SWIMMING & DIVING

Both the men’s and women’s teams finished in the top five for the second straight season, one of only two programs in Division I to do so over the last two years. The women recorded their eighth consecutive top-10 finish, while the men had their fourth.

Camille Spink, the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year, swept the 50 Free, 100 Free  and 200 Free at the SEC Championships for the second consecutive season, the second female swimmer to do so and the first since 2006-07. Spink’s wins in both the 50 Free and 100 Free were her third in a row, making her the first swimmer to accomplish the feat since LVFL Erika Brown from 2018-20. Spink captured bronze in the 50 Free at NCAAs, while finishing fifth in the 100 Free and sixth in the 200 Free.

McKenzie Siroky closed her season with a silver medal in the 100 Breast at the NCAA Championships, while Desharne Bent-Ashmeil collected a silver medal in the 3-meter at NCAAs, thanks to a program-record score of 382.25. The 400 Medley Relay team of Jillian Crooks, Siroky, Mizuki Hirai, and Spink also secured a silver medal for UT while also setting the school record in the event of 3:23.79.

The Lady Vols earned 16 podium finishes and 17 top-16 placements. They finished with 301.5 points, the second-highest point total in program history behind the 325.5 points from a 2013 third-place finish.

At the SEC Championships, the Lady Vols won 18 medals, en route to second place. Jillian Crooks took the crown in the 100 Back and Ella Jansen captured the conference title in the 400 IM. All five relay teams earned podium finishes at the conference championship, with the Lady Vols winning gold in both the 200 Free Relay and 200 Medley Relay.

The men’s team collected their second-straight top-five NCAA finish thanks to a team point total of 272, its most since 2001. It marked the first time in program history the program finished top-five in consecutive years since a three-year stretch from 1996-98.

Gui Caribe placed top-three in both the 50 Free (second) and 100 Free (third), giving him back-to-back top-three finishes in each. The Brazilian also brought home silver medals in the 50 Free, 100 Free and 100 Fly at the SEC Championships.

Bennett Greene was the only diver in Division I to advance to the finals of all three NCAA finals. Greene led all divers with 38 points, highlighted by a bronze medal performance in the 1-meter. He also had a strong performance at SECs, winning gold in the 1-meter, the first such achievement by Tennessee diver since 2017.

Koby Bujak-Upton finished as the national runner-up in the 200 Free, the Vols’ second-best finish ever in the event. Bujak-Upton swam a personal best at NCAAs with a time of 1:29.79, the only Division I swimmer to break 1:30 during the 2025-26 season in the 200 Free.

At the SEC Championships, the Vols finished in third place for the second year in a row. The team finished with a total of 1,061.5 points, with 14 medals won across the week. Martin Espernberger was named the male recipient of the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He became the first Tennessee male swimmer, third swim & dive athlete and eighth UT student-athlete to win the award.