Urlando Breaks NCAA Record; Crooks Splits 17.66 in the 50 Free In Front of 1,215 Fans

Tennessee Volunteers vs. Georgia Bulldogs

• Saturday, January 25, 2025
• Allan Jones Aquatic Center, Knoxville, Tennessee
• Short Course Yards (25 yards), College Dual Meet
• Full Meet Results (PDF)
• Team Scores
  • Women: #5 Tennessee 209 def. #13 Georgia 91
  • Men: #9 Georgia 155 def. #7 Tennessee 144

A record-setting crowd of 1,215 in Knoxville, the largest crowd for a home dual meet in Tennessee history, were rewarded with electric performances on Saturday on senior day, with the host Tennessee and the visitors Georgia splitting the day.

The meet was the penultimate stop of the Kyle Sockwell collegiate dual meet tour.

The Tennessee women dominated 209-91, which marks their 6th-straight SEC dual meet win. They have won 54 out of 61 events over their last four meets against Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Kentucky, including 14 out of 16 on Saturday. That’s a sixth-straight win in the series for the Tennessee women.

The Georgia men, meanwhile, won their second-straight over Tennessee 155-144, thanks in part to a new American, NCAA, and U.S. Open Record in the 200 fly from Lucas Urlando.

Men’s Recap

Nearing the end of a meandering collegiate career that included a shoulder surgery, which cost him the 2022-2023 season, Georgia 5th year Luca Urlando is revving up for his senior NCAA Championship with the fastest-ever swim in the 200 yard fly.

Urlando swam 1:37.17, which broke Jack Conger‘s fastest-ever time of 1:37.35 from 2017 as the fastest swim in the history of the event.

• Read more about the record-setting swim here.

He also won the 100 fly in a nation-leading 43.62 and the 200 IM in 1:41.86. That 100 fly swim is a new school record and ranks him as the 4th-fastest in the history of the sport.

Top 5 All-Time, Men’s 100 Yard Fly

1. Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 42.80 (2018 NCAAs)
2. Josh Liendo, Florida – 43.07 (2024 NCAAs)
3. Youssef Ramadan, Virginia Tech – 43.15 (2023 NCAAs)
4. Luca Urlando, Georgia – 43.62 (2025 Dual Meet vs. Tennessee)
5. Andrei Minakov, Stanford – 43.71 (2022 NCAAs)

That 100 fly win was an important marker, as he was 1.6 seconds clear of the previous national leader Jordan Crooks of Tennessee. Crooks was 45.21 on Saturday and swam 43.77 at the mid-season Tennessee Invite.

While Urlando took the big head-to-head win over Crooks, the Volunteer sprint star had a highlight swim of his own, that would be the headline performance of almost any other dual meet in history.

Crooks anchored Tennessee’s winning 200 medley relay in 17.66. That’s the 4th-fastest 50 free relay split in history, and the fastest ever in a regular season meet:

Top 5 All-Time, Men’s 50 Free, Rolling Start Relay Split

The Tennessee relay of Lamar Taylor (21.16), Kevin Houseman (23.43), Gui Caribe (19.65), and Crooks (17.66) dominated that relay in 1:21.90 – more than two seconds ahead of Georgia. That included a split from Caribe that was three-tenths better than Urlando on Georgia’s relay.

The winning relay for Tennessee was only .19 seconds slower than their mid-season invite time.

Tennessee, home to one of the best sprint groups in the nation, book-ended the day with another dominant relay win – 2:46.77 in the 400 free relay. This time it was Taylor (42.65), Caribe (41.59), Nikoli Blackman (41.91), and Crooks (40.62) who combined for a 2:46.77. Georgia was 2nd in 2:52.06.

The Volunteers continued sprint dominance in the meet with an 18.44 win in the 50 free ahead of Caribe’s 19.16; Tennessee finished 1-2-3 in that race.

Caribe then won the 100 free to lead another 1-2-3 finish with a 42.16.

But it was in between, in the races 200 yards and longer, where Georgia made hay that led to the win. That included a 1-2-3 finish in the first individual event of the day, the 1000 free, for example, led by Jake Magahey (9:00.99).

Tomas Koski won the 200 free in 1:31.80, which is just .08 seconds shy of his mid-season lifetime best; and Ruard van Renen swept the backstrokes in 45.22 and 1:41.80 respectively.

Other Men’s Meet Highlights:

• Kevin Houseman, a transfer from Northwestern, won the 100 breaststroke in 52.76, which is his best time in Orange and white and moves him to 10th-best in school history.
• Tennessee’s Bennett Greene swept the diving events.

Women’s Recap

In the women’s meet, the Volunteers dominated, winning all but two events.

That included freshman McKenzie Siroky, an Olympic Trials finalist, stamping her name on the school history books.

After helping Tennessee to a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay, she swam a best time of 57.80 in the 100 breaststroke (the only swimmer under 1 minute) and 2:07.12 in the 200 breaststroke (winning by more than six-and-a-half seconds).

That time in the 100 ranks her 2nd in school history. It also tied school record holder Mona McSharry as the fastest time by a freshman in Tennessee history.

Top 5 All-Time, Tennessee History, Women’s 100 Breaststroke

1. Mona McSharry – 56.64 (2024)
2. McKenzie Siroky – 57.80 (2025)
3. Emelie Fast – 58.08 (2024)
4. Molly Hannis – 58.22 (2013/2014)
5. Nikol Popov – 58.24 (2019)

The top four swimmers on that list are all Olympians, with McSharry winning bronze in the 100 breaststroke in Paris last summer.

Her swim in the 200 breaststroke, the weaker of the two distances for her, moves her to 4th in program history.

That swim for Siroky was important with McSharry returning from a semester-long roadtrip and finishing third in just a 1:01.11, which is the slowest time of her collegiate career. Fast didn’t swim and was spotted on deck wearing an arm brace.

She wasn’t the only Tennessee swimmer to penetrate the school’s all-time top ten. In the 200 fly, freshman Ella Jansen finished 3rd in a best time of 1:54.55, which moves her to 8th in program history.

The Canadian is new to yards swimming, and her three best times this season are all from dual meets: 1:55.85 against Louisville in October, 1:54.86 against Alabama two weeks ago, and now the 1:54.55. She was only 1:56.16 at the team’s mid-season invite.

Teammates Sara Stotler (1:54.19) and fellow freshman Emily Brown (1:54.35) finished ahead of her in that race as part of a Volunteer point-max performance.

Jansen later won the 500 free in 4:39.06.

In the 100 back, Josephine Fuller won in 50.85, which is a season-best for her (51.06 at the Tennessee Invite). After Georgia’s Eboni McCarty finished 2nd in 52.27, it was another Tennessee newcomer Lexi Stephens punching a best time for 3rd place in 52.44. That moves her to 10th in the school’s all-time rankings.

Fuller led the other sweep for Tennessee on Saturday. She swam 1:52.02 as part of a 1-2-3-4 in the 200 back.

Georgia picked up a pair of wins in events where they are historically strong. Dune Coetzee won the 1000 free in 9:37.97, placing more than 15 seconds ahead of the field. That’s a season-best for her by two seconds.

Camille Spink won a triple for Tennessee, taking the 50 free (21.46), 100 free (46.94), and 200 free (1:42.78). All three swims

After winning the first individual event of the night, Georgia also won the last individual event of the night, the 200 IM. Ieva Maluka finished in 1:55.33, holding back a quartet of Volunteers who took the 2nd-through-5th place finishes.

Other Highlights:

• Besides winning the 200 fly, Sara Stotler won the 100 fly in 52.22.
• Tennessee’s Lynae Shorter swept the women’s diving events.