Tennessee Invite Day 3 Finals: Brownstead, Douglass Set Records as UVA Sweeps

TENNESSEE INVITE (DOUBLE DUAL)

• Thursday, November 19-Saturday, November 21, 2020
• Allen Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, Knoxville, TN
• SCY
• Double Dual format
• 2021 NCAA Championships Qualifying Times
• Results on Meet Mobile as “2020 UT Double Dual”
• Live Results
• Full Results

Team Scores After Day 2:

Women

• UVA 163 – Alabama 89
• UVA 139 – Tennessee 117

Men

• UVA 120 – Alabama 137
• UVA 127 – Tennessee 127

Women’s Recap

Alabama’s Kensey McMahon got the evening started with a 15:54.06 win in the 1650. That appears to be the 3rd-fastest time of her career, and just over 10 seconds slower than her winning time from the 2020 SEC Championships. UVA’s Paige Madden came in 2nd with a 16:01.83. Today was only her 3rd time swimming the event college, as she only added it to her repertoire last season. In 3rd came UVA’s Maddie Donohoe, and her time of 16:08.05 is the 2nd-fastest time of her career.

Next, Alabama came out on top again as Rhyan White dominated with a 1:49.30 victory. Not only was that a NCAA ‘A’ cut, but that was nearly five seconds faster than the next finisher, teammate Morgan Liberto (1:54.03). Tennessee’s Olivia Harper rounded out the top three with a new personal best of 1:56.13.

Kate Douglass put a quick stop to Alabama’s winning streak. The UVA sophomore hit 47.10, not only lowering her lifetime best of 47.77, but also breaking the UVA school record of 47.46, set by Morgan Hill in 2018. Alabama’s Morgan Scott took 2nd in 48.15, once again setting a lifetime best after going 48.21 in prelims. Tennessee’s Trude Rothrock took 3rd in 48.54, just 0.03s over what it took to get a NCAA invite in this event last season.

Virginia rocked the 200 breast, posting the top 4 times of the day. With only 3 swimmers from each school allowed in the scoring heat in finals, freshman Alex Walsh was relegated to the un-scored “B final,” but she made the most of it, posting a 2:06.72 that garners her a NCAA ‘A’ cut and is her 4th-fastest time ever. In the scoring final, Ella Nelson touched first with a 2:07.19, followed by teammates Anna Keating (2:07.26) and Alexis Wenger (2:07.79), personal bests for both.

UVA freshman Abby Harter won the 200 fly in 1:53.73, lowering her personal best by nearly a second, with teammate Jessica Nava also clocking a personal best, 1:54.36. Alabama’s White took 3rd in 1:55.26.

The night ended with the 400 free relay, where the Cavaliers won by nearly three seconds. Douglass led off in 46.86, breaking her hour-old school record and moving up to tie Margo Geer for 14th all-time. Walsh (47.84), Lexi Cuomo (48.91) and Madden (47.82) followed Douglass as UVA led start-to-finish and won in 3:11.43. Tennessee took 2nd in 3:14.35, also a NCAA ‘A’ time, with the fastest split coming from anchor Tjasa Pintar at 47.99. Alabama finished 3rd in 3:15.20, getting a 47.86 split on the 2nd leg from Flora Molnar.

Final Scores

UVA 235 – Alabama 147

UVA 219 – Tennessee 168

Tennessee 231 –  Alabama 158

Men’s Recap

UVA opened up the evening’s competition by sweeping the top three spots in the 1650. Jack Walker led the way with a 15:13.81, followed by Daniel Gyenis, who took over four seconds off his lifetime best to touch in 15:16.27 and Matthew Otto in 15:18.21.

Just as on on the women’s side, the Alabama men took two of the top three spots in the 200 back. Sophomore Jake Marcum, who transferred from Indiana for this season, lowered his lifetime best for the second time today to take the win. He came in today with a PR of 1:42.80 from his senior year of high school, went 1:41.10 in prelims, then 1:40.48 here tonight to take the win. That time is over a second faster than what it took to get invited to last season’s NCAA Championships. Alabama freshman Chris O’Connor was due for a big drop in yards, considering he’s been 2:03 in LCM and only 1:49 in SCY, and sure enough, he hit 1:42 twice today, taking 3rd tonight in 1:42.23. UVA’s Justin Grender took 3rd in 1:41.98.

Back in March, Matt Brownstead broke the national high school record on the first day of the PIAA 3A Championships, then put up a 43.29 in the 100 free in the next morning’s prelims before the meet was cancelled before finals could happen. Brownstead’s probably been wondering just how fast he could go in the 8 months since then, and tonight he got his answer, as the UVA freshman broke the school record with a 42.03 to take the win. That breaks a Virginia school record of 42.21 that was set by Scot Robison back in 2010. Alabama’s Liam Bell, primarily known as a breaststroker, took 2nd in 42.81 before jumping right back in to take 5th in the 200 breast (1:55.81). UVA sophomore Jack Wright took 3rd in 43.20, his first new personal best in that event since he went 43.56 as a high school junior.

In the 200 breast, UVA senior Keefer Barnum parlayed a 29.22 third 50 into a 1:54.36 victory, holding off Tennessee’s Michael Houlie (1:54.77). That’s a lifetime best by over a second for Houlie.  Fellow Volunteer Brett Champlin took 3rd in 1:55.16, his 2nd-best time ever.

Tennessee senior Kayky Mota won the 200 IM on Thursday, then the 100 fly yesterday, and now he earned his third individual title in as many days with his 1:42.58 win in the 200 fly. That shaves 0.08s off of his lifetime best, and if we get to see SEC/NCAA Championships in a few months, he could very well challenge the Tennessee record of 1:41.78, which a certain Mel Stewart has held since 1991. UVA sophomore Josh Fong took 2nd in 1:43.76, setting a new lifetime best by nearly a second. It’s worth nothing that Fong’s time is almost identical to his brother Zach’s best time as of this point in his sophomore year, and Zach set the school record at 1:40.18 as a senior two seasons ago. All three top finishers scored new lifetime bests, as Tennessee freshman Jordan Tiffany clipped 0.26s off of his best time to go 1:43.96 here tonight. There was a wide gap between those three and everyone else, as no one else was under 1:46.

The team battle between Virginia and Alabama came down to the final relay. Once again, Brownstead and Matt King battled it out leading off for their teams. This time, King came out on top, 42.19 to 42.21, giving Alabama a narrow lead after the first leg. Alabama’s 2nd swimmer, Jonathan Berneburg, outsplit UVA’s Sam Schilling 42.66 to 42.95. August Lamb narrowed the gap on the 3rd leg with a 42.54 split to Kacper Piotrowski‘s 42.65, and Alabama held a 0.17s lead heading into the final leg. Anchor Jack Wright pulled ahead of Cam Auerbach on the second 25 and never looked back, out splitting Auberach 42.19 to 42.89 and giving UVA the win 2:49.84 to 2:50.42. Both schools finished under the NCAA automatic cut, and UVA set a new school record by 0.99s. Tennessee took 3rd in 2:53.51, with a 42.99 anchor leg by breaststroker Michael Houlie standing out.

Final Scores

UVA 189 – Alabama 182

UVA 206 – Tennessee 178

Tennessee 208 – Alabama 180