2026 SEC Championships: Day 5 Ups/Mids/Downs, Texas To Lock Up Team Titles

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 | Day 4 | Day 5
  • Finals: Day 1 Distance | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

The final day of the 2026 SEC Championships is upon us, and the Texas Longhorns seem to have locked up their team titles pending tonight’s finals session with both teams projected to score the most points tonight.

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.

Team Scores After Night Four

Women’s Ups/Mids/Downs

The women’s meet went exactly the way the Longhorns needed this morning with the Texas women picking up 12 ‘A finalists, with three swimmers in each ‘A’ final including the women’s diving.

The Tennessee women earned 5 ‘A’ finalists, which should be enough to keep them over Florida in the team race, since Florida only earned 4 championship swims.

The Texas women are also seeded 1st in the 400 freestyle relay, and are looking to pick up 364.5 points this evening, almost 150 more than any other team.

We are looking at a very tight race for 4h between Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and South Carolina, and each team will be looking to pick up major points in tonight’s final. Texas, Tennessee, and Florida have separated themselves as the clear top three.

Projected Points Per Event

Projected Relay Scores

Projected Women’s Team Totals

Men’s Ups/Mids/Downs

The Texas men also had a strong prelims session, and they earned eight ‘A’ finals swims including half of the 200 IM final. They also put one swimmer in the 100 free ‘A’ final and three in the 200 back.

The Tennessee men also had a strong morning, earning three ‘A’ finalists and six ‘B’ finalists, and they are projected to outscore Florida individually, but not by enough to catch them, and once relays are factored in, they have the exact same projection of 224 points.

Just like on the women’s side, Texas, Florida, and Tennessee have separated themselves as a clear top three, but the meet gets closer as you go down the list.

**The men’s projected score could fluctuate one point and one swimmer down for Alabama and Auburn. There was a tie for 24th in the 100 freestyle, and the swimoff results were not available as of compiling the data so we put both swimmers in the data.

Men’s Projected Points Per Event

Men’s Projected Relay Scoring

Projected Men’s Team Totals