Molly Hannis makes big splash at NCAA swim meet

Molly Hannis recently competed for the University of Tennessee in her final NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, and it was her best effort yet in college swimming’s biggest national event. Hannis finished fifth in the 100-meter breaststroke and sixth in the 200 breast at the meet in Greensboro, N.C., in addition to handling the breaststroke leg for relay teams that finished third (200 medley) and fifth (400 medley).

Imagine what she might have done if she hadn’t been so sick in the days leading up to the event, or if she hadn’t suffered whiplash while sledding into a tree.

“To be honest, it kind of wasn’t what I wanted,” Hannis said of her results in Greensboro. “They were my highest finishes ever, and I’m happy with that. But the NCAAs have been a difficult meet for me, difficult to hit my marks. I did that better this time, but I was still a little bit off.”

The winter sports mishap may have had something to do with that. It snowed in Knoxville, Tenn., three or four weeks before the national meet, and Hannis went sledding with some teammates. Three of them were on a sled - please don’t try this at home - and they collided with a tree branch or stump at the bottom of the hill. Hannis took the full impact for one of the girls on the sled and wrenched her neck.

“It was a lot fun, but I probably shouldn’t have done it so close to NCAAs,” Hannis said by phone.

The injury might not have fully healed in time for the meet, were it not for Hannis’ second setback. She came down with a stomach virus and didn’t eat a full meal for a week, until the day she left for Greensboro. She spent minimal time in the pool during the illness, which did give her neck a chance to recover.

All in all, it wasn’t how Hannis would have liked to go into her last big event at Tennessee, but she made the most of it, punctuating a stellar run for the Volunteers. She leaves as the school record holder in both the women’s 100m and 200m breaststroke, having set the latter in November.

“I came into my college career as a sprinter,” Hannis said. “But over the last four years, and especially the last two, I transitioned into a 200 swimmer.”

She has other accolades, too, including four-time All-America status, six Southeastern Conference gold medals and two NCAA championships with Tennessee medley relay teams in 2013. Along the way, Hannis made quite an impression in Knoxville.

“She’s always worked around the edges. The people who have been lost or frustrated outside of center, she has gravitated to and tried to help them,” Vols swim coach Matt Kredich told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. “She reaches out and brings people in. She’s got a nose for it. She’ll pick people out who need that long before I will.”

Such praise stands as validation for Hannis’ decision coming out of Santa Rosa High School. The Redwood Empire (and especially the Neptune Swimming club) has produced a number of top swimmers in recent years, and most of them have gravitated to the Pac-10/12 Conference, for obvious reasons. Maya DiRado recently finished up at Stanford. Jenna Bauer is at Arizona. Jon Knox is at USC.

Hannis broke the mold.

“Like a lot of people, I took recruiting trips to Pac-10 schools five years ago,” she said. “But I also wanted to branch out a little, so I looked at Texas A&M, Auburn and Tennessee.”

What Hannis found in Knoxville were state-of-the-art facilities, a supportive coaching staff and an atmosphere that felt like a family environment. And if there is a conference that can compete with the Pac-12 in the pool, it’s the SEC. She packed up for the land of Elvis and hushpuppies, and she has never doubted her choice.

Though focused on her sport, Hannis has gotten to see a little of Tennessee. She visited Murfreesboro with a teammate during spring break as a freshman, rode horses there and took a side trip to Nashville. She’s still hoping to make pilgrimages to Chattanooga and Dollywood. She remains lukewarm on the cuisine.

“I hate fried food, which Tennessee is known for,” Hannis said with a laugh. “Barbecue, I’m kind of 50-50 depending on whether I’m in the mood. When I’m in California, I still love seafood. But when they get the barbecue right, like when it’s really good food, Tennessee does it really well.”

Hannis is approaching her exit at the university. She will graduate in May with a degree in sports management and a business minor. She has been holding down two internships in the program, one with a local swim club and the other with UT’s Event Management Department. The latter has Hannis working game-day security and checking on-field credentials and relaying information to the scoreboard operators at everything from campus football games to golf tournaments.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve worked every team at some point,” Hannis said.

“The only team I haven’t worked is swimming, because I’ll be at the meet competing.”

Later in the summer, Hannis will head to South Korea for the World University Games. She tried to qualify for the games three years ago, but was in the process of tinkering with her technique and didn’t make the team. This time she’s in.

After that, Hannis will start building toward the 2016 Olympic Trials. She will do so under the auspices of a new pro team, Tennessee Aquatics, that will compete in the Arena Pro Swim Series. The team is small but fairly elite, and is based in Knoxville.

In other words, the California Kid has become so comfortable in Tennessee that she plans to stay there after she graduates. She might not have counted on that when she was leaving Santa Rosa.

“It was a culture shock,” Hannis admitted. “Just little things, like Southern hospitality. Everyone is just so polite and relaxed. I feel coming from California that everybody back home is always moving, always doing something. There’s always a purpose for where you’re going.”

Hannis has adapted. She still moves with constant purpose, but only in the swimming pool.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.