Kentucky Men Defeat Tennessee In A Dual Meet For First Time In 71 Years

Tennessee vs. Kentucky

• December 13, 2024
• Lancaster Aquatic Center — Lexington, KY
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Scores:
  • Women: #5 Tennessee, 200 def. NR Kentucky, 99
  • Men: HM Kentucky, 173 def. #7 Tennessee, 127
• Full Results

On Dec 13, the Kentucky men defeated the Tennessee Volunteers in a dual meet for the first time since 1953. The Volunteers were without some of their biggest stars, including Jordan Crooks and Gui Santos, who both won multiple medals this week in Budapest at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.

Tennessee missed their biggest stars as this meet ultimately came down to depth—the Wildcat men won ten events while the Volunteers took home six event wins. Tennessee earned the first event win of the day in the medley relay with Harrison Lierz (22.89), Kevin Houseman (24.12), Bjoern Kammann (20.94), and Michah Chambers (19.87) stopping the clock at 1:27.82, 1.26 seconds ahead of Kentucky’s ‘A’ squad.

The next events, the 1000 freestyle and 200 free are both events that Kentucky’s current roster favors, and indeed, the Wildcats took the wins in both. Distance ace Levi Sandidge won the 1000 free (9:00.50), leading a podium sweep for the Wildcats. Then, Carson Hick won his first of two events in the 200 free. Hick swam 1:37.03 as his teammate Max Berg held off a late charge from Kammann for second place, 1:38.12 to 1:38.33. Later, Hick picked up his second event win in the 500 free (4:23.16).

Tennessee responded with its own 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke, courtesy of Ben Bricca (48.73) and Lierz (48.81). This was one of the closes races of the meet, as Bricca, Lierz, and the third-place Devin Naoroz were separated by .13 seconds.

Kentucky breaststroker Jonathan Rom won the 100 breast, coming from behind on the second 50 to out-touch Houseman by two-hundredths. He completed the breaststroke sweep later in the meet, winning the 200 breast in 1:58.48.

Berg led a 1-2 finish for the Wildcats in the 50 freestyle (20.42), and Szymon Mieczkowski won the 200 backstroke (1:47.18). In the latter event, Kentucky swept the top four spots. Ryan Merani (200 IM, 1:46.75) and Gavin Hang (3-meter, 334.05) won Kentucky’s other individual events on the day, while Berg, Justin Peresse, Drew Johnson, and Hick put a stamp of authority on the day by winning the 400 free relay (2:55.99). Tennessee has the NCAA’s fastest time this season in the 400 freestyle relay (2:44.13).

Martin Espernberger was Tennessee’s double-event winner on the day. He swept the butterfly events, winning his signature 200 fly with a 1:44.23, then clocking 47.28 to win the 100. Kammann claimed the 100 freestyle in 44.23, while Nick Stone scored 356.85 points to win the 1-meter event.

The Tennessee women defeated the Wildcats handily. They won every event in the pool and swept the 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, and 400 free relay to rack up 200 points to the Wildcats’ 99 points.

Nine swimmers won individual events for the Volunteers. Josephine Fuller specializes in backstroke and IM but took on a different slate at this meet. Fuller led the Tennessee sweep in the 100 freestyle with a 49.73, then added another event win in the 100 butterfly (54.24) along with a third-place finish in the 200 butterfly (2:02.25). She raced some backstrokes at the meet, leading off the winning 200 medley relay with a 24.92.

She teamed up with McKenzie Siroky (26.88), Emily Brown (24.67), and Julia Burroughs (22.79) to win that relay with a final time of 1:39.26 as the other Tennessee 200 medley relays were disqualified for early take-offs. Siroky, Brown, and Burroughs all won individual events as well.

Siroky swept the breaststroke events, clocking 1:00.43 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:13.67 in the 200. Last month, Siroky swam lifetime bests at her first collegiate midseason invite, swimming 58.00/2:08.17 at the Tennessee Invitational. Her fellow freshman, Brown, owns the third-fastest non-converted 200 butterfly time in the NCAA this season. She won that event at this dual meet, touching the wall at 1:57.70 as the only swimmer in the field to break two minutes. Brown followed up with a second-place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:58.64) behind teammate Ella Jansen (1:57.44) and then was a member of the winning 400 freestyle relay. She led off in 51.32 ahead of Jansen (50.53), Sara Stotler (51.30), and Burroughs (50.08).

Burroughs flexed her freestyle range at this meet, winning the 50 freestyle in 23.23 and then taking second in the 500 freestyle (4:56.33) behind Kate McCarville (4:51.92).

The Tennessee women’s star sprinter Camille Spink took on the 100 backstroke/200 IM double, coming away with event wins in both. She won the 100 backstroke with a 54.02 and followed up with a 2:00.99 in the 200 IM.

Kentucky got its event wins on the boards. Avery Giese beat Maddie Reese on the one-meter board, 293.33 points to 276.08. The Wildcats swept the top three spots on three-meter, with Kristy Pfaff taking the top spot with 300.75 points.

Other Event Winners:

• 1000 freestyle: Lauren Wetherell, Tennessee — 10:07.21
• 200 freestyle: Brooklyn Douthwright, Tennessee — 1:49.44