Kate Douglass’s 1:51.89 200 IM Highlights Tennessee Invite Day 1 Prelims

Tennessee Invite (Double Dual)

• Thursday, November 19-Saturday, November 21, 2020
• Allen Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, Knoxville, TN
• SCY
• Double Dual format
• Results on Meet Mobile as “2020 UT Double Dual”
• Live Results
• Thursday Finals Live Stream

With only three teams present — Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia — Tennessee is billing this edition of the annual Tennessee Invite as a double dual, but we’ll go ahead and refer to it as the Tennessee Invite for consistency’s sake. While a three-team format may not have quite the same feel as larger traditional invites, we saw plenty of fast times at the invites that started yesterday, and from this morning’s results, we should be in for the same here.

Format note: we’ve been told that only the top 8 can score, and teams can’t put more than 3 swimmers into the final, so keep that in mind as we talk about this morning’s performances.

The meet got started with the women’s 500 free, where Alabama’s Kensey McMahon led the field with a 4:42.04. UVA’s Paige Madden had the 2nd-fastest time of the morning with a 4:43.33, followed by Amanda Nunan of Tennessee with 4:43.97. All told Tennessee  took with four of the top eight spots here, with UVA taking three, and Alabama one.

Arguably the most impressive swim of the morning came from UVA sophomore Kate Douglass. She led a UVA 1-3 sweep of the top three spots with her time of 1:51.89. That’s almost within a half second of her lifetime best, and just over a second away from the fastest time swim ever, Ella Eastin’s 1:50.67. This morning’s swim was the 14th-fastest performance ever, and if Douglass can match or improve on that time tonight, she’ll join Eastin as the only woman to have gone under 1:52 on three occasions, according to USA Swimming’s rankings. Tennessee and UVA evenly split the top eight here, with each school getting four, as Cavaliers Ella Nelson (1:55.35) and Alex Walsh (1:55.37) finished behind Douglass. Tennessee Alexis Yager wasn’t too far behind the Cavs, and her time of 1:56.18 moves to #4 all-time for Tennessee.

The 50 free was smoking fast compared to the invites that started yesterday, as it took a 22.78 to make the top 8. Alabama’s Morgan Scott led with a 22.31, with Tennessee’s Mona McSharry 2nd at 22.38, and her teammate Megan Sichterman 3rd at 22.42. All told, the Volunteers took five of the top eight spots, with Alabama taking two and UVA one.

The Cavalier men kicked off the meet by sweeping the top three seeds in the 500 free, as well five of the top eight. Jack Walker led the way with his 4:20.81, almost nine seconds off of his lifetime best from the 2020 ACC Championships. Fellow UVA sophomores Jack Wright (4:21.24) and Daniel Gyenis (4:23.77) rounded out the top three, with Gyenis swimming a lifetime best by 0.65s.

Another UVA sophomore, Sean Conway, put up the top time of the morning in the 200 IM, with his 1:45.25 shaving 0.35s off of his lifetime best in the event. Tennessee’s Kayky Mota wasn’t too far behind at 1:45.84, followed by UVA’s Sam Schilling at 1:46.01, also a new lifetime best.

In the 50 free, UVA freshman Matt Brownstead came within 0.03s of the Cavaliers’ school record of 19.42. Brownstead’s lifetime best stands at 19.24, so watch for that record to fall tonight. Tennessee’s Scott Scanlon was just behind him at 19.48, followed by Alabama’s Matt King with his 19.54. That’s a big drop for Scanlon, who came into this morning with a lifetime best of 20.21, and moves him to #9 all-time among Tennessee swimmers. That’s also a new personal best for King, shaving nearly three-tenths off of his previous best of 19.83. Alabama took four of the top eight spots, and UVA and Tennessee each took two.

The action continues tonight, with finals of all of this morning’s events, plus timed finals of the 200 free and 400 medley relays.