2022 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships: Day 2 Prelims Scratches

2022 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 15 – Saturday, February 19, 2022
• Jones Aquatics Center, Knoxville, Tenn. (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Men- Florida (9x)
• Live Results
• Live Video (Watch ESPN)
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• 2021 SEC Scoring Breakdown
• Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet

The SEC Conference has revealed the heat sheets for day 2 of the 2022 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships on Wednesday. Wednesday will be the first day of the five day meet with individual swimming events.

With so many athletes over-entered in the pre-selection psych sheets, these daily heat sheets will give a clearer story about what those athletes will swim, though day 2’s events didn’t hold most of the meet’s mysteries.

All of the high scratches came in the 200 IM. In the women’s race, Alabama junior Cora Dupre has dropped the 200 IM in favor of the 50 free for Wednesday. She would have been the 4th seed in the 200 IM and is only the 47th seed in the 50 free, but that doesn’t tell the full story: she swam the 50 free at last year’s SEC Championship where she finished 2nd in 21.82.

At this year’s mid-season Tennessee Invitational, she swam the 200 IM in 1:56.83, a best time, but didn’t enter the individual 50 free.

Her 200 IM time is already likely good enough to qualify her for the NCAA Championships, but she doesn’t technically have an NCAA “B” standard time yet in the 50 free after not swimming in any of Alabama’s second semester meets.

Dupre split 1:44.07 on the 2nd leg of Alabama’s 800 free relay on Tuesday; after a flat-start 1:43.9 mid-season, that swim is a bit off the pace, but she should still be able to make the “A” final in the event – if she can avoid the trap of racing out of a non-circle-seeded heat.

The other big scratch in the women’s 200 IM is the would-be 7th seed Bailey Bonnett of Kentucky. She finished 8th in the event at last year’s SEC Championships, and her best time is top 4 potential this year.

That leaves her with 3 other entries: the 100 breast, 200 breast, and 400 IM, and the presumption is that she’s planning to swim those three races. While the 100 breast and 400 IM come in the same session at the NCAA Championships, in the 5-day SEC format, this schedule doesn’t result in any doubles.

The big scratch in the men’s 200 IM is Florida junior Kieran Smith. Smith was the pre-scratch #2 seed in the 200 IM and #1 seed in the 500 free, and has chosen the 500 free. That’s not a big surprise, given that he’s the Olympic bronze medalist in the equivalent 400 meter free, but it does show off his versatility. There was also an argument to swim the 200 IM at this meet instead of the 500 free, given the respective fields and having to show down with the defending NCAA Champion in the 500 Jake Magahey.

He has 9 total entries at the meet, so still lots of choices for him. Last year he swam the 400 IM and 100 free, skipping the 200 free where he’s one of the best ever. The 200 free and the 400 IM come in the same session, so that makes for a tough double. He swapped the 400 IM for the 200 free at NCAAs.

Of note, Georgia sophomore Luca Urlando has retained his 13th seed in the 200 IM. That means he’ll probably drop the 100 back on Friday, avoiding a double with the 200 fly, and also swim the 100 fly. He’s the 4th seed in the 100 back.

Another star Georgia swimmer, second-semester newcomer Matthew Sates, has chosen the 500 free over the 200 IM. Having only joined the team for their last dual meet against Emory, he was not highly-seeded in either race, but he would be a title contender in either event. Sates is the World Junior Record holder in short course meters in both the 400 meter free (equivalent of the 500) and the 200 IM.

The top seeds in the 500 and 50 freestyles both stayed largely intact.

Men’s Standings After Day 1

1. Texas A&M – 156
2. Tennessee – 155
3. Kentucky – 153
4. LSU – 139
5. Alabama – 137
6. Florida – 133
7. Missouri – 122
8. Georgia – 114
9. South Carolina – 105
10. Auburn – 90

Women’s Standings After Day 1

1. Texas A&M – 155
2. LSU – 150
3. Kentucky – 148
4. Tennessee – 145
5. South Carolina/Georgia – 139
6. (TIE)
7. Florida – 130
8. Alabama – 114
9. Auburn – 107
10. Missouri – 97
11. Arkansas – 78
12. Vanderbilt – 60