How Did Texas A&M 4-Peat as Women’s SEC Champs Despite a Sprinting Deficit?

2019 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 19 – Saturday, February 23
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Texas A&M Women (3x), Florida men (6x)(results)
• Live results
• Live Video – SEC Network
• Championship Central

FINAL TEAM SCORES (WOMEN)

1. Texas A&M University             1107   
2. University of Florida          1023.5
3. Kentucky, University of         927.5   
4. Tennessee, University of, Knox  919.5
5. The University of Georgia       883.5   
6. Auburn University                 883
7. Missouri                          640   
8. University of Arkansas            517
9. South Carolina, University of,    515  
10. Louisiana State University      489.5
11. University of Alabama           429.5  
12. Vanderbilt University             153

Texas A&M won their 4th straight SEC Women’s Championships tonight, fighting off a rebuilt Florida team. This A&M victory is an impressive one, especially considering this team’s weakest points are likely the sprint free events. The Sprint freestyles are commonly thought of as the most beneficial events to a team, due to their double role as relay events, but A&M taught a masters class in how to get around that disadvantage. In total, the Aggies had 2 B finalist and 4 C finalists between the 50 and 100 free combined. Additionally their 200 free relay came in 5th, and the 400 free relay came in 9th. To add to the hurdles for A&M, Sydney Pickrem had to medical-scratch the 400 IM, an event where she was the defending champion.

So the question now is how did they make it past that relatively large disadvantage, and did so fairly easily. The answer is actually pretty straightforward: they have a huge amount of depth. Only 1 swimmer did not score individually for the Aggies. Even more impressively, 18 Aggies scored 20+ inidividual points. That level of depth just wasn’t matched by any other team in the conference. 6 of those swimmers scored 50+ points, while Alais Kalonji scored 49 points and Taylor Pike scored 48.

This is the list of the Aggies top scorers (50+):

1. Anna Belousova – 79
2. Claire Rasmus – 68
3. Haley Yelle – 62
4. Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo – 58
5. Sydney Pickrem – 56
6. McKenna DeBever – 52

It should be noted that Pickrem would have all but certainly been the team’s top scorer had she swum the 400 IM.