2015 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships: Day 3 Prelims Real-Time Recap

We enter Day 3 of the 2015 SEC Championships looking forward to some significant set-up swims in preparation for a gripping Finals session tonight.   The men’s 400 IM will see the likes of racing veterans Dan Wallace (Florida) and Chase Kalisz (Georgia) take on the newer freshman talent of Gunnar Bentz (Georgia), Jay Litherland (Georgia) and Sam McHugh (Tennessee).

The women’s 100 fly will be another tight race, with Kentucky senior and USA national teamer Christina Bechtel fending off fierce females, such as Mizzou’s Dani Barbiea and Texas A&M freshman Beryl Gastaldello to try and position herself as the top seed for tonight’s finals.  Remember, however, that French national teamer Gastaldello is on fire so far, as she threw down last night’s utterly dirt nasty 22.46 fly split on her team’s 200 medley relay, which is, by most all accounts, the fastest fly split in history.

Last night’s 50 freestyle runner-up, Caeleb Dressel, leads the men’s 100 fly field with the number one seed going into prelims, but he has Auburn junior Arthur Mendes in hot pursuit.  Mizzou’s Michael Chadwick and Georgia’s Jordan Mattern are the top seeds in the men’s and women’s 200 freestyle, respectively, but face stacked fields all looking to claim a spot in the Finals and help edge their teams to the top of the scoreboard.

2015 SEC Championships

  • Tuesday, February 17-Saturday, February 21
  • Auburn, Alabama – James E. Martin Aquatic Center
  • Prelims/Finals W-F 10AM/6PM, Tuesday 10AM/5:30PM (Central time)
  • Defending Champs: Georgia (5x) (results)
  • Live results
  • Live video
  • Championship Central

Catching Up

MEN’S 400 IM – PRELIMS

The names within top 8 in the men’s 400 IM aren’t necessarily surprising, however, the order of those names may be to some.  As expected, the Georgia 400 IM dominator that is junior Chase Kalisz topped the prelims with his time of 3:41.31, but Tennessee freshman Sam McHugh was only .01 behind.  McHugh’s 3:41.32 crushed not only his seed time (3:44.63), but also beat the current Tennessee school record by almost three seconds….HUGE swim from this Vol this morning.  Florida sends four men to the A-Final tonight, with Carlos Omana, Matt Elliott, Mark Szaranek and Dan Wallace all capable of raking in some major points for the Gators.  Gunnar Bentz and Jay Litherland from Georgia, with their respective times of 3:42.73 and 3:41.52 rounded out the top 8.  The times of Kalisz, McHugh and Omana all cleared the NCAA “A” cut.

WOMEN’S 400 IM – PRELIMS

Swift times were prolific in the women’s 400 IM prelims, which were led by Georgia junior Hali Flickinger. Flickinger threw down a 4:07.60 to earn the top seed just three tenths ahead of a charging Sarah Henry from Texas A&M (4:07.93).  Tennessee junior Amanda Carner is lighting the Vol record book aflame, as she has broken her second school record in as many days.  Carner’s 4:08.37 from this morning now sits as the fastest 400 IM in Vols’ history.  Florida’s Jess Thielmann is right in the mix, with her 4:09.10 from prelims, which is just a skosh faster than her 4:09.64 seed time.  Three Georgia women fill out the next three slots with Annie Zhu finishing 5th (4:09.24), Amber McDermott finishing 6th (4:09.35) and Emily Cameron placing 7th (4:10.28).  Mizzou slips a finalist in there as well, with Sharli Brady clocking a 4:11.76 for the 8th seed after prelims.

MEN’S 100 FLY – PRELIMS

Waves of speed crashed into the wall throughout all the heats of the fly sprint this morning, where we saw Florida freshman Caeleb Dressel blast out the 5th fastest time in his school’s history – 45.41 – for the top seed.  Dressel was the only automatic qualifier coming out of this morning’s heats, but junior Auburn Tiger Arthur Mendes also dipped under the 46-mark with the nation’s third best time of the year at 45.92.  This time also ranks Mendes into the 7th fastest in Auburn history, as well as earns him a new Brazilian record in the 100-yard fly.  He overtakes the previous 46.07 time set by Alexandre Fernandes from last year’s Texas Invite.

LSU senior Frank Greeff dropped major time to finish in a personal best of 46.11 to position him in 3rd after prelims.  Greeff is joined by Tiger teammate Alex Linge who posted a personal best of his own, earning the 8th spot in the A-Final in a time of 46.49.

Florida Gators Christian Homer and Jack Blyzinskyj earned the 4th and 5th spots after prelims, as they each clocked impressive times to put them in the Florida program’s history books. Homer finished in 46.14 for 5th-fastest in Florida history, while Blyzinskyj touched in 46.23 for 6th-fastest.

Alabama’s Brett Walsh (46.25) and Tennessee’s Jacob Thulin (46.38) represent positions six and seven after prelims this morning.

WOMEN’S 100 FLY – PRELIMS

As expected, Kentucky senior standout Christina Bechtel tore up the field, claiming the top seed in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 51.53.  But, also as expected, red hot Beryl Gastaldello, coming off of her wicked 50 fly medley relay split last night, is right on Bechtel’s heels, qualifying just behind in 52.01.  Tying Gastaldello was Georgia senior Laura Harrington, who shaved just a few hundredths off her seed time.  Bechtel now owns the nation’s #2 and #5 top times in this event, with Gastaldello’s morning swim ranking her 7th overall in the NCAA.

Florida junior Natalie Hinds dropped a speedy 52.36 to earn her the 4th seed, followed closely by LSU senior Amber Carter‘s 52.43.  Hinds’ best time thus far this season was the 52.92 she registered against Tennessee last month.

Georgia freshman Kylie Stewart clocked a 52.67 to earn her the 6th spot in the A-Final, followed by another Kentucky swimmer Abby Myers (52.70).  The eighth and final spot was earned via a swim-off between LSU’s Kara Kopcso and Georgia’s Courtney Weaver, with Kopcso winning the head-to-head duel in a career-best 52.42.

MEN’S 200 FREE – PRELIMS

This year’s 500 freestyle champion, Gator Mitch D’Arrigo, looked good in this morning’s prelims, clocking a solid 1:33.30, just off his 1:33.10 (converted time) he swam last December.  Georgia’s Matias Koski was the only other swimmer this morning to go sub-1:34, with his time of 1:33.69 now tying for 4th-fastest in the NCAA so far this season.

Hugo Morris from Auburn swam a stellar 1:34.53 to position him third headed into tonight’s final.  Note, however, that Morris already broke his school’s record (1:33.39) in his lead-off leg of the 800 free relay on Wednesday, so he definitely came to play in this 200. Tennessee junior Sean Lehane charged to the wall in a career-best 1:34.75 for 4th seed, followed by Georgia senior Alec Cohen‘s time of 1:35.29 for fifth.  South Carolina was able to sneak a swimmer into the A-Final in the form of Marwan El Kamash, who stole heat seven from top seed Michael Chadwick, winning that race in a time of 1:35.29.

Top-seed Chadwick (Mizzou) is surprisingly absent from the top 8 of the men’s 200 free; he finished 10th in a time of 1:35.71 and was one of three swimmers who actually tacked time onto their seeds.  The other time-gainers were a little luckier, however, as Florida’s Corey Main‘s 1:35.40 (seed time 1:35.17) held on for 7th and his teammate Pawel Werner‘s 1:35.48 (seed time 1:34.79) held on for 8th.

WOMEN’S 200 FREE – PRELIMS

Georgia earned the top seed this morning in the women’s 200 free, with senior Jordan Mattern claiming tonight’s middle lane in 1:45.22.  Aggie Sarah Gibson will be right next to her, now positioned second with her morning swim of 1:45.49, dropping over a second from her seeded time.

Alabama junior Emma Saunders registered a 1:45.90 for third, followed by Aggie senior Lili Ibanez Lopez who blasted a 1:45.94 out of heat 5 (of 8) to blaze her own trail into the finals.  Florida’s Amelia Maughan dropped almost a second to slide her into the 4th seed from this morning, followed by another freshman, South Carolina’s Meredith Vay.  Vay threw down a personal best of 1:45.98, which now ranks her 2nd in her school’s history.

As with her 500 freestyle race, Georgia’s Brittany MacLean was a little off this morning, but ultimately did what she needed to do in order to earn a spot in tonight’s final (1:46.02).  Auburn’s Jillian Vitarius set a personal best with a 1:46.07 to round out tonight’s top eight.

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Swim fan
9 years ago

It’s ashame that the international families are not able to watch the competition online. Also sad that SEC network not doing any coverage. Not even on the scrolling. Hello this is the SEC championship. Gymnastics and volleyball get more coverage.

liquidassets
9 years ago

In addition to Chadwick’s fade to B final in the 200, there was a disappointing 52.8 from Dani Barbiera in the fly, well-off her 51.5 seed and expectation to challenge Bechtel for the title. This was consistent with her mediocre showing in the 50, which at 22.9 was .6 off her seed time. Mizzou in general seems to be underperforming relative to seed times on both the men’s and women’s side.

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  liquidassets
9 years ago

Mizz rests mid season. The swimmers that are already qualified have no reason to rerest fully for SECs. More than likely, they will be at their best at NCAAs.

CincinnatiSwimming
9 years ago

When you realize that Grant House would have one of the fastest times in the NCAA with his freshman year High school time… (1:35)

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  CincinnatiSwimming
9 years ago

When I realized that this comment doesn’t matter.

Jonas
9 years ago

What happened in the swim off for the women’s 100 fly?

Andrew Majeske
9 years ago

Well Koski learned us lesson after missing the A final yesterday. But did he overcompensate and will he be able to challenge for the win this evening?

gooby
Reply to  Andrew Majeske
9 years ago

nah

9 years ago

Arthur Mendes 45.92 is a personal best and a brazilian record in 100fly yards.

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  DDias
9 years ago

Brazilain record in SCY. 1st off, there isn’t really a record for International swimmers in SCY. I am pretty sure Cielo never broke 46 in college, but did he ever do it after?

Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
9 years ago

ART,
some people make a control of how fast their swimmers are, no matter type of pool.All brazilian yards records here:
http://www.bestswimming.com.br/2014/12/29/recordes-brasileiros-em-piscina-de-jardas-atualizados/
for your information: free->livre, borboleta->fly, peito->breast and costas-backstroke.

Cielo best is 46.09 from Minessota Grand Prix in 2013.Cielo best LCM is 53.0(if iam not wrong), but he already made 51.3 and 51.6 in medley relays.

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  DDias
9 years ago

I apologize, I had absolutely no idea Brazil kept track of their fastest SCY times. Do other countries do this too?

SWIMFAN
Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
9 years ago

Denmark does!

Josh
9 years ago

Florida is getting it done in prelims this morning. Dressel dropped his PB by half a second in the 100 fly, and the other two UF guys who got into the final dropped theirs by more than half a second each and are knocking on 45s. That was a close call for Werner – it looked like he was expecting his heat to be faster than it actually was.

WHKirch
9 years ago

Just a small error, but Dressel went 45.41, not 46.14! Unbelievable speed at the meet so far.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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