Florida Women Win Their First SEC Conference Title Since 2009

2023 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 14 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
• Rec Center Natatorium, College Station, TX.
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Tennessee (1x)
  • Men: Florida (10x)
• Championship Central
• Women’s Fan Guide
• Men’s Fan Guide
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video

Final Scores

1. Florida – 1255
2. Tennessee – 950.5
3. Kentucky – 946
4. Alabama – 791
5. LSU – 775
6. Georgia – 756
7. Auburn – 688
8. South Carolina – 587
9. Texas A&M – 583.5
10. Arkansas – 530
11. Missouri – 418
12. Vanderbilt – 169

For the first time since 2009, the Gator women are the champions of the SEC. This is their 18th overall conference title, which is the most of any SEC women’s team, as Georgia ranks next with 12. The majority of those title come from a 15 year streak from 1981 to 1996.

This is also the first time since Auburn in 2008 that the same school has won both the men’s and women’s SEC Championships. (And if you weren’t watching yes, head coach Anthony Nesty jumped in twice.)

Since their last title in 2009, Florida has finished second five times: 2010, 2011, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

This title marks a major improvement for the team, who finished fifth in 2022, 408.5 points behind first-place Tennessee.

Gator Event Winners:

• 800 Freestyle Relay: Ekaterina Nikonova, Talia Bates, Emma Weyant, Micayla Cronk, 6:57.11
• 400 IM: Emma Weyant, Sophomore, 4:01.18

The women only won two events, but they still had the meet locked up heading into the last finals session. That’s because even though they stood atop the podium only twice, they often put multiple swimmers into the ‘A’ final.

The perfect example of this phenomenon happened in the 100 freestyle ‘A’ final, where Ekaterina Nikonova was their highest finisher in third. However, Gators made up half of the heat, as Micayla Cronk, Talia Bates, and Katie Mack also picked up big points for Florida.

That depth really showed up in their relays, which is one area that the team made big improvements on at this championship. Before the 400 free relay, Florida had already scored 238 points from their relays, two more than the relays scored in total in 2022.

Florida Relay Finishes: 2022 vs. 2023

“It’s rewarding for our entire program,” said Nesty after the trophy was awarded. “We started in August with everyone getting here. Change is never easy, but our women raced well. We swam relays well. Now we just have to get ready for NCAA’s and have a great summer after that.”

In terms of individual scorers, transfer Emma Weyant was the highest earner for Florida with 82 individual points. The top three scorers are all sophomores, as Cronk was second with 77 points and Nikonova third with 76.

Many of their big points scorers will return next season, an exciting prospect for the Gators given the star-studded recruiting class they’re bringing to Gainesville in fall 2023.

Up next, the team aims to carry this momentum to NCAAs, which will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee for the first time from March 15-18. At 2022 NCAAs, Florida finished 13th with 115 points.

Gator Individual Scorers

1. Emma Weyant, Sophomore – 82 points
2. Micayla Cronk, Sophomore – 77 points
3. Ekaterina Nikonova, Sophomore – 76 points
4. Talia Bates, Senior – 63 points
5. Zoe Dixon, Freshman – 61 points
6. Tylor Mathieu, Senior/Aris Runnels, Sophomore – 57 points
7. (tie)
8. Mabel Zavaros, Junior – 54 points
9. Kathleen Golding, Junior – 51 points
10. Anna Auld, Senior – 48 points
11. Hayden Miller, Freshman – 47 points
12. Katie Mack, Senior – 46 points
13. Nina Kucheran, Fifth-Year – 38 points
14. Amanda Ray, Junior – 30 points
15. Maha Amer, Senior – 28 points
16. Olivia Peoples, Sophomore – 26 points
17. Carina Lumia, Sophomore – 23 points
18. Allison Piccirillo, Senior – 17 points
19. Camille DeBoer, Freshman – 14 points
20. Elise Bauer, Junior – 3 points