Tennessee's men's swimming and diving team finished second at the SEC

Championships on Saturday night as Vol sophomore Gabi Chereches won his

second individual SEC title, this one in platform diving.

The Vols finished with 700 points, their most since the 1996 SEC

Championship season, as Auburn took the team title with 857.5 points.

Chereches scored 768.70 points to win the platform championship, an event

in which he finished second last season.

The title, along with the three-meter title he won on Thursday and a

second-place finish in the one-meter on Wednesday, earned Chereches a tie

for the Commissioner's Trophy, given to the athlete who scores the most

points. Brock Newman of Auburn shared the honor.

Chereches also was named as the performer of the meet along with Aaron

Ciarla of Auburn. Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington was named men's

coach of the meet, sharing that award with Auburn head coach David

Marsh.

Commenting on the meet, Tennessee head coach John Trembley said, "It was a

great competition. We made some gains on Auburn this year, but we have a

long way to go. We have more than 10 swimmers going to NCAAs, so this young

team continues to get better."

Other top performances for UT on Saturday included the 200-meter butterfly

in which the Vols finished in second, third and fourth. Zane DeWitz took

second while Matt Hall and Joel Shapiro followed.

Diamond Vols finish 2-1 in Franklin Life Classic

Rightfielder Justin Parker went 4-for-6 with a triple and three RBIs as

the Tennessee Volunteers (4-2) handed Old Dominion its first loss of the

season, 15-9, at the Franklin Life Classic in Charleston, S.C.

Donnie Ross also slugged his second homerun with four RBIs as the Vols

pounded out 13 hits.

Quenten Patterson (1-1) notched his first win of the season as he worked 6

2/3 innings with eight strikeouts.

Old Dominion struck for two runs in the bottom of the first on a double by

Joseph Trollo and a Volunteer error.

Tennessee got on the board in the second on Donnie Ross' sacrifice fly that

plated Parker, who led off with a triple to right. The Vols roughed up

Monarch starter Shawn Weaver (0-1) in a five-run third.

A three-run homerun by Ross and a two-run single by Parker in the third

gave the Vols a 6-2 lead.

A bloop two-run single to center by Shawn Pearson brought the Monarchs to

within two at 6-4 in the fourth.

Brian Baker's pinch-hit, two-run double keyed a four-run fifth for the Vols

as they expanded their lead to 10-4.

The Vols added single runs in the sixth and seventh innings on a passed

ball and a double by Stevie Daniel, respectively.

Trollo slugged his first homerun off the left field foul pole in the

seventh for the Monarchs' fifth run.

Three ODU errors in the eighth led to two more runs for the Vols, who took

a 14-5 lead.

Four wild pitches and three walks by reliever Wyatt Allen allowed three

Monarchs to cross the plate in the eighth as they closed the gap to

14-8.

The Vols will next take on the Carson-Newman Eagles in Jefferson City on

Wednesday at 3 p.m.