Rhyan White Wins SEC Swimmer of the Meet at 2021 Championships

SEC – WOMEN SWIMMING & DIVING + MEN’S DIVING

• Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20, 2021
• W Swimming: Gabrielsen Natatorium – Athens, GA (Eastern Time Zone)
• W&M Diving: Mizzou Aquatics Center – Columbia, MO (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Tennessee (1x) (2020 results)
• Live results
• Live Video – SEC Network
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets

The University of Kentucky women won their first-ever SEC team title in women’s swimming & diving this weekend at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Georgia, but it was Alabama junior Rhyan White who came away with the individual honors from the meet.

White won all 3 of her individual events on the weekend, topping the 100 fly in 50.94 and hitting NCAA “A” cuts in the 100 back (50.36) and 200 back (1:48.55). She defended her SEC titles in both backstroke races and set the Gabrielsen Pool Record in the 200 back.

She also split 23.35, one of the fastest 50 backstrokes in history, on the leadoff leg of Alabama’s victorious 200 medley relay to open the meet.

For her 96-point effort, White won the Swimmer of the Meet award, voted on by conference coaches.

She also shared the more objective Commissioner’s Trophy, which is given to the student-athlete(s) who score the most individual points at the championships.

Her 96-point output was matched by Georgia sophomore Zoie Hartman, who won the 200 IM (1:53.68), 100 breast (57.40), and 200 breast (2:05.05). The two swimmers share the honor for this season.

Top Point Scorers, 2021 SEC Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships:

1. (TIE) Rhyan White, Jr., Alabama – 96 (100 fly – 1st; 100 back – 1st; 200 back – 1st)/Zoie Hartman, So., Georgia – 96 (200 IM – 1st; 100 breast – 1st; 200 breast – 1st)
3. Courtney Harnish, Sr., Georgia – 87.5 (500 free – 1st; 200 free – 2nd; 200 fly – 2nd)
4. Ashley McCool, Sr., Florida – 83 (1-meter – 1st; 3-meter – 3rd; platform – 6th)
5. (TIE) Lauren Poole, So., Kentucky – 82 (200 IM – 5th; 400 IM – 1st; 200 breast – 5th)/Riley Gaines, Jr., Kentucky – 82 (200 free – 1st; 100 free – 6th; 200 fly – 4th)

While Kentucky didn’t have one of the top 4 individual scorers at the meet, they pulled away from the field thanks to depth. The Wildcats had 7 swimmers score at least 70 individual points. No other team had more than 3 clear that banner.

While the women’s swimming event went on in Athens, the men’s and women’s diving competitions happened elsewhere at the University of Missouri.

Their, LSU’s Juan Celaya-Hernandez was named Men’s Diver of the Meet after finishing 2nd on 3-meter and winning the 1-meter. Texas A&M’s Kurtis Matthews won the 3-meter and was 2nd on 1-meter, but the tie-breaker was a 4th-place finish for Celaya-Hernandez on platform, where Matthews placed 22nd.

The women’s Diver of the Meet was the aforementioned Ashley McCool, who won the women’s 1-meter event and placed in the top 6 of all three diving disciplines contested.