Tennessee Women Win 2nd SEC Title in 3 Years, Highest Score in Program History

by Spencer Penland 7

February 19th, 2022 College, News, Previews & Recaps, SEC

2022 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Final Women’s Team Standings:

  1. Tennessee: 1313.5
  2. Kentucky: 1043
  3. Alabama: 1038
  4. Georgia: 986
  5. Florida: 905
  6. Texas A&M: 625
  7. Auburn: 584
  8. LSU: 541
  9. Missouri: 485.5
  10. South Carolina: 460
  11. Arkansas: 397
  12. Vanderbilt: 123

After Kentucky broke through and won their first women’s SEC title in program history last year, it seemed as though women’s SECs would be highly contested this year. That was not the case, not even close. The Vols took control of this meet almost immediately, and it became evident early on that Tennessee would reclaim the SEC title at their home pool.

Tennessee racked up 1313.5 points to win the title, an astonishing improvement over last year, when the Vols took 5th place with 934 points. The performance also marks Tennessee’s highest score in program history, blowing the previous top score of 1108 points from the 2020 Championships out of the water.

In Tennessee’s press release following the conclusion of the meet tonight, they referred to this Tennessee team as the “deepest roster in program history,” and it’s really hard to argue with that. perhaps the most telling stat of these championships: all 22 members of Tennessee’s SEC roster qualified for at least one B final or better. That’s the sort of depth which is rarely seen at in a Power 5 conference.

Head Coach Matt Kredich spoke on the team’s victory, saying “This is an incredibly special and unique team with a number of different components.” He went on to say “Our depth on this team is historic and having the ability to do it does not always mean you are going to do it. I am so impressed with the fact that every person on this roster made a significant contribution in terms of points.

Outside of the pure depth Tennessee displayed this week, one of the most important factors in Tennessee’s win was the way their freshmen not only showed up and pulled through, but actually led the team in some ways.

Freshman Ellen Walshe became the 3rd woman in Tennessee program history to win 3 individual events in a single SEC Championships. Walshe was spectacular, pulling off an unusual double on Thursday. She won the 400 IM in 4:01.53, then turned around and won the very next women’s event, the 100 fly, in 50.34. her 400 IM time is currently the 2nd-fastest in the NCAA this season, and the 100 fly makes her the #3 performer nationally.

The Vols also picked up a win from freshman Julia Mrozinski, who won the 500 free in 4:35.95, currently the 3rd-fastest time in the NCAA this season.

Although Kredich’s crew only won one relay this year, the 800 free, they finished 2nd in every other relay. Additionally, the Vols were well under the NCAA ‘A’ cuts in all 5 relays.

Vols Event Winners:

Tennessee SEC Champs Roster

 

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Soapy
2 years ago

If Oklahoma were in the SEC right now this’d be a completely different headline!!!

SEC
2 years ago

Pretty impressive the amount of scorers they have and how young they all were

Swammer2013
2 years ago

Roll tide!!

Go95Vols
2 years ago

Congrats to the Vols.

Lars and his staff at UK deserve a lot of credit too. Over the last six years, the Cats have emerged as a top tier program in the SEC

Last 6 SECs
2017 UK 3rd UT 4th
2018 UK 4th UT 3rd
2019 UK 3rd UT 4th
2020 UK 3rd UT 1st
2021 UK 1st UT 5th
2022 UK 2nd UT 1st

Congrats to Coach Kredich and the Lady Vols and also to alum Lars and the Cats for following up their first championship with a runner up finish. Good luck at NCAAs.

kazoo
2 years ago

Impressive performance across the board–and this Vol team is young.

brosto1
2 years ago

What a team, 15 girls scored 40 or more!

VFL
2 years ago

Way to go Lady Vols!!! Incredible performance. Future is bright in Knoxville.