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After 40 years, it was only fitting it ended this way.

The University of Tennessee swim team can officially say it won the final dual meet ever held at Ray Bussard Pool.

No. 6-ranked UT swam to a convincing 160-140 victory against No. 5-ranked Florida in front of a loud, raucous crowd at the Student Aquatic Center on Saturday afternoon.

"It was a fantastic end to this chapter of UT swimming and diving," Tennessee men's coach John Trembley said. "I'm really happy for the team, the athletics department and, especially, Coach Ray Bussard.

"This is Coach Bussard's pool. His name is on the wall and it was very befitting that he was here to witness the last meet at this pool over his traditional rival Florida."

UT, making a move into the newly built Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center in March, completed its run in the old pool with an overall record of 163-13. Bussard was 92-5 and Trembley is 71-8 in 20 years.

Along the way, the Vols snapped a two-meet losing streak (Indiana, Georgia) and a five-year losing streak to the Gators.

Seniors Octavio Alesi and Michael Wolfe went out in style on Senior Day.

"Of course, we are very pleased with the team score and effort," Trembley said. "But it was great to see the seniors go out with a win over a very respectable opponent."

Wolfe and Alesi each contributed to a 200 medley relay victory in one minute, 29.14 seconds.

Alesi also won the 50 freestyle (20.56), was second in the 100 butterfly (48.75) and joined Nolan Morrell, Jonas Persson and Barry Murphy to win the 400 freestyle relay (2:58.98).

"Octavio is an amazing athlete," Trembley said. "He says he's 5-foot-10, but I'm not sure. Octavio just has an unbelievable will to get to the wall, an unbelievable will to win and get it done,

"He had success in the Pan American games last summer and qualified for the Olympics, which is great for him and his family. He has been so steady as a performer at UT that we're really, really proud of him."

Not to be outdone, Wolfe won the 200 butterfly (1:46.07), was second in the 200 IM (1:49.76) and third in the 200 backstroke (1:45.70).

Sophomore Jordan Walters finished second to Alesi in the 50 freestyle and 1-meter divers Michael Muscari and Chris Davis finished 1-2 respectively in what Trembley felt was a turning point of the meet.

"Walters is one of our quiet guys and he has been injured for two years," Trembley said. "He's really struggled with some severe ankle difficulties, but he really stepped up. His swim really electrified the team, and the divers kept that going.

"It was a nice point in the meet to have a great swim by an unheralded team member and our divers to seal the deal."

Muscari and Davis also went 1-2 in the 3-meter diving. Senior Ryan Rincon, battling a stomach virus, finished fourth at 1-meter and 3-meter.

Persson was another key as a double winner in the 200 freestyle with a season-best time of 1:35.74 and the 100 freestyle (44.44).

Murphy won the 100 breaststroke (56.10) and Brad Craig the 200 breaststroke (1:59.92)

Next up for the Vols are the SEC championships on Feb. 20-23 at Alabama.

"Both teams were hit and miss today because neither team performed particularly well given where both teams are at in their training with the SECs coming up in a couple of weeks,' Trembley said. "Florida swam extremely well and hard. It was a pretty close meet, but we were fortunate to come out on top."

Women's Track: Junior Sarah Bowman and senior Cleo Tyson punched early tickets to the NCAA Indoor Championships with qualifying times at the Rod McCravy Memorial meet at Lexington, Ky.

Bowman, the defending SEC champion, ran a career-best mile (4:37.86) that ranks her No. 1 in the NCAA this season. It was the fastest mile by a Lady Vol since Alisa Harvey 21 years ago.

Tyson put in a 60-meter dash prelim time of 7.25 seconds, again the fastest time in the nation. UT coaches elected to not run Tyson in the finals.

"It's very good to see Cleo on track with a great mark in the 60," UT coach J.J. Clark said. "She looked very good and put a mark on the board to contend with at the NCAA meet. Sarah was trying to get in the 4:40 range today and did so very convincingly from wire to wire."

Bowman later finished fourth in the 800 (2:07.32), the third-best time in the nation.

Junior Katie Van Horn won the 3000 in a career-best 9:35.97.

Men's Track: The No. 2-ranked Vols took a limited group of competitors to the McCravy Memorial, but they still managed one first-place finish and several personal-best marks.

Senior captain Michael Hogue won the pole vault (17-0 3/4). The two-time All-America has cleared 17-feet four times this season. Brad Holtz finished second and Joseph Berry fourth.

Former Bearden High School standout Nathan Grace ran a personal-best 21.86 to finish ninth in the 200. John Hewitt (200), Michael Spooner (3,000), Mike Brodsky (mile) and Brent Smith (mile) also had personal-best efforts.

Men's Tennis: The 24th-ranked Vols (5-0) have a super-sized challenge ahead of them as No. 8-ranked Illinois visits the Goodfriend Indoor Tennis Center at noon today.

Illinois (2-1) played for the national championship last season and its only loss this year is to No. 1-ranked Virginia.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.