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) Women- Kentucky (1x)
- Live Results
- Live Video (Watch ESPN)
- Championship Central
- Psych Sheets
- 2021 SEC Scoring Breakdown
- Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet
- Day 2 Finals Live Recap
The only official record broken by Matt Sates in the men’s 500 free final was a Pool Record (4:11.07, Flynn Minuth), but his swim still turned plenty of heads.
Sates’ splitting in the race gave signs of his potential en route to a 4:09.06 winning time.
| Sates | Jake Magahey – 2021 |
Townley Haas – 4:09.00
|
|
| 1st 100 | 48.15 | 47.33 | 47.18 |
| 2nd 100 | 51.68 | 50.24 | 50.3 |
| 3rd 100 | 51.63 | 50.41 | 50.74 |
| 4th 100 | 49.49 | 49.95 | 50.95 |
| 5th 100 | 48.11 | 48.78 | 49.83 |
| Final Time | 4:09.06 | 4:06.71 | 4:09.00 |
The comparison above is to the two best teenage freshman times in NCAA history. Sates now ranks
Fastest 500 Yard Freestyler by NCAA Freshmen:
- Jake Magahey, Georgia, 2021 – 4:06.71
- Felix Auboeck, Michigan, 2017 – 4:08.95 (age 20)
- Townley Haas, Texas, 2016 – 4:09.00
- Matthew Sates, Georgia, 2022 – 4:09.06
- Luke Hobson, Texas, Fall 2021 – 4:09.72
Sates splits the 500 similarly to how he splits the 400. In his best 400 in short course, a 3:37.92 from October that is the World Junior Record, he split 52.56-56.62-55.54-53.20.
Sates, in only his second NCAA meet, now leads the NCAA in the 500 free this season.
Kieran Smith, the fastest-ever in this event, placed 2nd in 4:10.15. While he wasn’t able to win a third consecutive conference title in the event, that might be okay: in each of the last two seasons, he was slower at NCAAs than at SECs, so a slower windup here gives him the chance to reverse that trend at the big meet in March. Smith swam 4:06.32s in each of the last two SEC meets, which tie as the fastest times ever.
A closing 50 split of 23.49 for him indicated he still had a little more gas to give, or he could have just been showing off the increasingly-famous Florida closing speed.
Switching gears like that mid-lap on the way to a 4:09 is the closest swimming can get to something like an Iverson trick-pass
His last 100 was FASTER than his first 100. You see that from age groupers swimming the 500 for the first time. Not from collegiate conference champions. Insane. This dude is going to be such a difference-maker for the Bulldogs.
He accidentally did catchup drill for the first 300 yards then switched it up
Is there a race video anywhere? Would love to watch this.
Hoping there will be later.
I gotchu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vxwanFAku8
Matt swam a very smart race, like you said a similar strategy he used in winning multiple 400’s in the FINA world cup series races a few months ago. Cant wait to see how fast he goes at NCAA when he rests. I see he, Katy Grimes and Caspar Corbeau are all using P2Life Nutritional Products. I follow Matt on instagram and he swears by them.
Is that the one MA signed with at 14?
Yes
Where the haters at now?!
That was a big move Matt made at the 300. Two seconds faster pace is a lot.
Kieran Smith may have been affected by his relay swim. He was swimming next to Sates so he saw Sates take off. Smith’s last 50 was very fast as he tried to overtake Jake M. for second place.