Tennessee Men Have 6 Seniors Returning for 5th Year in 2022

The Men’s SEC Runner-Ups Tennessee will have six seniors returning for a fifth year next year. The Tennessee women recently announced they will have three seniors returning as well.

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The Tennessee men had 172.5 points scored by seniors at the 2022 SEC Championships. This was the largest by any SEC team. The Tennessee men scored a total of 938 points to tie with Alabama for second place.

SEC Points
Matthew Wade 32
Lyubomir Epitropov Did not attend
Mike Houlie 32.5
Aleksey Tarasenko 52.5
Jarel Dillard 50
Luke Brice 16

Diver Matthew Wade qualified for NCAAs in each of his years at Tennessee. This past year, he scored 32 points at SECs and went on to NCAAs where he finished 13th in the 3 meter with a score of 377.70.

Lyubomir Epitropov did not compete for Tennessee at SECs but did compete for the Vols at NCAAs where he swam in prelims of the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Epitropov arrived at Tennessee two years ago after spending two years at East Carolina. He represented Bulgaria at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Michael Houlie was the team’s ninth highest scorer at SECs as he scored 32.5 points. There he finished fourth in the 100 breast (52.03) and 18th in the 200 breast (1:55.60). He went onto compete in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at NCAAs. He also swam on the Vols 200 medley relay that finished 17th.

Aleksey Tarasenko arrived at Tennessee after Iowa cut their men’s program and was listed as a redshirt junior this past season. Tarasenko was a huge contributor at SECs scoring 52.5 points which was the fourth most on the team. He finished seventh in the 100 free (42.86), 10th in the 50 free (19.47), and 14th in the 200 free (1:34.37). He also anchored their 200, 400, and 800 freestyle relays.

Jarel Dillard scored 50 points at SECs which was the fifth most of the team. He finished second in the 100 breast (51.23) and eight in the 200 breast (1:55.48). He went onto swimming NCAAs where he earned All-American honors in the 100 breaststroke as he finished eighth in a time of 52.00.

Luke Brice scored 16 points for the Vols at SECs. He finished 11th in the 100 fly with a time of 46.34. His 100 fly best time of 46.29 is tied for ninth in school history.

After finishing second at SECs, the Vols went on to finishing 18th at NCAAs scoring a total of 73 points.

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About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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