200 medley relay finishes third in NCAA

Tennessee finished third in the 200-yard medley relay with a school record Friday night at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas.

Freshman Jenny Connolly, sophomore Tricia Weaner and juniors Michele King and Jamie Saffer had a time of one minute, 36.82 seconds. It's the highest finish for the Lady Vols in a relay at the NCAA. UT was fourth in 1989 in the 400 free and both medley relays.

Georgia won in 1:36.45.

The Lady Vols had lowered the school record down to 1:37.17 during the preliminaries. The previous best of 1:38.04 was set at the SEC championships last month.

Seeded fifth in the race, Connolly blazed through the 50 back portion to put UT in the lead. Strong performances from Saffer in the breast and Weaner in the butterfly put King in position on the freestyle anchor leg.

"That was a phenomenal relay," Lady Vols coach Matt Kredich said. "A few tenths of a second separated first from eighth, and our girls did a great job of fighting. Jenny Connolly did a great job leading us off and Michele King had a great finish."

Through 12 events, Tennessee is 11th with 93 points. California is first with 262, with Georgia (258.5) and Arizona (258.5) tied for second.

Connolly and Saffer also scored points for the Lady Vols in the consolation finals of the 100 back and 100 breast, respectively. Connolly won the heat and finished ninth in 52.06, while Saffer placed 11th in 1:00.22.

"We competed in three events tonight and all three improved their times," Kredich said. "That was the best session we've had in the meet so far."

The meet concludes today.

Women's Track: Tennessee coach J.J. Clark has been selected as the NCAA Division I National Women's Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Officially, Clark has been selected as the Beverly Kearney Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year, which is named in honor of the University of Texas coach and former Lady Vols assistant. Oregon's Dan Steele claimed the men's honor, while Florida's Brian O'Neal and Texas A&M's Vince Anderson were chosen as the men's and women's assistant coaches of the year, respectively.

Anderson was a long-time assistant coach for both the Tennessee women's and men's programs, directing the sprints/hurdles/jumps area.

Clark also won the award for directing Tennessee to the 2005 NCAA and SEC Indoor Championships.

Men's Tennis: It was a day of the tiebreakers as No. 6 Tennessee outlasted No. 33 Texas Tech 4-2 at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala.

The Vols (12-3) advance to today's semifinals against Auburn. Boise State faces Alabama in the other semifinal.

UT lost the doubles point with No. 8 John-Patrick Smith and Davey Sandgren losing 8-6 to No. 15 Raony Carvalho and Christian Rojmar.

At No. 1 singles, the seventh-ranked Smith roared back to win the tiebreaker with No. 48 Carvalho and take the first set 7-6. Smith added the clincher in the second set, 7-6.

Men's Golf: Robin Wingardh's best round of the spring, a 3-under-par 69, sparked Tennessee to a three-shot lead after the first round of the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational in Statesboro, Ga.

The Vols were the only team in the 18-team event to finish under par with a 1-under 287 to lead North Florida by three.

Wingrardh is in a four-way tie for first place. Wingardh birdied three par-4s - Nos. 2, 5 and 14 - along with the par-5 seventh hole to offset his lone bogey at No. 15.

Chris Paisley is tied for eighth at 71. James Brannen played the back nine in 33 strokes - best of the day out of 96 golfers - to finish at 73 and tied for 27th. Darren Renwick shot 74 and David Holmes finished at 75.

Women's Tennis: The No. 12 UT women's tennis team won 7-0 against Central Florida (8-6) at the UCF Tennis Complex in Orlando, Fla.

Natalie Pluskota's victory at No. 1 was the lone singles match that did not go straight sets for the Lady Vols (10-2).

Rowing: UT opens its spring schedule today on the waters of Lake Loudoun on the Tennessee River with a meet against Minnesota starting at 10 a.m.