Psych Sheet Drop: 2023 SEC Men’s & Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

SEC Championships (Men’s and Women’s)

• Tuesday, February 14 – Saturday, February 18, 2023
• Rec Center Natatorium, College Station, TX
• Defending Champions:
  • Women: Tennessee (1x)
  • Men: Florida (10x)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Women’s Fan Guide
• Men’s Fan Guide
• Psych Sheets
• originally published Feb 13th

Psych sheets have been released for the 2023 SEC Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. As they usually are, the SEC Championships psych sheets are among the least-useful in the country, with over-entries rampant, but there are still a few things we can glean.

The big one is that Ellen Walshe is not on the psych sheets for Tennessee, which confirms that she will probably not be joining the Volunteers this season (though there could be a last-ditch chance to race at a Last Chance meet to qualify for NCAAs).

Originally, in the fall, coaches said she was taking classes online and planning to return for the spring semester. Then when she didn’t return for the spring semester, the school said in a statement that her return this season was uncertain while at home struggling with chronic fatigue.

The writing was on the wall, though, when she entered a meet in Portugal last weekend with the rest of the Irish team.

Walshe won SEC titles in the 100 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM at last year’s SEC Championship meet. Even without her, the Volunteers are contenders to win the SEC title this season, though head coach Matt Kredich says that the team is focused on NCAAs.

Maggie MacNeil‘s Lineup Is Set

LSU head coach Rick Bishop gave us at least one gift: he has set star swimmer Maggie MacNeil‘s schedule at the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly. That’s the usual schedule she’s taken on at NCAAs in each of her prior four years. She is the top seed in all three races in her first year in the SEC – but she also would have been the top seed in the 100 back.

Given that she’s the World Record holder in the 50 short course meters backstroke, I think we’ve all been itching for her to swim a championship 100 back, just to see, but that won’t happen here.

Other Notable Absences/Lineups

• Lilly Byrne from Auburn, who ranks 17th in the conference this season in the 500 free, wrapped her season last week at the Auburn Invitational. She’s in her first season with the Tigers after transferring from Tulane, where she was the AAC Champion in the 200 and 500 freestyles.
• Florida senior Talia Bates is entered in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, and 100 back, but not the 100 fly. She’s the #11 seed in the 100 back and would have been the #12 seed in the 100 fly.
• Florida sophomore Ekaterina Nikonova will swim the 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free.
• Missouri’s Clement Secchi, a transfer from the Canadian collegiate system in his lone season of NCAA eligibility, is overentered in the 200 IM, 500 free, 100 fly, 200 fly (top seed), and 200 back, but no 100 back. His two races are obvious, but he’s searching for a third – and apparently is trying to avoid the 100 fly/100 back double (the 100 back is a better event for him than many in which he is entered).
• There were a bunch of late scratches from top-20 seeds in the men’s 400 IM. Texas A&M’s Max Vega Cuevas (12th seed), Florida’s Ben Cote(14th seed), Tennessee’s Gus Rothrock (15th seed), Florida’s Brennan Gravley (16th seed), and Florida’s Peter Bretzmann (18th seed) are all out of the meet.
• Auburn sophomore Abigail Gibbons is out of the meet. She would have been the 11th seed in the 100 fly, but was not seeded to score in any other races.
• Tennessee’s Brett Champlin, who would have been the 11th seed in the 100 breaststroke and 12th seed in the 200 breaststroke, is out of the meet.
• Georgia freshman Sam Powe, who would have been the 8th seed in the 200 backstroke, is scratched out of the meet.
• Florida’s Amro Al-Wi, who was 4th at last year’s SEC Championship in the 200 breaststroke, is out of the meet this year.
• Tennessee diver Matt Wade, an All-American last year on 3-meter, hasn’t competed this semester for the Volunteers, and he’s not entered in the SEC Championships.

The 2023 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships begin with a timed finals session on Tuesday evening in College Station, Texas on the campus of Texas A&M University.