UT finishes eighth in NCAA swimming

Tennessee held on to finish in eighth place Saturday at the NCAA Swimming and Diving championships in College Station, Texas. SEC champion Auburn claimed the title in a final-day comeback over top-ranked Texas.

Jonas Persson placed 10th (42.45 seconds) in the 100 freestyle while Barry Murphy placed 30th (43.31) and sophomore Mike DeRocco was 40th (44.02).

Also for UT, sophomore Geoff Sanders was 19th (15:00.84) in the 1,650 free; senior Nolan Morrell placed 30th (1:44.60) and sophomore Michael Christy finished 32nd (1:45.31) in the 200 breaststroke; Brad Craig just missed the B-final in the 200 breast placing 18th (1:55.94); and the 400 free relay of Morrell, Persson, DeRocco and Murphy won (2:50.98) the B-final in 2:50.98.

Purdue's David Boudia, who won the 3-meter title, won the platform with an NCAA meet record 530.45 points. UT's freshmen divers Ryan Helms and Brent Sterling placed 22nd (296.70) and 25th (264.45), respectively.

Track: The Lady Vols had three NCAA regional qualifying performances at the Stanford Invitational late Friday night.

Senior Sarah Bowman won section 2 of the 5,000 meters in a career-best 16 minutes, 20.78 seconds. In section 1, the fastest of the three 5K races, junior Jackie Areson had a career-best 16:27.16 to also qualify.

Junior Phoebe Wright had a career-best 4:24.28 to finish third in section 2 of the 1,500.

Meanwhile, the UT men and women lost an important training opportunity Saturday when the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Georgia Tech was canceled due to thunderstorms in the Atlanta area.

Rowing: Though the rain fell steadily for most of the event, it didn't stop the UT rowing team. The varsity eight, second eight and varsity four defeated Alabama on Lake Loudoun on Senior Day.

"It was a good day," UT coach Lisa Glenn said. "We avoided some bad weather, which was great. Every boat has come along well from last week to this week."

The race marked the final dual-meet at home for seniors Kate Brownlee, Caroline Howell, Erin-Monique Shelton and Jessica Williams.

Women's Tennis: No. 13 UT (10-4, 3-2 SEC) plays host to No. 21 LSU (11-5, 1-3) today at Goodfriend Tennis Center. Admission is free.