Southeastern Conference (SEC) – Men and Women
- Dates: Tuesday, February 18–Saturday, February 22
- Location: Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, GA
- Defending Champions: Florida women (2x); Florida men (12x)
- Live Results
- Live Video: SEC Network+
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide (Men)
- Fan Guide (Women)
- Psych Sheets
- Teams: Alabama, Arkansas (women), Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas*, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt (women)
Psych Sheets
The last edition of the psych sheets for the 2025 SEC Championship meet, which begins on Tuesday in Athens, Georgia, has been published.
While these new sheets don’t require athletes to cut down to their maximum 3 individual events, it does require teams to reduce their rosters to the allotted 22 slots for the meet.
First things first, given that we published an editorial revolving around Texas’ roster cuts earlier today, these are the four swimmers they dropped after initial entries:
- Holden Smith (#10 seed 200 IM, #16 seed 100 fly, #17 seed 200 fly)
- Spenter Aurnou-Rhees (#10 seed 400 IM, #12 seed 200 IM, #31 seed 200 fly)
- Landon D’Ariano (#7 seed 400 IM, #23 seed 200 fly, #43 seed 400 IM)
- Garrett Gould (#16 seed 50 free, #20 seed 100 fly, #22 seed 100 free)
Other than that, most of the 84 swimmers who were dropped from the meet since the initial psych sheet release came from outside of the seeds projected to score. Other top 20 seeds who were scratched from the meet:
Men:
- Joaquin Gonzalez, Florida (#18 seed 200 IM, #22 seed 400 IM, #25 seed 200 fly)
- Raphael Windmuller, Florida (#20 seed 200 breast, #21 seed 100 breast, #63 seed 200 IM
Women:
- Sienna Schellenger, Texas (#10 seed 50 free, #26 seed 100 back, #28 seed 100 free)
- Olivia McMurray, Texas (#11 seed 1650 free, #21 seed 500 free, #32 seed 400 IM)
- Aislyn Barnett, Auburn (#16 seed 200 breast, #44 seed 100 breast, NT 1650 free)
- Camille DeBoer, Florida (#15 seed 1650 free, #25 seed 500 free, #26 seed 400 IM)
Among the other notable names there is Florida’s Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero, who is a two-time NCAA Championship qualifier and placed 3rd in the 200 IM and 4th in the 200 fly at last year’s SEC Championship meet.
Notable on the women’s side is Sienna Schellenger, who just went a best time of 22.18 in the 50 free at the team’s final regular season meet. That time is just .07 seconds shy of what it took to get invited to NCAAs last year, so don’t be surprised to see her show up at a last chance meet somewhere.
Lots of things can happen between now and NCAA.
Some of these selection choices at the conference may relate more to testing certain athletes to see what their possibilities look like for NCAA scoring after the conference, rather than conference scoring, with roster decisions for next year made after all that plays out.
I’m an example. I swam on a strong college team and twice was not chosen for the conference team but then was chosen for, and scored at, NCAA. That could happen this year as well.
If 22 is the SEC roster…does that mean anyone on Texas who didn’t make the meet is likely to get cut ? Or any men’s teams in the SEC for that matter ? Women are sticking at 30 for now, so that would leave some room for non-SEC roster swimmers I’d think. Do I have that correct ?
I would hesitate to lock in that anyone who didn’t make the meet is for sure getting cut. I think there’s a chance that someone transfers on their own accord, or that they choose to keep a swimmer like Garrett Gould over a conference swimmer even if the thought was that another swimmer was a better choice for this season, because of upside potential or whatever.
But it will probably be something close to “if you didn’t make the roster this year you’re getting cut,” just with a handful of exceptions. Some SEC roster swimmers will be cut from some teams, though, as the portal opens up and coaches see who is available.
The portal is going to be nuts this Spring. I see a big parity opportunity for swimming and perhaps a big boost to mid-major teams. We could have a situation in three years where there might be a huge question mark as to which teams are in the top ten especially where some teams are restrained by roster limits and other none at all—and diving will really start to count. It might not all be bad.
I wonder if we’ll be able to quantify how many swimmers just quit because of this, not wanting to transfer.
Collegiate Club nationals next year could be crazy.
I expect many fine athletes but they will have been through a year of likely substantially less effective training; results will be less impressive than the quality of athletes.
My personal though is that the Men’s SEC swimming will go from being the most competitive (my opinion) to be the 3rd best/most competitive in 3-5 years, unless the SEC increases from 22 to at least 26.
The tradeoff is that I think the SEC will be the best at raising NIL money. The SEC brand is powerful, and the alums at SEC schools tend to be more generous with their athletics investments.
NIL money can more-than-outrun the roster limits, though I do think the roster limits will hurt them to a degree with the lack of developmental spots.
But if you can write $20k-$100k checks to the top swimmers…you don’t necessarily need developmental spots to win like other programs do.
The team doctor, PT, nutritionist etc just became even more important in the SEC to keep these small rosters healthy. I hope a lot of kids with shoulder and knee injuries wont need to swim/dive through their pain because there is no backup swimmer/diver.
I think people are underestimating how many swimmers will just throw in the towel. The stress of being a a swimmer in the SEC this year, along with the uncertainty and lack of communication from coaches on many SEC teams has a lot of kids really struggling to see the payback for their daily grind. I also think people don’t realize how complicated the portal can be regarding aligning academics, losing 3 months of training to finish the semester at the current school, the uncertainty of whether you’ll get any scholarship money if you enter the portal and also leaving your close friends. I guess another factor would be whether the kids who get cut will get to keep their… Read more »
Historically, the 18 swimmer/diver entry limit for NCAA’s did not impact how many swimmers a Univ could have on its training roster. I take it that the SEC Champs 22 participant limit also limits the total number of swimmers/divers that you can have on your training team to 22. Is that correct?
No, that is not correct.
The SEC Championship roster limit has been 22 for a long time, and the 22 on your training roster limit will only go into effect next year.
If I was the sprint coach for Texas I would feel dissed. Only Guiliano doing the 50free. Come on fight to get your kids some roster spots at least.
they have a sprint coach? lol
Never question the Almighty Bob.
And of the 12 entry events from the 4 Texas athletes dropped in the 26 to 22 transition, only one was a 50 free (Gould).
I’m assuming it’s because this season he has gone fast but not a best time
There was also a lot of illness going through their team right around the FSU dual. He was on the better end of their performance there, so it might not have hit him, but who knows. It would be nice if this kind of thing ever got addressed directly in swimming.
UF is to the sport of swimming as Iago is to Othello.
Aldeheime Buhler is to Swimswam as Falstaff is to Shakespeare.
There is a very good reason why Chaney, McDuff, and Whitlock, three of UF’s top swimmers, got out. There is a deep culture issue in Gainesville as well as subpar training. But let’s ignore it because ledecky fast!
What’s the culture issue?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t UF win both men’s and women’s SEC championships the past two years (and the men every year since 2013)?
Florida won’t win either men’s or women’s this year. There’s a new sheriff in town.
Please enlighten us about this culture issue
Those poor Texas guys left behind. They’d be swimming for any other team at a conference championship…..as would some that were cut according to the previous article. 22 just seems drastic. Why don’t they just keep 30 across the board for team rosters and conference and NCAA Championships? Or meet in the middle at 26? Shame for these guys to train this hard all season and then have to sit at home during conference champs. And I’m sure many other teams face similar situations, but at least Cal and IU will have the luxury of keeping 30 on their team rosters. Stupid move by the SEC. Way to handicap your conference.
It’s the law isn’t it? Compliance w/ title 9? I guess there are things the SEC *could* do (assuming sponsoring more women’s sports would help), but all else equal, I think this was a move to satisfy the lawyers.
Not Title IX. House settlement—its about ADs in paying for football and basketball.
Big baseball conference as well..
Has the ACC formally announced 30 men?
They have not, but no coach that I’ve spoken with has heard any indication of any other number in the ACC. ACC schools tend to have more sports and so more flexibility to balance Title IX requirements than do SEC schools.
Cool cool.
They knew the score when they committed to swim at Texas. Same thing with UVA women – you’re lucky if you’re on the team.
Wait, the rules have already changed? I thought existing roster limits were long in place for SEC Championships. That’s the risk of signing on to Texas, right? You’re betting on yourself.
Correct, the 22 for conference has been in place for a long time.
People are going to mix the two up because they happen to be the same number but…
Also, I think we are led to believe that Texas has the most money for guy swimmers. Would be nice to know for sure. But potentially there is money for #23 swimmer on Texas even though they don’t make conference champs. Where as other D1 schools don’t have money after #12 swimmer. (I’m just making up numbers here, but money is surely a factor for many.) So maybe ‘poor Texas guys’ isn’t great wording.
I totally agree with the comments that they knew what they were getting into and they are all lucky to be on the team. I guess my comment was geared more towards roster cuts than roster limits at Champs based on how much emphases the SwimSwam article was placing on cuts at Texas. Curious if SwimSwam has any knowledge of other coaches and programs cutting a bunch of kids like Bob has done this early?
We’ve received the most info about what Texas is doing (unsurpising because they’re a big dog). Other programs have definitely started making cuts already, but we don’t have the same level of specifics verified.
Where does all this badmouthing of 22 or 30 come from. Stop whining.
For many years the conference entry limits matched the NCAA at 18, with divers at 1/2 person. Often other athletes could come to a conference meet paying their own way and swim non-scoring, prelims only, in efforts to put up times to be invited to NCAA.
Lots of changes over time and between conferences and between men/women.
This discussion isn’t about conference champs numbers but about how many guys are allowed to train with the team. Cutting that to 22 is rough.
It appears Manning Haskal got the last spot for Texas’ team. Anyone know the thinking why he got the spot over Landon D’Ariano, Holden Smith and Jeremy Kelly? Those three are currently ranked higher. Correct me if I’m wrong.
He was on their 800 free relay at Big 12s last year, but is only their 6th-best 200 freestyler this season.
On paper, in individual events, he look pretty similar to some of the guys that weren’t chosen…maybe the coaches see something in practice.
Still, if I think it’s kind of a wash, I’m probably taking my #2 50 freestyler over my #6 200 freestyler, even if both are just a relay ‘insurance policy’.
agreed. Gould seems like the big diss, and as a freshie, still has upside.
Looking at the psych sheets, if they are going by who would score the most points at SEC’s, Holden Smith got screwed. Among all the guys mentioned above he was seeded the highest across all 3 of his events (higher than Manning Haskal in 2 of his 3 events) and would have scored the most points for the team from the last spot.
Or – could be knowing that Gould is going to NCAAs – they’re letting Haskal do a full taper for SECs?
Bob has his fly, IM and breast covered. Haskal is freestyle distance and Bob will want an A cut or move up higher on a B cut. Don’t make the cut that Bob wants? Days are numbered. Bob likes to remind his swimmers that “ALL are replaceable”.
Appears to be his trend ..