LSU Men Swim “A” Cut in the 200 Medley Relay in a Time Trial at SEC Championships

2024 SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 19 – February 24, 2024
• James E. Martin Aquatic Center — Auburn, AL
• Defending Champions: Florida
• Start Times (Central Time): 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals
  • Day 1 (diving only): 11 am prelims/4:20 pm finals
  • Day 2: 11 am prelims (diving only)/ 5 pm (relays only)
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A handful of swimmers put themselves on the bubble for NCAA Championship qualifying, while LSU had an emphatic “A” relay swim in a men’s 200 medley time trial on Tuesday at the 2024 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships.

Jake Marcum, a 5th year swimmer at Alabama, was the highlight of the morning session, swimming 1:40.18 in the 200 yard backstroke. In each of the last two seasons, he’s waited until the post-conference Bulldog Last Chance meet to chase his NCAA qualification. In 2022 he was successful, swimming a lifetime best of 1:40.16.

Last season, he missed the mark and didn’t qualify at NCAAs, missing out by just a couple of tenths.

This year, he put up his qualifier before the start of his conference championship meet. While 1:40.18 is not a lock, last year it only took 1:40.62 to earn an invite to NCAAs.

Harrison Lierz, a junior from Tennessee swam 1:40.84, and Eric Stelmar from Alabama swam 1:41.18. That leaves them both likely on the wrong side of the bubble for NCAAs, but they’ll both have multiple chances to improve their times this week and next. Lierz’s time was a new personal best by a second.

The other big news came from LSU, where the Tigers time-trialed a 200 medley relay in 1:24.97 at the end of the finals session. In the regular event, they were just 1:24.97, placing them 9th. In the time trial, however, the same quartet swam 1:23.37.

The improvement was a collective effort, with all four swimmers posting faster times in the reswim.

Splits Comparison

That 1:23.37 would have placed them 5th in the regular event, a 10 point difference.

A year after graduating Brooks Curry, one of the best sprinters in the country, that means the LSU men will have relays at the NCAA Championships – something they didn’t do last year with Curry. Now that they have an “A” cut, any other “B” standards they hit in relays will also now automatically qualify for nationals, including the “B” standard they swim in the 800 free relay on Tuesday evening.

Other Noteworthy Time Trial Swims

• Rusty Jerger, a senior from Alabama, also swam a possible NCAA qualifying time in the 200 fly. He posted a 1:42.89 in the time trial, which would have qualified in 2020 and 2021, but would have just missed in 2022 and 2023.
• Alejandro Flores, a senior at Auburn, swam 52.55. That probably won’t earn an individual NCAA invite, but it is a tenth better than his previous best time.