SEC Teams Shine In Day 1 Prelims (Morning Overreactions)

2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

• Wednesday, March 18 – Saturday, March 21, 2026
• McAuley Aquatic Center, Atlanta, GA
• Defending Champions: Virginia (5x)
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  • Prelims: Day 1
  • Finals:

The first session of the 2026 NCAA Championships are complete, and the SEC showed up and threw down this morning.  Last year it was the west coast teams shining on day 1, this year, the SEC teams seemed to be the big winner of the morning.

Starting with the Texas women, Kate Hurst entered as the #9 seed in the 1650 free, just missing out on the top eight that will swim in tonight’s final but Hurst swam to a 15:53.09 for the top time of the morning. That time would still have entered the meet as the #9 seed but the final heat tonight will determine if she makes the podium or not.

Texas also had a strong 200 medley relay as they also entered as the #9 seed with a 1:34.52 but blasted a 1:33.38 this morning, the top time by almost a second. Their time would have made them the #7 seed. Three out of the team’s four relay legs were faster than they were at SECs, with Piper Enge‘s 26.09 being the biggest difference from their 26.99 at SECs.

The Florida women also had a strong 200 medley relay, entering the morning as the #20 seed and outside of scoring range but moved all the way up to finish at least 12th with a 1:35.33 as that was the 5th fastest relay of the morning. Anita Bottazzo blasted a 25.69 on the breaststroke leg, a split that sits as the #11 performance all-time.

Tennessee also had a strong showing this morning, as they also dropped time as the #9 seed. They swam to a 6:53.78 in the 800 free relay, dropping almost a second off their 6:54.56 seed time. Ella Jansen had a huge lead off swim with a 1:41.73, marking a best time as her previous best was a 1:42.26 from SECs last month.