2018 SEC Wrap-Up: After Big Showing, What Will Dressel Swim at NCAAs?

2018 SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, February 14 – Sunday, February 18
• Rec Center Natatorium, College Station, TX (Central Time Zone)
• Prelims 10AM / Finals 6PM
• Defending Champion: Florida (5x) (results)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheet
• Live results
• Live Video (finals)
• NCAA Qualifying

The 2018 SEC Championships are in the books, with the Florida men and Texas A&M women successfully defending their SEC titles. There were a few swimmers who really stood out at this year’s championships, including Florida’s Caeleb Dressel, Auburn’s Hugo Gonzalez, Texas A&M’s Sydney Pickrem, and Tennessee’s Erika Brown.

The following is the list of awards handed out after the conclusion of last night’s session:

• SEC Comissioner’s Trophy (High Point): Caeleb Dressel (Florida), Erika Brown (Tennessee), Sydney Pickrem (Texas A&M)
• Male Swimmer of the Meet: Caeleb Dressel (Florida)
• Female Swimmer of the Meet: Erika Brown (Tennessee)
• Male Diver of the Meet: Juan Celaya Hernandez (LSU)
• Female Diver of the Meet: Brooke Schultz (Arkansas)

Here are a few interesting tidbits from this year’s meet:

• Georgia’s Gunnar Bentz, their top returning scorer from last season’s NCAAs, may be on the bubble for NCAAs. Bentz, who was out of competition for most of the season after a collarbone injury, is a few tenths under the 2017 invite time in the IMs and 200 fly. He’s currently ranked 25th in the 400 IM and 15th in the 200 IM and 200 fly with ACCs, Big 12s, Big Ten, and Pac-12s to go. His best shot right now looks like the 200 fly, where he’s got a season best of 1:42.51 from Georgia’s dual meet with Emory.
• Though they finished only 7th last season, the Texas A&M men propelled themselves all the way to a runner-up finish. The Aggies didn’t win any events, but the depth of their team and a strong diving squad helped them make big moves.
• Not a single women’s individual event was won by a senior. That means every SEC champion on the women’s side should return next season to defend their titles.
• Florida’s Caeleb Dressel now owns 5 current American Record. He’s the only man to have held the records in both the 50 free and 100 breast.
• Tennessee’s Erika Brown has come a very long way. In 2017, she placed 18th in the 100 free, 17th in the 200 free, and 10th in the 50 free. This time around, she swept the sprints and narrowly missed breaking the American Record in the 100 fly.
• The Texas A&M women have incredible depth in breaststroke. The A final of the 200 breast featured 5 Aggie women: Sydney Pickrem (1st), Anna Belousova (2nd), Bethany Galat (3rd), Esther Gonzalez Medina (4th), and Jorie Caneta (7th).

One of the big questions after Caeleb Dressel‘s outstanding showing at the SEC meet surrounds his NCAA schedule. Typically, his NCAA schedule has included the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly, but Dressel has some other potential options this time around. At SECs, he blew David Nolan’s former American Record out of the water with a 1:38.13 in the 200 IM. Swimming the 200 IM, however, would likely mean giving up the 50 free, and his only chance to complete an NCAA 4-peat.

There’s also the question of whether he’ll choose to swim the 100 fly or the 100 breast. In the 100 fly, he’d have another head-to-head matchup with Texas’ Joseph Schooling. In the 100 breast, however, he’d have a chance to become the first man to break 50 seconds after putting up an American Record of 50.03 at SECs. He could always double up on one of the earlier days and skip out on the 100 free, going for the record on the relay leadoff instead, but that doesn’t seem as likely given he’ll have his hands full even with one individual race per day since he plays such an important role on the relays.

FINAL WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES:

  1. Texas A&M University             1319   2. University of Georgia            1030
  3. University of Tennessee         950.5   4. University of Kentucky          877.5
  5. Auburn University                 770   6. University of Missouri            739
  7. University of Florida             619   8. University of South Carolina      591
  9. University of Alabama             539  10. University of Arkansas            461
 11. Louisiana State University        374  12. Vanderbilt University             182

FINAL MEN’S TEAM SCORES:

  1. University of Florida            1237   2. Texas A&M University              994
  3. University of Georgia           975.5   4. University of Tennessee           899
  5. University of Missouri          794.5   6. Auburn University               791.5
  7. University of South Carolina      765   8. University of Alabama           661.5
  9. University of Kentucky          575.5  10. Louisiana State University      430.5