With the pandemic cutting down on traditional dual meets, the University of Tennessee is trying something different.
Senior captains were split onto four teams and drafted their own rosters from the Volunteers pool of swimmers and divers. Now, the four teams will compete in an ISL-style long course intrasquad meet on Saturday.
The teams have their own names – Tennessee Thunder, Coonskin Crushers, Smokey’s Bandits, and the Torch Bearers – and even their own logos. And the showdown is being dubbed the Tennessee Swim League (TSL) Long Course Championships.
As with an ISL meet, each team will get two side-by-side lanes for each event. The eight finishers will earn points in the ISL scoring format. And the meet will even feature a skins race, or the ISL-style, three-round elimination race with three minutes between rounds. The meet randomly selected butterfly as the stroke for the 50-meter skin race.
Teams
Featuring 2020 NCAA qualifiers Amanda Nunan, Brett Champlin, Michael Houlie, Grace Cable and Will Hallam, plus star freshman Mona McSharry.
Featuring 2020 NCAA qualifiers Mallory Beil, Kaitlyn Harty, Nikol Popov, Alexis Yager along with #3-ranked overall swimmer Seth Bailey.
Featuring 2020 NCAA qualifiers Kayky Mota and Ana Hernandez, plus standout freshmen Jake Narvid and Rafael Ponce de Leon.
Featuring 2020 NCAA qualifiers Bailey Grinter, Tjasa Pintar, Trude Rothrock and Matthew Wade, along with Canadian freshman diving standout Bryden Hattie.
Scoring Format
| Place | Individual | Relay | Skins Round 1 | Skins Round 2 | Skins Round 3 |
| 1 | 9 | 24 | 9 | 9 | 14 |
| 2 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 3 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 6 | |
| 4 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 5 | |
| 5 | 4 | 4 | |||
| 6 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 7 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 8 | 1 | 1 |
Meet Lineup
- Mixed 4×50 medley relay
- 400 IM
- 200 free
- 100 breast
- 200 fly
- 100 back
- 50 free
Break
- 100 free
- 200 back
- 200 breast
- 100 fly
Break
- 400 free
- 200 IM
- Skins
Break
- Mixed 4×50 free relay
Who ever made the thunders logo needs a raise
WE WANT SCOTT SCANLON
So glad they are copycatting an ISL format. Should be scintillating, exciting and bodacious to watch. Good that UT Coaches, Swimmers and Divers are thinking outside the NCAA box. Will spectators be allowed or will this event be broadcast? The Coonskin Crushers are the team to chase for sure…nobody messes with the raccoon; a smart, tough and hungry critter. Go girl and MAN VOLS! I am picking the girls to win SECs and the MEN to finish top 3. Good luck to all.
Torchbearers are stacked, not even close
Think this is year two for this right? GBO!
Yawn
This honestly seems like such a fun idea! Bringing the hype of the ISL to meet starved college teams is a great concept!
This looks very thought out. Even having team logos, wow! I’m sure that helps get the teams excited that so much energy went into creating this. So happy to see teams getting creative to give their athletes a great experience.