2024 SECs Day 5 Ups/Mids/Downs: Georgia Men Make A Big Push In The Race For 2nd

2024 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 19 – February 24, 2024
• James E. Martin Aquatic Center — Auburn, AL
• Defending Champions: Women: Florida (1x) Men: Florida (11x)
• Start Times (CT): 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals
• Championship Central
• 2023 SEC Championships Box Score
• Major Conference Roster Limits and Scoring Rules
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video (SEC+ Network)
• Day 1 Diving Recap
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
• Day 5 Prelims Live Recap

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.

TEAM SCORES THRU DAY 4

WOMEN:

1. Florida — 1051.5
2. Tennessee — 837
3. Texas A&M — 664.5
4. Auburn — 625.5
5. Georgia — 617
6. Alabama — 473
7. South Carolina — 459
8. LSU — 392
9. Kentucky — 307
10. Missouri — 281.5
11. Arkansas — 260
12. Vanderbilt — 162

MEN:

1. Florida — 1198.5
2. Auburn — 837
3. Tennessee — 822
4. Georgia — 791
5. Texas A&M — 757.5
6. LSU — 431
7. Missouri — 415
8. Alabama — 366
9. South Carolina — 324
10. Kentucky — 319

DAY 5 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS — WOMEN

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

Women’s Scored Prelims: 

1. Tennessee — 223.5
2. Auburn — 185
3. Florida — 183
4. Texas A&M — 155.5
5. LSU — 125
6. Alabama — 121
7. South Carolina — 116.5
8. Kentucky — 109
9. Georgia — 105
10. Arkansas — 63
11. Missouri — 61.5
12. Vanderbilt — 0

Women’s Scored Prelims + Actual: 

1. Florida — 1234.5
2. Tennessee — 1060.5
3. Texas A&M — 820
4. Auburn — 810
5. Georgia — 722
6. Alabama — 594
7. South Carolina — 575.5
8. LSU — 517
9. Kentucky — 416
10. Missouri — 343
11. Arkansas — 323
12. Vanderbilt 162

The Tennessee women had a big last prelims session. The Lady Vols have 12 total finalists and seven ‘A’ finalists which puts them on top of the ‘scored prelims’ by a wide margin. Their seven ‘A’ finalists help push them past 200 projected points. In addition to their success in the pool, they also have three finalists for the women’s platform finals this evening.

Auburn has the most finalists this evening at 13. Like Tennessee, they’ve got three ‘A’ finalists on the boards. The majority of their swimmers are in ‘B’ finals, which adds up to put them at 185 projected points. They’re two projected points ahead of the Florida women who are expected to score 183 points with nine finalists.

Their performance this morning helps shore up 2nd place and their projected to crack 1000 points. But it doesn’t look like it will be enough to catch the Gators, who dominated the first four days of the meet. In fact, the projected scores have all the teams retaining their places from Day 4. But there are several battles further down the scoresheet–Alabama vs. South Carolina, Missouri vs. Arkansas–that may not be decided until the final relay, which isn’t included in our projected scores.

DAY 5 UPS/MIDS/DOWNS — MEN

Credit to Andrew Mering for running the numbers.

Men’s Scored Prelims: 

1. Georgia — 215
2. Florida — 199
3. Texas A&M — 177
4. Auburn — 150
5. Alabama — 92
6. Tennessee — 84
7. Missouri — 60
8. LSU — 46
9. South Carolina — 43
10. Kentucky — 20

Men’s Scored Prelims + Actual: 

1. Florida — 1397.5
2. Georgia — 1006
3. Auburn — 987
4. Texas A&M — 934.5
5. Tennessee — 906
6. LSU — 477
7. Missouri — 475
8. Alabama — 458
9. South Carolina — 440
10. Kentucky — 339

Barring an absolute disaster, the Florida men have shored up the 2024 SEC title. The real race in the standings is for second as Georgia, Auburn, Texas A&M, and Tennessee have one last session to battle it out. The Georgia Bulldogs made a huge push this morning, putting six men up in ‘A’ finals–tying Florida for most ‘A’ finalists–and four men in ‘B’ finals.

Powered by three men in the 200 backstroke ‘A’ final, the Bulldogs are projected to score 215 points, which would put them firmly in 2nd place, vaulting up 4th where they started the day.

Meanwhile, Tennessee looks out of the race. The Volunteers are expected to score 84 points, the fewest of the teams battling for 2nd. They’ll need to do something special in the relay and outperform their seeds, but even that may not be enough. What’s really hurting them is that while they have eight finalists, their line is 2/0/6.

Texas A&M has 11 finalists, the most of any program. The highlight of their morning was going 1-2-3 in the 200 breaststroke. Then there’s Auburn, who we’ve projected to finish 3rd, just 19 points behind Georgia. The relay is going to be their big chance to close that gap–they come in with a faster seed time than Georgia and if they want to finish second their going to need to take advantage of all the opportunities they have.