Tennessee’s Pinion (Effectively) Qualifies for NCAA’s After Injury-Filled 2013-2014 Season

Thursday morning’s prelims session at the 2014 Nike Cup, hosted by the University of North Carolina’s Khoury Natatorium, was highlighted of the big collegiate coming out of Tennessee redshirt freshman Evan Pinion in the men’s 500 free. Among the power teams participating at this meet were Tennessee, the host Tar Heels, North Carolina state, the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, East Carolina, Old Dominion, and Duke.

Pinion missed the entire 2013-2014 season with a hip injury, but is back on track with the huge accolades he had coming into his college career. He swam a 4:16.36 in the men’s 500 free to take the top overall qualifying spot over teammate Sam McHugh (4:19.89). That time by Pinion is not an automatic NCAA qualifying standard, but based upon history should already stamp his ticket to Iowa City in March. That’s also his lifetime best by more than two seconds.

Also lurking in the A-Final of this race is Thomas Duvall of Navy, who was 7th at NCAA’s last year. He came in 6th in Thursday’s prelim with a 4;25.78.

Through prelims, Pinion’s was the swim of the day at the meet, and overall the better performances came from the men in the prelims session.

Other Prelims Results:

• In the women’s 500 free, Tennessee’s Mary Griffith took the top seed in 4:44.59 as part of a Volunteer qualifying 1-2-3 of her, Morgan Dickson (4:45.73), and Rachel Muller (4:46.45). Those three had about a three-second gap on the field in prelims, but the 5th-seeded Emma Nunn (4:50.47) of the home team was a 4:43 at this meet in finals last season, so the Volunteer swimmers can’t sleep on her in finals.
• In the women’s 200 IM, Tennessee again reigned with a 2:00.66 from Amanda Carner and a 2:01.42 from Lauren Driscoll for the top two seeds. Those two outswam the third qualifier Leah Goodman of Duke (2:01.51) on the breaststroke leg to make the difference. NC State’s Alexia Zevnik is the 4th seed in 2:02.21, and Bailie Monahan made some noise for East Carolina to take the 5th seed in 2:02.68.
• In the men’s 200 IM, Tennessee’s Tristan Slater took the top seed in 1:48.30, but this will be a tight final with the top 7 ranging just to 1:49.97. East Carolina’s Lithuanian senior Rokas Cepulis is the 2nd seed in 1:48.53 and Duke’s Bradley Cline is 3rd in 1:48.67. For Cepulis, that’s only eight-tenths away from his lifetime best in the event done at last year’s Conference USA Championship meet.
• In the women’s 50 free, Duke sophomore Maddie Rusch, fended off North Carolina State’s Riki Bonnema for the top seed 22.72-22.73. For Bonnema, thaough, that’s not yet as fast as she was a month ago at the team’s tri with Georgia Tech and Florida State. Faith Johnson from Tennessee is the 3rd seed in 22.88, and the NC State women’s sprint group seems to be falling in line with what their men’s team has done in years past with three of the top five seeds at the Nike Cup heading into finals.
• Defending ACC 100 free champion Simonas Bilis from NC State is the top qualifier in the men’s 50 free on Thursday, with a 20.00. He placed ahead of Tennessee’s Troy Tillman, who was a 20.03 for 2nd in prelims. Tillman could be the unsung hero for Tennessee this season if he improves his 50 this year like he did last year, and most importantly if he can do it at NCAA’s. Air Force’s Ryan Dunne is the 3rd seed in 20.31, followed by a three-way tie from Nikola Simic (20.34), Josh Romany (20.34), and Andreas Schiellerup (20.34). Of the top four finishers for NC State in this race, only freshman Ryan Held and David Williams (both in 20.38) were season bests in prelims. If Bilis doesn’t get close to his 19.78 from the team’s meet against Virginia last week, it will be telling of the Wolfpack’s plan to swim fast all year long rather than have a big peak and taper (not that it stopped them from swimming well at ACC’s and NCAA’s last year).