2022 SEC Championships: Day 1 Ups/Mids/Downs

2022  SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 19, 2022
• Jones Aquatics Center, Knoxville, Tenn. (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Men- Florida (9x) Women- Kentucky (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video (Watch ESPN)
• Championship Central
• Pre-Scratch Psych Sheets
• 2021 SEC Scoring Breakdown
• Teams: Georgia, Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee, LSU, Auburn, Kentucky, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, South Carolina, Vanderbilt
• Day 1 Prelims Recap

The first round of preliminary results are in from the 2022 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, which means we can start projecting points for the first time at the country’s deepest conference championship meet.

On the women’s side, the Tennessee Volunteers got the first punch in for their anticipated battle with Alabama when senior diver Grace Cable qualified for the A Final on 1-meter. That means she’ll score at least 22 points for her effort, while Alabama has been shut out of the points altogether in the event.

South Carolina is also seeing immediate dividends from their new diving coach Dale Schultz and his NCAA Champion daughter Brooke Schultz, who transferred to the Gamecocks this spring. Schultz and freshman Sophie Verzyl finished 1-2 in prelims, by a pretty wide margin.

LSU, another team expected to finish near the bottom of the team standings, also put two divers into the “A” final.

On the men’s side, the big surprise was Kentucky junior Danny Zhang, who was 2nd last year, finishing 9th and out of the A-Final.

LSU and Texas A&M should pick up big points here with two divers in the top 8 in prelims each, while the Tennessee Volunteers, who are part of a battle for 2nd in the team standings, also have two who will dive for the top points in the final.

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.

Day 1 Diving Up/Mids/Downs

Note: the SEC doesn’t dive out places 9-16 or 17-24 in a final; rather, points are awarded based on prelims finishes. They have been included below for consistency.

Women’s 1-Meter

Men’s 3-Meter