Three years after accepting the invitation, the University of Texas officially became a member of the SEC on July 1, 2024, marking a seismic shift in the college sports landscape.
Texas’ addition to the conference comes one year earlier than initially agreed upon, as the Longhorns and the University of Oklahoma reached a $100 million agreement with the Big 12 for an early exit last year.
Texas has long been a powerhouse in college swimming, with the men’s team having placed either 1st or 2nd at the NCAA Championships for eight straight seasons from 2014 until 2022, while the women have reeled off three consecutive runner-up finishes at nationals after placing 3rd in 2021.
At the Big 12 Championships, the Longhorns have absolutely dominated the competition, but now in the SEC, conference titles won’t be a foregone conclusion.
At least for the men, comparing last season’s Texas team to the one we’ll see in 2024-25 might be like apples and oranges. They’ve got a new frontman, head coach and Director of Swimming Bob Bowman, and will make significant additions including transfers Hubert Kos, Rex Maurer and Andrew Shackell, incoming freshmen Cooper Lucas and Kyle Peck, and the return of David Johnston, who redshirted the 2023-24 season.
The women’s team, led by Carol Capitani, will lose Kelly Pash but retains a good chunk of their core and figure to be a top-three team at NCAAs once again.
But how will they fare at the SEC Championships?
Below, find the results of the 2024 SEC Championships with Texas’ times from Big 12s factored into the results.
Simulation courtesy of Kevin Hallmann. Note that the simulator only includes results from the top nine scoring teams, so the results are not exact. You can scroll down in the embedded PDF to see each event.
MEN’S RESULTS
Swimming SimulatorProjected Team Standings
- Florida, 754.5
- Auburn, 450.5
- Georgia, 434.0
- Tennessee, 414.0
- Texas, 352.0
- Texas A&M, 337.5
- Alabama, 205.5
- LSU, 187
- South Carolina, 133
WOMEN’S RESULTS
Swimming Simulator2Projected Team Standings
- Florida, 661.5
- Texas, 580
- Tennessee, 508.5
- Texas A&M, 384.5
- Georgia, 307
- Auburn, 268
- Alabama, 251
- South Carolina, 211.5
- LSU, 127
One major caveat that goes along with any changes to rosters next season is the fact that Texas essentially doesn’t taper at all for Big 12s—at least their top swimmers who have locked up NCAA qualification don’t—because they can cruise to the conference title quite easily.
That leads the Longhorns to have some relatively slow times factored into the simulated results, which is one of the reasons why the men would’ve only placed 5th, more than 400 points back of Florida, and the women would’ve been distant runners-up to the Gators at the 2024 SECs.
Given the additions they’ve made, and the fact that we’ll surely see Bowman have them—at least the men’s team—ready to swim fast when the conference championships come around—at ASU, we saw Bowman’s swimmers going quick all season—the battle at SECs promises to be exciting.
But after claiming the conference title was an afterthought for so many years, a stepping stone to the NCAA Championships,the Longhorns now have their work cut out for them if they are to become SEC champions, with Florida being the team standing in their way.
Tons of limitations with an alternate approach (SwimCloud simulation, 2023-2024, 3d meet, 24 place scoring, 3 individual events and 4 relays per athlete, 1 relay per team), but with no diving the swimulator would give us:
— Women: 1) TX 1364, 2) Flor 1213, 3) Tenn 946, 4) TAMU 848, 5) UGA 801.
— Men: 1) Flor 1455, 2) TX 1181, 3) TAMU 1017, 4) Aub 933, 5) UGA 903.
This simulation essentially says “TBD”. Lol
I am suspect about the men’s rankings – the photo is of Luke Hobson and yet he is not included in any of the freestyle results – he’s the American record holder in the 200 yd free, he’ll score some points even if not tapered, if he goes to the meet. He’ll be a senior so why is he left out?
I think he skipped the Big 12 meet because he was at Worlds just prior. Which just reinforces the point that the Big 12 meet was a joke but Texas will need to change their approach to the conference championship if they want to win it.
Bowman seemed to taper ASU quite a bit for PAC-12, so I imagine he’ll do the same at SECs. Last year’s Texas roster would not have been competing for the conference win regardless of taper, but this year with all their high profile transfers I think they could.
Looking at SEC, who has the fastest incoming freshmen?
On the women’s side it was Bella Sims. Not sure on the men’s side. We know that the ACC will have the fastest freshmen next year Maximus Williamson and Thomas Heilman.
Does anyone know if Katie Grimes is going to swim in college? I don’t see her committed anywhere.
The 2 boys are in high school next year.
I stand corrected. Darn, I guess I have wishful thinking.
Feels like theyve been high schoolers forever now lol
I saw two swimmers double counted in the first 4 events for the men, so I’m skeptical of the data, though it’s likely directionally valid.
They’ve also got Sims winning 5 events–if you factor in the 3-event limit that makes it close on the women’s side between UF and Texas
I’m just thinking about how crowded the pool deck will be now with an entire new team being thrown into the mix, and sympathizing with the swimmers who have to deal with it.
Lucas Oil Field for SEC conference champs! We might make swimming a spectator sport yet!