Tennessee
2023 Tennessee Invitational: Day 1 Finals Live Recap
2023 TENNESSEE INVITATIONAL
- November 15-17, 2023
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center
- LCM (50-meter) prelims / SCY (25-yard) finals
- Prelims: 9:30am (EST)/ Finals: 6pm (EST)
- 2024 NCAA Championships Standards
- Psych Sheets
- Live Stream
- Live Results: “2023 Tennessee Invitational” on MeetMobile
It’s time for the first finals session of the 2023 Tennessee Invitational which also means that we’re racing yards for the first time at this meet. Prelims took place in LCM, giving swimmers the chance to hit new Olympic Trials cuts. Now that we’re back in yards, we’ve also got our first relays on the schedule tonight. The 200 freestyle and 400 medley relays both race tonight, bookending the session.
A quick reminder about how relay qualification for NCAAs works:
- The simplest way to qualify relays for NCAAs is to hit the “A Cut,” formally known as the “Qualifying Standard” in a relay.
- Once a team has an “A” standard relay, they can also enter all relays where they’ve earned the “B” standard, formally known as a “Provisional Standard.”
- Teams with four individual swimmers qualified can swim relay events in which they have at least a “B” standard.
- Relays are qualified “to the team”, not the individual swimmers so teams can take whichever swimmers they want to use on the relay.
- Teams must have at least one individual invite to send relays.
Virginia women earned the top seed in all three individual events this morning, courtesy of Cavan Gormsen (500 free), Alex Walsh (200 IM), and Gretchen Walsh (50 free). There’s a solid chance that they’ll sweep all the events this evening, they’re the NCAA record holders in both relays though they’re without Kate Douglass and Lexi Cuomo.
On the women’s side, the days events showed different teams strengths. For example, the Tennessee women make up half the swimmers in the 500 freestyle final, and Virginia claimed six lanes in the 200 IM. It’s G. Walsh’s world in the 50 freestyle, but the Alabama women continued to show why the sprints have been a strength for them all season. They put three into the ‘A’ final, lead by Cadence Vincent making her Olympic Trials cut in the event (25.34).
For the men, Tennessee flexed their depth in the 400/500 freestyle and the 50 freestyle. In the former, they own the top three seeds, highlighted by Joey Tepper‘s program record in the 400m free this morning. Then in the 50 free, Jordan Crooks dropped a sub-22 LCM 50 free to easily claim the top time of the morning. Gui Caribe sits 2nd with Tim Korstanje, Matt Brownstead, and Nikoli Blackman bunched together behind him.
Landon Driggers tied Virginia’s Sebastien Sergile for top seed in the 200 IM, giving the Tennessee men a top seed in all the individual events like the Virginia women. Sergile’s swim was a new personal best and as with all the swimmers who dropped time in LCM this morning, it will be interesting to see if that translates into yards.
Women’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay — Finals
- NCAA Record: 1:23.87 — Virginia (K. Douglass, G. Walsh, L. Cuomo, A. Walsh) (2023)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:28.43
- 2024 NCAA ‘B’ Standard: 1:29.21
Top 8:
- Virginia ‘A’ (Nocentini, A. Walsh, Canny, G. Walsh) — 1:25.24
- Tennessee ‘A’ (McSharry, Myers, Rumley, Spink) — 1:27.22
- Alabama ‘A’ (Vincent, Winter, Scott, Petkova) — 1:28.02
- Virginia ‘B’ — 1:29.29
- Tennessee ‘B’ — 1:29.42
- Arkansas ‘A’ — 1:30.17
- Tennessee ‘C’ — 1:30.32
- Virginia ‘C’ — 1:30.75
As expected, the Virginia women ran away with the 200 freestyle relay, winning the race by 1.98 seconds. Jasmine Nocentini, who did not swim this morning, led off with a personal best 21.45, bettering the 21.59 she swam at last season’s Purdue Invitational. Alex Walsh and Aimee Canny clocked 21.45 and 21.98 splits in the middle of the race. Then, Gretchen Walsh dove in and scorched a 20.36 split–3rd fastest all-time behind only Anna Hopkin (20.27) and Douglass (20.34).
At last season’s invite, Virginia went 1:26.96, so this marks a 1.72 second improvement on themselves at this point last season.
Tennessee’s squad of Mona McSharry (22.03), Amber Myers (22.05), Jasmine Rumley (21.88), and Camille Spink (21.26) clocked a 1:27.22, comfortably taking second ahead of Alabama’s ‘A’ team. This is a huge improvement for the Tennessee women from last season, when they hadn’t even swum a ‘B’ cut in this relay. Now, they’re safely under the ‘A’ cut.
After hitting her Olympic Trials cut in the 50-meter free this morning, Cadence Vincent led off for Alabama in a new personal best of 22.26. She’ll get a chance to lower that again in the individual final later this session. Kailyn Winter (22.05) and Jada Scott (21.66) will both join her in that ‘A’ final and they made up the middle 100 of Alabama’s relay here. Diana Petkova anchored in a 22.05 for 3rd.
Men’s 200-Yard Freestyle Relay — Finals
- NCAA Record: 1:13.35 — Florida (J. Liendo, A. Chaney, E. Friese, M. McDuff) (2023)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:16.80
- 2024 NCAA ‘B’ Standard: 1:17.38
Top 8:
- Tennessee ‘A’ (Crooks, Caribe, Blackman, Chambers) — 1:16.03
- Alabama ‘A’ (Korstanje, Alves, Hawke, Wilson) — 1:17.48
- Virginia ‘A’ (Brownstead, Boyle, Lamb, Madoch) — 1:17.95
- Alabama ‘B’ — 1:18:82
- Tennessee ‘B’ — 1:19.03
- Virginia ‘B’ — 1:19.50
- Tennessee ‘C’ — 1:20.18
- Kentucky ‘A’ — 1:20.49
On paper, it looked like this was going to be a battle between Tennessee and Virginia. Instead, Tennessee ran away with the win, getting well under the NCAA ‘A’ cut in 1:16.03. Jordan Crooks led off in 18.46, marking the first sub-19 second 50 free in the NCAA this season. Gui Caribe followed up with an 18.90 split, then Nikoli Blackman and Micah Chambers split 19.37 and 19.30 in clean water on the back half to secure the win.
Alabama’s squad of Tim Korstanje, Kaique Alves, Charlie Hawke, and Zarek Wilson surprised by coming from behind to finished 2nd ahead of the Cavaliers. Matt Brownstead and Connor Boyle got Virginia started, with Brownstead leading off in 19.30 and Boyle splitting 19.24. They were .44 seconds ahead of Alabama at the halfway point, but then Charlie Hawke split 18.85 and started to close the gap.
On the anchor leg, Zarek Wilson handily outsplit Jack Madoch, 19.65 to 20.32, pulling Alabama ahead of Virginia for the first time the entire relay and getting his hand on the wall .47 seconds ahead of Madoch for 2nd. Alabama missed the NCAA ‘B’ cut by a tenth.
Women’s 500-Yard Freestyle — Finals
- NCAA Record: 4:24.06 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2017)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 4:37.89
- 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 4:41.09
Top 8:
Men’s 500-Yard Freestyle — Finals
- NCAA Record: 4:06.32 — Kieran Smith, Florida (2020)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 4:10.74
- 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 4:14.36
Top 8:
Women’s 200-Yard IM — Finals
- NCAA Record: 1:48.37 — Kate Douglass, Virginia (2023)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:53.66
- 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 1:56.90
Top 8:
Men’s 200-Yard IM — Finals
- NCAA Record: 1:36.34 — Léon Marchand, Arizona State (2023)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 1:41.03
- 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 1:43.14
Top 8:
Women’s 50-Yard Freestyle — Finals
- NCAA Record: 20.79 — Maggie MacNeil, Louisiana State (2023)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 21.63
- 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 22.15
Top 8:
Men’s 50-Yard Freestyle — Finals
- NCAA Record: 17.63 — Caeleb Dressel, Florida (2018)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 18.82
- 2023 NCAA Invited Time: 19.21
Top 8:
Women’s 400-Yard Medley Relay — Finals
- NCAA Record: 3:21.80 — Virginia (G. Walsh, A. Walsh, K. Douglass, A. Canny) (2023)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 3:31.38
- 2024 NCAA ‘B’ Standard: 3:33.48
Top 8:
Men’s 400-Yard Medley Relay — Finals
- NCAA Record: 2:58.32 — Florida (A. Chaney, D. Hillis, J. Liendo, M. McDuff) (2023)
- 2024 NCAA ‘A’ Standard: 3:04.96
- 2024 NCAA ‘B’ Standard: 3:06.84
Top 8: