The Vols did not dive Saturday at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, but they did more than enough the first three days to take home the three major diving awards to close the meet.
Senior Ryan Helms was voted SEC Diver of the Year after winning two events, platform champion Mauricio Robles was named SEC Freshman Diver of the Year and Dave Parrington received SEC Diving Coach of the Year honors as the Vols finished fourth in the conference championships at Allan Jones Aquatic Center.
The Vols collected 459 points as a team. Auburn won the meet with 730.5 points. Florida was second with 700 and Georgia was third with 521.
The divers enjoyed a historic week at the SEC Championships. Helms won the 3-meter and 1-meter titles on the first two days, then Robles followed up his performance with a victory in the platform to give the Vols gold medals in all three diving events in a year for the first time in program history.
Parrington has now been named SEC Diving Coach of the Year seven times and the first time since 2001. Robles was the first Vol since Helms to be named SEC Freshman Diver of the Year.
For the second day, Samuel Rairden was a top performer for the Vols in the pool. The sophomore just missed reaching the podium after a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke in an NCAA B-cut time of 1 minute, 44.35 seconds. Freshman Ben Scheffer was eighth in 1:46.32.
Senior Ricky Henahan swam in the consolation final and his time of 1:47.86 was good for 15th.
Competing in his final SEC Championships, Jake Epperson registered a time of 1:56.06 to earn fourth in the 200 breaststroke. Freshman Tristan Slater kept his fantastic week going by touching in at 1:59.48 in the consolation race to grab 13th.
Carl Jones and Sam Petersen each notched top 10 finishes in the 1650 freestyle. Jones was seventh in 15:12.44 and Petersen was 10th in 15:26.14. Shane Kleinbeck also braved the mile, finishing 20th in 15:51.05.
In the consolation 100 freestyle, Ed Walsh finished 11th after clocking a time of 43.81.
SEC Swimming and Diving Championships
Men's Results
Saturday
1650 Freestyle: 1. Martin Grodzki (UGA) 14:48.26; 2. Zane Grothe (AUB) 14:50.86; 3. Craig Hamilton (LSU) 14:58.11; 4. Andrew Gemmell (UGA) 15:01.65; 5. William Freeman (UGA) 15:05.33; 6. Jason Taylor (UF) 15:10.53; 7. Carl Jones (UT) 15:12.44; 8. Nicholas Caldwell (UF) 15:14.60 ... 10. Sam Petersen (UT) 15:26.14 ... 20. Shane Kleinbeck (UT) 16:25.64.
200 Backstroke: 1. Kyle Owens (AUB) 1:41.67; 2. Max Murphy (AUB) 1:42.59; 3. Jared Markham (UGA) 1:43.96; 4. Samuel Rairden (UT) 1:44.35; 5. Joe Ziegler (ALA) 1:44.73; 6. Nick Kunkel (LSU) 1:45.36; 7. Reese Shirey (ALA) 1:45.43; 8. Ben Scheffer (UT) 1:46.32 ... 15. Ricky Henahan (UT) 1:47.86.
100 Freestyle: 1. Marcelo Chierighini (AUB) 42.45; 2. BJ Hornikel (ALA) 42.98; 3. Drew Modrov (AUB) 43.10; 4. Taylor Reed (UK) 43.30; 5. Bradley deBorde (UF) 43.38; 5. James Disney-May (AUB) 43.38; 7. Chris Manning (AUB) 44.00; 8. Karl Krug (AUB) 44.41 ... 11. Ed Walsh (UT) 43.81.
200 Breaststroke: 1. Nicolas Fink (UGA) 1:55.01; 2. Solaeche Gomez (UF) 1:55.54; 3. Matthew Elliott (UF) 1:55.75; 4. Jake Epperson (UT) 1:56.06; 5. Stuart Ferguson (AUB) 1:57.26; 6. Sean Roddy (LSU) 1:58.31; 7. Tom Beeri (UGA) 1:59.43 ... 13. Tristan Slater (UT) 1:59.48.
200 Butterfly: 1. Marcin Cieslak (UF) 1:42.43; 2. Dan Wallace (UF) 1:44.81; 3. Frank Greeff (LSU) 1:45.03; 4. Cameron Martin (UF) 1:45.08; 5. Alex Coci (ALA) 1:45.10; 6. A. Arampatzis (ALA) 1:45.87; 7. Oliver Basse (ALA) 1:46.39; 8. Peter Benner (UGA) 1:47.40.
400 Freestyle Relay: 1. Auburn (Modrov, Disney-May, Owens, Chierighini) 2:51.66; 2. Florida (deBorde, Norton, Turner, Cieslak) 2:53.69; 3. Alabama (Coci, Hornikel, Ziegler, Caciuc) 2:54.11; 4. Georgia (Reynolds, Fink, Hill, Arnold) 2:55.35; 5. LSU (Tuomola, Saco, Love, Greef) 2:56.20; 6. South Carolina (Seiler, Kaden, Warner, Rodriguez) 2:59.13; 7. Tennessee (Thulin, Slater, Epperson, Johnson) 2:59.35.