2026 SEC Championships: Day 3 Ups/Mids/Downs, Texas Dominates Both Sides

2026 SEC Championships

• Dates: Monday, February 16–Saturday, February 21
• Location: Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center, Knoxville, TN
• Defending Champions: Texas (1x)
• Live Results
• Live Video: SEC Network+
• Psych Sheet (UPDATED)
• Schedule of Events
• Championship Central
• Teams: Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt (women only), Arkansas (women only)
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 Distance | Day 1 | Day 2

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 and divers in the A final, “Mid” to B finalists, and “Down” to C finalists.

Scores After Day Two

Women’s Ups/Mids/Downs

Day three of the SEC Championships saw the Texas women bounce back big after they dropped to 2nd following day two of the meet. They are currently projected to outscore Tennessee by a little more than 100 points, bringing in 368 to Tennessee’s 267.

The Texas women picked up 10 ‘A’ finalists, four more than Tennessee, who sits in 2nd with six ‘A finalists. In the 200 free and in the 3-meter diving event, they picked up three ‘A’ finalists each.

Texas, Tennessee, and Florida have separated themselves as the top three teams in the conference, but South Carolina, Auburn, and Alabama are all battling for that 4th place position.

Projected Score Per Event

Women’s Projected Relay Points

Women’s Projected Totals

Men’s Ups/Mids/Downs

The Texas men continued to assert their dominance over the rest of the conference, picking up nine men’s ‘A’ finalists with three in each of the individual events on Thursday. Florida had the next most ‘A’ finals qualifiers with 5 total.

Texas is projected to score 298.5 points, coming in more than 100 points ahead of Florida’s projection of 167.

Georgia will be looking to make big moves on the leaderboard today, coming into the day in 6th overall. They earned four ‘a’ finalists over the three individual events and are projected to finish the day in 4th overall.

Projected Points Per Event

Projected Relay Points

Men’s Projected Totals