Florida Men Score a Record-Setting 1584 Points To Win 12th Consecutive SEC Title

2024 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 19 – February 24, 2024
• James E. Martin Aquatic Center — Auburn, AL
• Defending Champions: Women: Florida (1x) Men: Florida (11x)
• Start Times (CT): 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals
• Championship Central
• 2023 SEC Championships Box Score
• Major Conference Roster Limits and Scoring Rules
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Video (SEC+ Network)

Final Results

1. Florida — 1584
2. Auburn — 1104
3. Georgia — 1042
4. Texas A&M — 1006.5
5. Tennessee — 992
6. LSU — 553
7. Alabama — 527.5
8. Missouri — 513
9. South Carolina — 442
10. Kentucky — 433

The Gator men kept their streak alive, winning their 12th straight SEC championship in Auburn, AL. They did so in style, breaking the record for most points scored at an SEC Championship with 1584 points. Their performance breaks the record they set last year at 1488.5 points and marks the first time an SEC team has scored more than 1500 points at a college championship.

This was also their largest margin of victory during their 12-year streak as they finished 480 points ahead of the second-place Auburn Tigers.

This is the Florida men’s 44th conference championship, extending the gap between them and Auburn for most SEC titles in conference history. Auburn still owns the longest streak of consecutive titles: they won 16 titles from 1997 through 2012, though Florida is creeping up to that number.

For the second straight year, both the Florida men and women won the conference title. The last time the program claimed both back-to-back titles was 28 years ago in 1996-97. As he did last year, head coach Anthony Nesty jumped in the pool twice. This is Nesty’s sixth conference title in six years as head coach of the Florida men.

“It’s always great to come to the SEC Championship and win,” said Nesty. “It was a group effort. The support staff is fantastic. The administration obviously gives us the resources. The most important thing is the development of our athletes in the classroom and in the pool so that they could perform at a high level this week.”

Gator Event Winners: 

• 200 medley relay: Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Scotty Buff, Macguire McDuff — 1:21.66 (American Record)
• 800 freestyle relay: Macguire McDuff, Josh Liendo, Julian Smith, Jake Mitchell — 6:06.36 (SEC Meet Record)
• 200 freestyle relay: Josh Liendo, Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Ed Fullum-Hout — 1:14.36
• 3-meter diving: Conor Gesing — 425.75 points
• 100 butterfly: Josh Liendo — 43.98
• 200 freestyle: Macguire McDuff — 1:30.64
• 100 backstroke: Jonny Marshall — 44.12
• 100 breast: Aleksas Savickas — 51.01
• 400 medley relay: Jonny Marshall, Aleksas Savickas, Josh Liendo, Macguire McDuff — 3:00.49
• 1650 freestyle: Andrew Taylor — 14:38.41
• 200 backstroke: Jonny Marshall — 1:36.68 (SEC Meet Record)
• 100 freestyle: Josh Liendo — 40.82 (SEC Meet Record)
• 400 freestyle relay: Josh Liendo, Adam Chaney, Julian Smith, Macguire McDuff — 2:45.31 (SEC Meet Record)

The Gators won 13 events over the course of the meet, up from the eight they won last year. And after Tennessee beat them in two relays last year, Florida swept all five relays.

They started the meet off with a bang, breaking the minutes old American record that NC State had just set at ACCs in the 200 medley relay. They swept the opening night’s relays, picking up the win in the 800 freestyle relay as well with an SEC Meet record.

Their returning swimmers all performed well; Josh Liendo won two individual events and won bronze in a third, tying with Texas A&M’s Baylor Nelson for the men’s Commissioner’s Trophy (high point award) with totals of 91 points each. A stalwart on their relays for the last two seasons, Macguire McDuff earned his first individual SEC title with a win in the 200 freestyle. Sophomore breaststroker Aleksas Savickas finished 1st and 2nd in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.

But they got big performances from their newcomers which really helped them put the conference title out of reach quickly. Freshman diver Conor Gesing won the 3-meter board and was named Men’s Diver of the Meet. Jonny Marshall exploded in backstroke, sweeping the discipline. His 100 backstroke time is now the fastest by a freshman in NCAA history. Their classmate Andrew Taylor dropped nearly 26 seconds to win the 1650 freestyle from an afternoon heat.

Last year, the Gators struggled to translate their momentum from SECs to NCAAs in the individual events, but getting performances like these from their freshmen at NCAAs next month would be huge for the Gators. Their projected to be in a tight race with teams like Indiana and NC State for 3rd.

At the conference level, the Gators have a lot of reason to be confident about their chances next year, though Texas’ arrival will surely shake things up. Senior Jake Mitchell is the only one in their top 10 individual points scorers who’s a senior.

Next, the Florida Gators head to NCAAs, which take place in Indianapolis, IN from March 27-30, 2024.

Gator Individual Scorers:

1. Josh Liendo, Sophomore — 91 points
2. Conor Gesing, Freshman / Macguire McDuff, Junior — 82 points
3. (tie)
4. Giovanni Linscheer, Sophomore — 80 points
5. Jonny Marshall, Freshman / Jake Mitchell, Senior — 78 points
6. (tie)
7. Julian Smith, Junior — 75.5 points
8. Mason Laur, Junior — 73 points
9. Joaquín González Piñero, Junior — 65 points
10. Andrew Taylor, Freshman — 64 points
11. Adam Chaney, Senior / Aleksas Savickas, Sophomore — 63 points
12. (tie)
13. Oskar Lindholm, Junior — 59 points
14. Christopher Donald, Senior — 52 points
15. Eric Brown, Sophomore — 48 points
16. Scotty Buff, Freshman — 45 points
17. Peter Bretzmann, Junior — 43 points
18. Sean Sullivan, Freshman — 38 points
19. Ed Fullum-Hout, Sophomore — 33.5 points
20. Billy Jones, Senior — 29 points
21. Peyton Donald, Sophomore — 20 points
22. Jack VanDeusen, Senior — 2 points