By Lisa Caprioglio
Emotions were high at the start of the final day of the Southeastern conference
championships. After last night’s session, the race for the team title has intensified, with a couple teams really setting themselves apart for both the men and the women.
The Auburn men start the day on top with 574 points, followed by the Florida gators with 547. The Georgia women came into the morning with the lead at 515 points, followed by Florida at 463 points and Auburn with 425 points. With a team title so close, every swim in this morning’s session was very important, as teams competed to get as many swimmers as they could back to finals this evening.
In the men’s 200 back, Florida’s Marco Loughran won this morning’s session with a
1:41.82, but the Auburn men may come out with more team points in the event, with 3 men in the championship final heat. The women’s 200 backstroke is an event that the Florida gators have historically excelled at. This morning the gators put three women in the top 8 heat, led by Elizabeth Beisel, at 1:53.20. Georgia’s Kelsey Gaid will come into finals seeded second after a breakout swim of 1:53.48.
Auburn showed their sprinting dominance once again, taking half of the championship final heat with 4 swimmers in the top 8. It should be a great match up tonight between Auburn’s Adam Brown 42.26 and Florida’s Brett Fraser 42.72. The women’s 100 free got the crowd on their feet and cheering like it was finals. Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace continues her excellent meet with an amazing prelims swim, posting a 46.81, and new SEC, NCAA and US Open record from the prelims session! It should be an exciting race tonight, as fans watch to see how fast she can go in finals.
The men’s 200 breaststoke has a Bulldog on top going into tonight, after a great swim from Georgia’s Bill Cregar, finishing in a 1:55.93. Cregar is followed by two Tennessee Vols, Brad Craig and Jake Epperson. The women’s 200 breast will be a great race to watch tonight, with a really close field. South Carolina’s Amanda Rutqvist posted the fastest time this morning with a 2:09.87, racing for the gamecock’s first SEC title this meet.
The men’s 200 butterfly was won by defending SEC champion and SEC record holder Mark Dylla, in a time of 1:42.87. Dylla was followed this morning by three Gators, Sebastien Rousseau, Marcin Cieslak and Cameron Martin. The women’s 200 fly goes into tonight with a Tennessee Lady Vol on top, with Kelsey Floyd swimming a 1:54.97. Floyd is followed by Florida’s Teresa Crippen, two LSU swimmers, Sara Haley and Carolyn Blakock.
With a lot of great swimming this morning, it will come down to tonight to see who will take home the team SEC title. This will be a close and exciting meet; here are the stats going into tonight:
Men
Auburn 10 up 4 down
Florida 9 up 4 down
Tennessee 6 up 4 down
Georgia 4 up 3 down
Women
Georgia 7 up 6 down
Florida 8 up 4 down
Auburn 4 up 3 down
Tennessee 4 up 5 down
LSU 3 up 3 down