Hot-or-Not: Florida Men Pull Away from Texas A&M on Day 3 of SEC Championships

Braden Keith
by Braden Keith 10

February 21st, 2020 College, News, SEC

2020 SEC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Data Compiled by Barry Revzin

The 4-time defending SEC Champion Texas A&M women clawed their way into 4th place on day 3 of the 2020 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, sitting within striking distance of 3rd-place Kentucky.

While the Aggies don’t seem like they’ve got the firepower this year to win another team title, they continue to have the best performance-against-seed after day 3 of the meet.

Not a lot changed at the top of the day 3 Hot-or-Not rankings, though the Vanderbilt Commadores did have a good session in spite of not scoring any points on Thursday. That was led by 6 season-best times from their 100 butterfly group.

In terms of the battle for the team title, Tennessee and Florida both have middling improvement levels to show so far in this meet. The two teams sort of reversed roles on Thursday: while Florida had more swimmers that dropped time versus seed overall than Tennessee, Tennessee had more swimmers that dropped more time than did the Gators, including for example Amanda Nunan, who dropped almost 7 seconds in the 400 IM to move from non-scorer to C finalist. Those are the kind of moves at the bottom end of a table that can make-or-break an SEC Championship.

WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 3:

  1. Tennessee, University of, Knox  632.5   2. University of Florida           585.5
  3. Kentucky, University of         491.5   4. Texas A&M University              491
  5. Auburn University                 478   6. Georgia, University of            456
  7. University of Alabama           351.5   8. University of Arkansas            254
  9. Missouri                          252  10. Louisiana State University        236
 11. South Carolina, University of,    228  12. Vanderbilt University              90

Meanwhile, in the men’s team race, the Florida Gators have begun to pull away from the Texas A&M men thanks to 9 A-final swims on Thursday (as compared to just 1 for the Aggies). The Florida men showed about the same improvements on day 3 as they did on day 2, and the A&M men did a little worse against seed on day 3.

While Thursday simply lined up as a good day for the Florida men, A&M doesn’t have enough room left in this meet to simply ‘chip away.’ If they want to get back into contention, they’ll have to start seeing more big drops on Friday. Highlighting the difference in fates between the two schools: about 75% of the A&M men’s individual swims at this meet have dropped less than 2% versus seed. About 75% of the Florida men’s individual swims at this meet have dropped more than 2% versus seed.

MEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 3:

  1. University of Florida           694.5   2. Texas A&M University            538.5
  3. Georgia, University of          493.5   4. University of Alabama           438.5
  5. Tennessee, University of, Knox    422   6. Kentucky, University of           416
  7. Missouri                          415   8. Auburn University                 385
  9. South Carolina, University of,    265  10. Louisiana State University        258

10
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Silent observer
4 years ago

Begun to pull away??
Texas A&M isn’t coming all the way back to beat them, they don’t have the depth and have made that very clear through 2 full days of events.

Loud observer
Reply to  Silent observer
4 years ago

Not very silent, silent observer

toastedcoconut
4 years ago

yeah he’s pretty hot

collegeswimmer
4 years ago

Georgia scored about 50 more points than A&M after last nights session. They could potentially make a fight for 2nd.

Superfan
Reply to  collegeswimmer
4 years ago

Georgia men. Florida is 200 points up. That is amazing to me that Freeman gets injured, Rooney and others transfer, and graduations and they are STILL the cream of the SEC by far! Well done Coach Nesty, staff and the leaders of that team!!

Lane 8
Reply to  Superfan
4 years ago

Yeah, they can swim fast when they have to. Go Gators!

Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

Dude’s hands are way bigger than his head.

swammer
4 years ago

“4-time defending NCAA Champion Texas A&M women” … um you mean SEC?

Austinpoolboy
Reply to  swammer
4 years ago

Resume inflation

Austinpoolboy
4 years ago

Missouri suits are all soggy

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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