On day 2 of the SEC Championships, the true contenders began to rise to the top as the individual events kicked in. The Florida Gators, both their men and women, are performing extremely well in this meet. Georgia and Auburn are having mixed results, though if we assume that both are on only small rests for this meet, the results are still positive.
The home team Tennessee Volunteers are putting up some great swims – and still placing very well in the team standings thanks to their divers in large part.
LSU is also stands out as having a great meet. Especially on the women’s side, it’s clear that our pre-meet supposition that the SEC would be swimming very well seems to be accurate.
Women’s 500 Free
In this first individual event of the 2012 SEC Championships, we got our first big indication that Georgia is not fully tapered for this meet. We also got the first reason why they’re still the favorites to take the title. With 5 swimmers in the A-Final, the Bulldogs burst into the lead in this meet.
The winner of the event was Bulldog freshman Amber McDermott in 4:37.15. That’s a great swim, but it’s not even close to her best time from the Georgia Invite in December. Her teammates Shannon Vreeland (3rd – 4:39.72) and Wendy Trott (4th – 4:39.93) were also slower than their times from December.
In among the Bulldog swimmers was Tennessee sophomore Lindsay Gendron in 4:38.74. That’s her best time of the year by over two seconds.
Men’s 500 Free
The Georgia men hoped to make the same impact on the scoring in the men’s 500 free, but the Florida Gators took the 2nd-4th spots to keep that from happening.
Florida’s Jason Taylor, who is an overlooked piece, but very important piece, of this team took 2nd in 4:18.99. That dropped 6 seconds off of his season best. Freshman Nicholas Caldwell also had a big drop in 4:20.11 for 3rd (he was faster in prelims). He can’t be too happy with that time, as he was faster 5 times during his senior year. He’s had a tough transition to the Florida one-big-taper style, as he was used to swimming fast at several meets a season in high school.
Connor Signorin was 4th in 4:20.59, though he looked like he had more to give at the end.
Despite not placing as high overall as they might have wanted, the Bulldogs’ Martin Grodzki was able to take a great win in 4:16.94. His teammate Andrew Gemmell took 5th in 4:20.61.
Most of these swimmers will race again in the mile, where most of them specialize.
Auburn sophomore Zane Grothe had a poor morning swim, and he snuck back to take the B-Final title in 4:18.57. That would have put him 2nd overall in the A. Georgia’s Jameson Hill struggled in the final, and slipped to a 4:27 for 13th place.
Women’s 200 IM
Florida sophomore Elizabeth Beisel wasn’t quite as fast in the finals of the 200 IM (1:54.89) as she was in the prelims (1:54.83). Something tells me that this won’t bother her though, as she will walk away from the event with a lifetime best, and NCAA “A” time standard, an SEC Championship, the number three time in the country, and most significantly a new Florida Record. This broke Gemma Spofforth’s 2010 record of 1:55.39.
Outside of Beisel and 4th-place finisher Kelsey Floyd of Tennessee (1:58.58), this A-final was dominated by breaststrokers. Georgia extended their lead with Melanie Margalis (1:55.78) and Jana Mangimelli (1:55.99) taking 2nd and 3rd respectively; also in automatic qualifying times.
Beisel’s sophomore teammate and classmate Hilda Luthersdottir, another breaststroker, was 5th in 1:58.75.
Men’s 200 IM
Florida’s Marcin Cieslak showed that he might be the conference’s best swimmer this year by taking his first title in 1:43.01, which is his lifetime best, an NCAA automatic qualifying time, and moves him to 4th on the all-time Florida list. After that time, as well as a great 800 free relay split, Cieslak could be on his way to three individual titles (with the 100 and 200 fly races yet to come).
Auburn’s Kyle Owens took 2nd in 1:43.30, which is also an automatic qualifying time.
After those two, the next 6 swimmers were freshman, which shows the overall youth in the SEC. The top of those freshmen was Georgia’s Nic Fink, who has incredible versatility, in 1:44.86, and moved him all the way to 3rd on Georgia’s all-time list. The school record holder, Peter Benner won the B-Final Thursday in a 1:46.
Florida freshman Eduardo Solaeche took 4th in 1:45.10.
Women’s 50 Free
After becoming the first-ever woman under 21 seconds either flat-started or on a relay, Auburn’s Anna Vanderpool-Wallace showed that she’s still got a lot to give in the 50 free at NCAA’s. She took the win in 21.35 (21.46 in prelims), which is .01 off of her SEC Record set last season. That should assuage some fears that she might have been rested for this meet – the Auburn women overall seem to be generally off of a full taper.
American National Teamer Amanda Kendall is turning her long course speed into short course success. She swam a 21.92 for 2nd, which cuts a tenth off of her best time and her school record. Last year, she had her best swims at SEC’s. We’ll get a better feel for whether that’s going to be true this year when she swims the 100.
Third-place in this loaded race went to Florida’s Sara Bateman in 22.01, and Georgia freshman Maddie Locus took 4th in 22.10.
Tennessee’s sprint duo of Jenny Connolly and surprising Caroline Simmons tied for 5th in 22.32. Simmons is a transfer from Buffalo, and is having a great time so far – that’s her best swim by four-tenths.
The LSU Tigers have a good young sprinter of their own. Freshman Marre Niemi took last in the final, but that’s after falling well off of a 22.66 from prelims.
Men’s 50 Free
Auburn did what Auburn does in this men’s 50 free, and took 5 out of the top 7 places.
But the man who stole the title was Florida sprinter Bradley deBorde. In prelims, he broke the Florida School Record with a 19.25 to take the top seed headed into finals. That cleared the old mark held by Shaune Fraser at 19.30 from 2009. He wasn’t able to beat that in finals, but his 19.29 would have also beat the old record. DeBorde, only a sophomore, was poised for a big breakout meet, and is the sprint presence that the Gators desperately need.
His teammate Matthew Norton also made an A-final, touching 8th in 19.78. That’s a good time, and a lifetime best, coming off of a redshirt year caused by injury. The senior came to Florida from Daytona Beach, where he swam under Ryan Lochte’s dad Steve.
As for the Tigers, the top two finishers were seniors Drew Modrov and Karl Krug in 19.32 and 19.38, respectively. Chris Manning was 4th in 19.47, and Marcelo Chierighini was 5th in 19.57. Thought that we’d get a lot more from the Brazilian sophomore in this race, after his medley relay split on Wednesday.
Women’s 200 Free Relay
The Auburn women again scared an SEC Relay Record by winning the 200 free relay in 1:28.32. Anna Vanderpool-Wallace led off here in only a 21.71, which is not a great time for her but is really all she needed to put Auburn into clean water. Her teammates Hannah Riordan, Emily Bos, and Haley Krakoski then raced to a victory, and held off a tough Georgia squad.
As for the Bulldogs, with two freshman in the group (Maddie Locus 22.38 and Lauren Harrington 22.28), they had a very good time of 1:28.80. In an exciting finish, Megan Romano’s closing split of 21.75 pulled them ahead of Tennessee.
Tennessee’s Simmons had another great swim on the leadoff in 22.39, but sophomore Lindsay Gendron despite swimming well in 22.22 was just nipped by Georgia. They took 3rd in 1:28.86.
LSU’s Kendall and Florida’s Bateman led off their 4th-and-5th place relays, respectively, in 22.02 and 22.06.
Men’s 200 Free Relay
There was little surprise in this relay, as the Auburn men flew to a 1:16.47 win in this 200 free relay. That included sub-19 splits on both middle legs from Karl Krug (18.92) and Chris Manning (18.90). Interestingly, Auburn took Chierighini off of this relay after his performance in the individual race. That was probably as much about trying to qualify as many swimmers as possible for NCAA’s through relays as anything bigger, but will have to watch to see what they do in March.
Florida took 2nd in 1:17.86, with deBorde leading them off in 19.48.
So good was the Auburn relay that their three rolling-start legs were better than any other swimmer in the field. The next best mark went to an outstanding swim from LSU sophomore Michael Saco in 19.26. THat was a big step up from the 19.92 he went in the B-Final of the individual race.
Men’s 1-meter Diving
Tennessee’s Ryan Helms continued to dominate the diving, and he won his 2nd-straight springboard event with a score of 415.40. That’s a strong recovery after some difficulty in prelims where he was only 2nd and looked a bit tight.
After the win, Helms would say that “it was pretty cool to win both 1 meter and 3 meter. It is always easy to get comfortable after a win. After yesterday’s competition, I made a point to come back and not be happy with that.”
His perfect streak will be in jeopardy on the platform on Friday, as that is his freshman teammate Mauricio Robles’ best event. Robles was 3rd in this event.
Women’s 3-meter Diving
South Carolina’s Courtney Forcucci won the 3-meter title in 392.40. Tennessee’s Victoria Lamp continued a strong performance in her first SEC Championship meet (though she is in her junior year academically) with a score of 381.85 for 2nd. That’s her 2nd-straight runner-up finish in this meet.
LSU’s Alex Bettridge placed 3rd in 366.85. The freshman is playing a big role in this year’s team, as the Tigers’ diving program was rattled by significant transfers after last season.
Team Scores
Women
1. Georgia 274
2. Tennessee 249
3. Auburn 228.5
4. Florida 198.5
5. LSU 176
6. South Carolina 116
7. Arkansas 113
8. Alabama 110
9. Kentucky 54
10. Vanderbilt 46
Men
1. Auburn 301
2. Florida 276
3. Georgia 208
3. Tennessee 208
5. LSU168
6. Kentucky 116
7. South Carolina 95
8. Alabama 67
“I’m not a specialist of NCAA but for me the big meet is next month.”
I don’t think anyone would disagree with the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP being the big meet…
Despite all of the rested-not-rested-not-fully-rested-not-rested-but-shaved-and-suited this is turning into another great SEC Champ Meet. I love showing these results to my swimmers and showing them what’s possible in the future and what can happen, even at the end of a 3.5 day meet. This meet will really get interesting next year with Mizzou and ATM, 14 teams at one championship meet and bringing a tough squad on the girls side like ATM. Should be awesome.
Georgia is not fully tapered for this meet. Fortunately their swimmers are not fully tapered for this meet. I’m not a specialist of NCAA but for me the big meet is next month. So I think Amber McDermott, Maddie Locus, Melanie Margalis or Jana Mangimelli have swum really well. For Florida, good swim of Elizabeth Beisel, the big show will be next month against Katinka Hosszu, Caitlin Leverenz and Maya DiRado. And for the 50 free on the men’s side, times are relatively slow. I didn’t know Bradley DeBorde, perhaps he will be the surprise of the season.
Nicholas comes from solid programs. GCST and SYS swimmers go to work. He is used to yardage and swimming fast at the end of the year. Nicholas’s swim has more to do with getting healthy, as there are no transition issues.
Caldwell was also out for 7 weeks last summer because of an injury.
impressed with Tenn men, considering all they went through this year with coach and kicking off a couple important swimmers. alot of their points are diving, but that is part of the sport.