2021 Women’s SEC Championships: Day 3 Ups/Mids/Downs

SEC – WOMEN SWIMMING & DIVING + MEN’S DIVING

• Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20, 2021
• W Swimming: Gabrielsen Natatorium – Athens, GA (Eastern Time Zone)
• W&M Diving: Mizzou Aquatics Center – Columbia, MO (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Tennessee (1x) (2020 results)
• Live results
• Live Video – SEC Network
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets

For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.

With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” “Mids” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Mid” to swimmers in the B final and “Down” to swimmers in the C final.

Before diving into this morning’s prelim results, let’s first get a refresher on where we stand in the team race through two days of competition.

With Thursday’s 3-meter diving scores factored in, Florida holds an 83-point advantage on Georgia, with several teams on the Bulldog’s heels in the battle for second.

CURRENT SCORES

1. Florida, 448
2. Georgia, 365
3. Alabama, 357
4. Tennessee, 348
5. Kentucky, 343
6. Texas A&M, 334
7. Arkansas, 325
8. Mizzou, 253
9. LSU, 198
10. Auburn, 188
11. South Carolina, 145
12. Vanderbilt, 94

On Friday morning, Kentucky had a standout performance by putting 18 swims into scoring position for tonight, including eight in ‘A’ finals.

Lauren Poole led the way for the Wildcats in the 400 IM, qualifying first overall in a personal best time of 4:06.84, while senior Bailey Bonnett went over five seconds under her seed time to take sixth.

In addition to the 400 IM, they also put three swimmers into the 100 back ‘A’ final, including junior Parker Herren (seventh, 53.14) who didn’t even make their SEC roster each of the last two seasons.

Alabama had a strong session as well, putting seven through to ‘A’ finals including a pair in the 100 fly, 200 free and 100 breast, and Florida, Georgia and Tennessee weren’t far behind with five apiece. Texas A&M notably has nine swimmers set to compete in ‘B’ finals.

DAY 3 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

Scoring out the prelims, Kentucky holds a sizeable advantage with 322.5 points, followed by Alabama, Florida and TAMU. The top-six teams all keep themselves in the hunt, while Arkansas, who was buoyed by a standout diving showing yesterday, looks to be falling out of the hunt for a top-six finish.

SCORED PRELIMS

1. Kentucky, 322.5
2. Alabama, 256
3. Texas A&M / Florida, 227
4. –
5. Tennessee, 213
6. Georgia, 215.5
7. Auburn, 97
8. Arkansas, 91
9. Missouri, 88
10. LSU, 43
11. South Carolina, 30
12. Vanderbilt, 0

Kentucky’s charge projects them to be right on Florida’s heels after tonight’s session.

CURRENT SCORES + PRELIMS

1. Florida, 675
2. Kentucky, 665.5
3. Alabama, 613
4. Georgia, 580.5
5. Tennessee, 561
6. Texas A&M, 561
7. Arkansas, 416
8. Missouri, 341
9. Auburn, 285
10. LSU, 241
11. South Carolina, 175
12. Vanderbilt, 94