A couple of notes from night 1 of the 2014 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships in Athens, Georgia.
Read the full day 1 finals recap here.
Bauerle Allowed On Deck for Warmups at SEC’s
Jack Bauerle is back with his team, sort of. Several sources have told us that while Bauerle is still officially suspended, he has been given some small reprieves for this SEC Championship meet. He’s allowed to stay with the team in the team hotel, and he is allowed to coach them through warm-ups.
As soon as racing starts, however, Bauerle is allowed to be in the building, but not on deck, according to our on-the-deck reporter Shanda Crowe, and as soon as the racing starts, Bauerle has been ducking into his office (remember that the Bulldogs are the home team) and watching the races on the live stream. He is, however, allowed to be in the stands, we’ve been told, but chose his office on Tuesday.
Missouri’s Top Sprinter Out
Meanwhile, the Missouri men have taken a huge blow, as they’re without sophomore Max Grodecki at this meet. He’s n0t entered at all (and wasn’t when the pre-cut psych sheets came out last week), and according to a team spokesperson is “suspended indefinitely for a violation of team policy.”
Coming into the SEC Championships, Grodecki ranked 13th in the country with a 43.19 in the 100 yard freestyle. That time will be right on the bubble for an NCAA invite, if he’s reinstated with the team by that point.
This is a huge blow for a Missouri team that has looked spectacular all season. Grodecki broke the school record earlier this year by four-tenths of a second with that aforementioned 43.19.
Until this point of the season, Missouri had been using Grodecki as both the freestyler and the backstroker on their 200 medley relay. Even without him, though, they put Sam Tierney, a breaststroker, on the backstroke leg, and freshman Michael Chadwick on the anchor leg. The Tigers only finished 7th in that race, but they did swim a season best and an NCAA Automatic Qualifying Time.
Relative Scoring
The Auburn men are leading, but their day 1 margin is roughly the same as it was after day 1 last year when Florida won the title. The Tigers gave away some points in the 200 medley, but could have been even further in front. Meanwhile, the Texas A&M Aggies, behind their first ever SEC title from Ford McLiney, are in 2nd, as compared to 6th after the first day last year. They are unlikely to hold that spot as individual swimming events way heavier into the scoring, but this is still a great start for the A&M men.
On the women’s side, Georgia already looks like they might be running away with the title. While a 34-point margin over 2nd-place Tennessee isn’t all that big when three finals are scored, they were 34 points behind Tennessee after the first day last year.
The difference is the 200 medley, which was 7th last year and won their first SEC title since 2006 in the event this year. Their 800 free relay is probably just barely not as good as they were last year, but they’re still probably the best in the country. Georgia’s stroke group is swimming insanely well this year.
School Records
School Records are falling like crazy. Georgia set 5 school records in 6 events, with the exception being that 800 free relay. Their men’s medley time of 1:26.87 was two seconds better than their old school record.
The A&M women broke the SEC Record in the 800 free relay by seven-tenths of a second with a runner-up finish; Paul-Marc Schweitzer led off the men’s 800 free relay with a school record 1:34.39, and that overall relay was a record in 6:21.20.
The Florida men broke school records in the 200 medley and 800 free relays, the latter of which was an SEC Record and faster than they were to win NCAA’s last year.
The LSU women broke their school record in the 800 free relay. Missouri broke the 200 medley relay school record. Alabama broke three school records. The Auburn men broke the school record in the 800 free relay. Kentucky broke the 200 medley school record twice. Arkansas women broke the school record in the 800 free relay. Vanderbilt broke school records in both relays (by big margins). Both South Carolina men’s relays broke school records.
In sum: every school at this meet broke at least one school record, by our math, except for Tennessee. That’s impressive given that there were only two races, and an indicator of just how fast this meet was.
No Werner? No Problem
Doing their best Carmel High School impression, Florida left arguably their best 200 freestyler, Pawel Werner the defending SEC Champion in the event, on the bench for the 800 free relay, and still won going away in a new school and SEC Record. That’s the impressive depth that makes the Gators NCAA title contenders this year.
He was thrown under the bus by the swimmer who was recently reinstated but the administration didn’t want to force him to “retire” so close to the end of the season, is my guess. Or, even more insulting, the administration can grant him “emeritus” status and ask his opinion on his successor (sort of like watching your wife try out a new prospective spouse while you are dying).
Coaching on deck is NOT the same as watching the swimmers on a live feed and then discussing the swims with the swimmers back at the hotel. How much the coach sees on the feed depends upon the camera angle and the quality of the feed. Unless the coach is there… Read more »
joe Momma – as noted, coach Bauerle does have the option to sit in the stands and watch. On Tuesday, he just chose to watch the live stream.
Braden,
Yes, I saw that after I posted my comment. My apologies. I still think the coach is getting a raw deal but without more information all we can do is speculate. I just hope he keeps coaching, but if he doesn’t, I hope he is permitted to leave on his own terms and with dignity.
egregious
What is the exact reason behind Grodecki’s suspension? Unless there was something aggregious, I hope they will reinstate him right quick or his NCAA chances are pretty much gone.
It’s pretty rare for schools to comment beyond “violation of team rules,” and we haven’t heard anything specific from unofficial sources yet either.
I don’t know what Bauerle did, but I don’t think it could be that bad based on the “suspension”. He is really still able to coach the kids, he just has to do it a little later when they get back to the hotel. If he were actually suspended I don’t think he would be allowed on deck at all during the meet, including warm up.
The situation with Jack Bauerle makes me wonder if the Georgia Athletic Dept isn’t just keeping this under wraps for the duration of the season, first out of respect for Jack and all he has contributed there, but second so as to not “distract” their potential NCAA Champion team.
I have a feeling that we will find out what happened after the season and Jack Bauerle will “retire” much in the same way Mark Bernardino did.
What in the world is going on at Georgia. What could. Jack have possibly, notice I said possibly, done to be suspended this long. Football players at Georgia a constantly in trouble and Mark Richt is never disciplined?
Was the Tennessee Men’s 800FR not a school record?
Andrew – no, the record in that event is 6:19.01 from 2008.
Another one: through just two swim events, NINE of the ten SEC men’s teams have an NCAA qualifier…
200 MR:
FL
UGA
BAMA
TENN
AU
KY
MIZZ
800 FR:
FL
AUB
TENN
UGA
SC
A&M
… individually, Hornikel, Koski, Schweitzer, and Main are almost definitely in. Disney-May should be in, Rairden possibly.