2012 SEC Men's Championship Preview

The SEC men’s championship meet is one of those meets without much suspense. The Auburn men have won 15-straight SEC titles, and though Florida gave them their best test in recent memory last year (the margin for the Tigers was only 17 points), this year’s Auburn team should be back firmly in control of this Championship.

The Tigers have the same great sprinters that they always have. This year, Brazilian sophomore Marcelo Chierighini is the top sprinter. Add to him Drew Modrov and James Disney-May, who have both already been well-under 44 already this year, and Auburn looks stout again in the relays. They did graduate an entire 200 medley relay, but if pure-speed is what’s needed (as in the 200 medley), Auburn shouldn’t have much trouble reloading.

Kyle Owens out of Auburn is a great backstroker, and is far-and-away the top seed in that race in this meet. Would love to see him swim a good time and make some impacts on his way to NCAA’s.

The Florida men have found an elite sprinter of their own in Bradley deBorde, who has really come up big this year after the mega-losses that the Gators had following last season. DeBorde was a key relay swimmer last year, but has already been a 19.57 this year in the 50 to move towards “elite” territory. His successes will be huge if the Gators expect to contend again.

The Tennessee men are down, but not out. Despite their coach John Trembley being fired midseason (for reasons yet unrevealed), and their best swimmer Ryan Harrison being suspended for the season, don’t think the team is done. They have a group of swimmers who have really stepped up this year and are having GREAT seasons.

Junior Ed Walsh is having a strong sprint year, and his 19.97 in the 50 is already as fast as he was at SEC’s last year. He’s also earning a bit of a reputation for putting up some great relay swims, so if Tennessee is close on an anchor leg, look out. Also watch sophomore Sam Rairden. At last year’s SEC Championships, he had a monstrous taper (he took off somewhere around two-and-a-half seconds per individual event in the 100/200 back and the 200 free). He’s swimming well in-season this year, and that could mean big things for his SEC performance.

The Georgia men are following a strikingly similar trajectory to their women. They lost two big pieces (NCAA Champions at that), but because of improved depth, both recruited and developed, from the team overall, they should actually have a better scoring output at this year’s SEC Championship meet.

It would be hard to overhype UGA’s men’s distance group. Their three-headed monster of Martin Grodzki, William Freeman, and Andrew Gemmell should put up huge totals. Jared Markham has developed as well as any freshman in the country (much like Bauerle did with Jameson Hill last season), and could earn at least two podiums.

In a tough sprinting conference, Georgia has a bit of a hole in the sprint freestyles. They’ve got one good piece in Michael Arnold, but he’s not enough to build much of a relay around. Hill can also pull of a good 100, though his true strength is in the 200-500. The Bulldogs will struggle in those relays after graduating 14 out of 20 relay spots, but the good news is that relay scoring is rarely significant at the conference level.

Florida was absolutely torn up by graduation/transfers/expiration of eligibility last year. But they are rebuilding in a hurry. Not only that, but he’s rebuilding in a way that will help sort of temper the drop within the conference – he’s recruited a very good freshman class that swims events that are big weaknesses in the SEC.

Eduardo Solaeche and Matthew Elliott are both incredibly strong IM’ers and breaststrokers, and either one could end up with an SEC title this year. The Gators also have returning sophomore Marcin Cieslak, who I view as perhaps the most underrated swimmer in the country. He should run away with the men’s 200 fly.

They need a big meet from Nicholas Caldwell. Though only a freshman, in his last year before starting classes at Florida he put up some of the best high school distance times we’ve ever seen. He hasn’t done that in his first year in Gainesville yet, especially given how well some of his classmates have performed. I think the drops begin here, and will continue to NCAA’s, and they could be spectacular. You can basically throw his seeds out of the window.

Kentucky has to be excited about the return of Tyler Reed at this meet. After a huge year in 2010 (both for him and the team), Reed redshirted last season. This year, however, he’s seeded 3rd in both the 100 and 200 freestyles (even against a stacked field) with times of 1:36.5 and 43.6. Maclin Simpson is the 2nd seed in the 200 fly, which is another event that the SEC is a bit short in.

After Reed’s graduation, Kentucky has a lot of young sprinters that look like they may be building for the 2014 Championships, to have another big run like they did in 2010.

South Carolina needs some big swims from breaststroker Bobby Cave to hold up their ranking from last season (the Gamecocks really turn out some solid 200 breaststrokers).

The LSU men don’t have anyone who’s developed a star name yet, but after this meet expect them to. One of my favorite swimmers in the conference is 200 butterflier Frank Greeff. He is a huge South African who specializes in the 200 fly, and has a very good 100 as well. Andrei Tuomolo has the top seed in the men’s 100 breaststroke, as well.

Alabama’s a bit underseeded, as many of their top swimmers put up their best winter times at the long course Winter National Championships. That includes Alex Coci and Joe Ziegler. That means they intend to put in significant rest for this meet (remember, this year swimmers can’t qualify for NCAA’s on long course times), and so expect them to vault up and swim very well.

Races to Watch

1500 Free

This is going to be a great intrasquad battle between the Georgia men, with two national championship contenders in Grodzki and Gemmell, as well as another top-5 guy in Freeman. Believe it or not, though, a distance swimmer from the sprint gurus at Auburn of all places could sneak in and play spoiler. Zane Grothe uspet many of the big-name freshman distance swimmers at NCAA’s last year, and he’s waiting for a breakout too. There’s no way that the Georgia guys go on an early taper so far out from NCAA’s (they’re all easily below 14:50 if they do) which leaves a big door open for Grothe, who had his first big breakout at this meet last year.

And lest we forget, Florida’s Connor Signorin has been having a phenomenal year, but is only seeded 10th in this mile. He was the conference runner-up last year, and if his other times in the IM’s and the 500 free are indicators, then he could be a burner in this race too.

400 IM

Youth will be served in this race. Though they won’t all swim it (specifically, Florida’s Cieslak), the top 6 seeds in the 400 IM are all either freshmen or sophomores. Signorin, as mentioned above, is swimming great and he has the top seed. A great freshman battle will go down between Solaeche Gomez and Elliot of Florida versus Markham of Georgia. Auburn freshman Allen Browning doesn’t get as much play-time as the others, but he’s a big freshman who has good potential, as does another Gator Dan Wallace.

Then there will be two Georgia veterans in to play spoiler: Peter Benner (coming up from the 200 IM) and Andrew Gemmell (coming down from the mile). Watch the breaststrokers (Solaeche, Elliott) kick it in on the third leg of this race, and then the distance freestylers (Markham, Gemmell) to try and kick it in on the anchor. Should be a fun back-and-forth battle in the lead pack.

100 Fly

This race shapes up to be a good head-to-head battle between Michael Arnold and Marcin Cieslak. Marcel Chierighini of Auburn is trying to fill that “Adam Brown, I’m a freestyler, but can pull of a fly sprint in short course) role.

There’s also a lot of opportunities for young butterfliers to step up in this race – 6 out of the top 7 from last year’s meet are all gone. Alabama’s Alex Coci, the aforementioned Frank Freeff, and a few other young faces will be looking to fill the void and pick up significant points.

Predictions

The SEC men’s meet has been fairly easy to pick the last few years. Aside from Florida’s challenge from Auburn last season, there are rarely true “battles” in the team race. I think that Georgia leapfrogs Tennessee, and it should be another great fight between LSU and Alabama (seems to come out that way, no?) after they were separated by only .5 points for 5th-place last year.

Auburn should take the title – they’re very deep. A full-strength Tennessee team might have given Florida a run for their money, but as it stands I think that the Bulldogs (with two big added scorers in Markham and Gemmell) jump the Vols for 3rd. Some will like the Bulldogs to move ahead of the depleted Gators for 2nd, but I think Florida still wins the “warm bodies” game, and have the right swimmers who are good in the right races.

LSU and Alabama is a tough decision, as both programs are swimming well and should be heavily rested for the meet. I think that LSU takes it on having just a bit “more” than the Crimson Tide. Kentucky will be the big movers of the crowd, which is hard to believe based on their 8th place finish from last year. They are a solid team though, and have some very good, if unknown, swimmers in the right events to score some points.

1. Auburn
2. Florida
3. Georgia
4. Tennessee
5. LSU
6. Kentucky
7. Alabama
8. South Carolina