Thursday, their “A” relay swam 3:08.21, which wasn’t an NCAA qualifying standard of any flavor, and their Brownstead-less 200 free relay won in 1:17.67, which is a provisional standard.
While the Cavaliers won’t win the meet, they can finish on a high note with a full-strength 400 free relay on Saturday evening.
Last season, as a freshman, Brownstead had one of the fastest freshman sprint seasons in college history. He was the ACC Champion in the 50 free in 18.88 and 100 free in 41.87. He’s joined at Virginia this season by Matt King, a sophomore transfer from Alabama who also had one of the best sprint seasons in NCAA history, giving Virginia one of the better sprint groups in the country this season.