Pair Improve B-cut Times

By Todd Mounce, Media Relations Graduate Assistant
Highlighted by career-best times by sophomore Brooke Watson and freshman Alex Frasier, the ninth-ranked Tennessee Lady Vol swimming and diving team officially wrapped up its regular season as the Tennessee Last Chance Meet came to an end on Saturday evening at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center.
Frasier notched a career-best marks in both the 50y and 200y free events. The New Bedford, Mass., native won the 200y event after touching in at 1:48.33 to improve her previous B-cut time of 1:49.14 she set last week at SECs to move up to ninth on the UT performers list. In the 50y free, she finished runner-up with a time of 23.18 seconds, .01 seconds faster than the mark she swam in prelims, which ranks 12th on the performers list.
Also competing in the 200y free were junior Maddie Garrett and freshman Kennedy Higdon. Garrett grabbed fifth after a career-best clocking of 1:51.07, while Higdon swam a career-best time of 1:51.26 to claim sixth.
Watson benefitted greatly from the 200y fly time trials. Her clocking of 1:56.01 was a career-best mark that ranks as the fourth fastest in Big Orange history, second on the performers list and 13th in the nation.
Notching second in the 200y breast was junior Kirstyn Colonias, touching in with a B-cut mark of 2:12.00. In the prelims she swam a time of 2:11.94. Higdon also competed in the event and earned sixth, registering a season-best time of 2:20.76.
Along with Frasier in the 50y free, junior Atlantis Wilkins and redshirt sophomore Abbie Alton also raced against the clock. Wilkins took fourth, touching in at 23.42 seconds. Alton swam the fastest time in the event for the Lady Vols with a clocking of 23.14 seconds, but competed in the ‘B’ final.
Freshman Courtney Ciesielski was the only Lady Vol to compete in the finals of the 100y fly. The Marietta, Ga., product touched in at 56.98 seconds. In the prelims, Ciesielski swam the event for the first time this season and had a clocking of 56.36 seconds.
The prelims of the 100y fly event saw Watson, Garrett and Higdon also compete. Watson swam a career-best and NCAA B-cut mark of 53.78 seconds, ranking her sixth on the UT performers list. Garrett had a season-best clocking of 56.65 seconds, while Higdon competed in the event for the first time this year and registered a time of 56.95 seconds.
The Orange and White divers will represent UT next when they travel to Athens, Ga., to compete in the Zone B Diving Championships from March 10-12, while the 2011 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will be hosted by the University of Texas over March 17-19 in Austin, Texas.