Good day to be a ‘Dawg: Georgia men, women lead SECs after two days – Scoring analysis

It wasn’t a flawless day for the Georgia Bulldogs, but it was plenty enough to nab the SEC lead on both the men’s and women’s sides.

Women’s Point Standings

1. Georgia – 526
2. Texas A&M – 442
3. Florida – 410
4. LSU – 321
5. Tennessee – 311
6. Auburn – 259
7. Kentucky – 246
8. Missouri – 240
9. South Carolina – 224
10. Arkansas – 204
11. Alabama – 187
12. Vanderbilt – 90

The Lady Bulldogs have already started to separate from the field, leading by nearly 100 points. You can read more about it in our post-meet “7 Big Things” section, but what’s most impressive is that Georgia did so while two of their defending NCAA champions were swimming fairly averagely.

Texas A&M has taken the upper hand in the battle for second (Georgia seems to be far enough ahead that it’s already merely a battle for runner-up honors), thanks in large part to some sparkling freshman performances. Beryl Gastaldello, Lisa Bratton and Kristin Malone all came up big for the Aggies, who lead Florida by 32.

If the 200 IM was any indication, though, the Gators should make a solid run in the 400 IM tomorrow, and the 200 free should be another good event for Gregg Troy‘s crew.

LSU has gotten a ton of points on the diving boards so far, and actually led the meet after night 1. But the 100 fly is one of their better swimming events, and it comes tomorrow. That could keep them afloat, though Tennessee seems primed to overcome the 10-point deficit in a hurry.

Missouri has been pretty underwhelming so far, complete with a 7th-place finish in the 200 medley relay we thought would be a strong point for them coming into the meet. Dani Barbiea‘s 100 fly tomorrow is probably the Tigers’ best chance to turn things around momentum-wise, so keep both eyes on her.

Men’s Point Standings

1. Georgia – 421
2. Florida – 391
3. Auburn – 379
4. Tennessee – 329
5. Alabama – 311
6. Missouri – 251
7. South Carolina – 249
8. Texas A&M – 222
9. LSU – 189
10. Kentucky – 169

It’s impressive that Georgia made it through today with a points lead, given that sprint freestyle appears to be their most glaring weakness. Helping matters, though, is that Florida isn’t great in the sprints either outside of Caeleb Dressel, and only outscored the Bulldogs by 4 on the 200 free relay.

Both Florida and Georgia both really excel through the longer events, so tomorrow’s 400 IM and 200 free should be big for determining the lead. The Gators are just 30 points back.

Alabama and Georgia mostly stole the headlines on day 2, leaving Auburn somewhat in the dark, but the home team is still clearly in contention for the title at this point. You would’ve hoped for a little more explosion from guys like Kyle Darmody and Jacob Molacek if Auburn were really going to make a run at Georgia and Florida, but there’s a lot of swimming left to be swum.

Tennessee’s been hanging in there, and they’re using depth and consistency to beat a flashier Alabama team so far. Tomorrow’s events will make things tougher on ‘Bama, which got huge boosts from Kristian Gkolomeev and its sprinters today. Still it’d be a far cry for Missouri or South Carolina to leapfrog the Crimson Tide. They trail by 60+ at the moment.

You can find our full day 2 finals recap here, and you can find our post-meet analysis “7 Big Things” post here. We’ll be back with live recaps of tomorrow’s prelims, and don’t forget to follow our @SwimSwamLive Twitter account for the quickest updates and brief analysis of all the action from this meet and the rest of the big-time NCAA action happening across the country.