Men's 1,650-Yard Freestyle
Auburn's Zane Grothe, swimming in lane eight, swam a tactically sound race winning in 14:41.45 over Georgia's Will Freeman (14:44.38). Grothe edged his way to a bigger and bigger lead as they approached the 1,000-yard mark. Freeman started to reel Grothe back in over the next 450 yards. With about 150 yards to go, Freeman had practically caught Grothe. Grothe then exploded over the final three laps to comfortably win the title. Florida's Arthur Frayler was invoved in trying to catch Grothe but faltered on the last several 100 yards but still earned the bronze medal (14:49.88). LSU senior Craig Hamilton grabs the top time in the afternoon mile swims thanks to an effort of 14:53.10, third-best in the country entering tonight's final heat. Alabama freshman Brian Westlake is second in (15:09.80). Georgia freshman Ediz Yildirimer (15:08.10) easily wins the third heat over South Carolina freshman Marwan El Kamash (15:19.58). Alabama senior John Ellis (15:25.71) gets a close win over South Carolina's Alex Eiden in heat two (15:29.57). Texas A&M's Luke Shaw (15:24.76) grabbed the first of eight pre-night session mile swims.
Women's 1,650-Yard Freestyle
Texas A&M's Sarah Henry has quickly established herself as a title threat at both distance races at NCAA's after completely controlling the back half of the 1,650 freestyle and finishing in a meet record time of 15:45.79. Florida's Jessica Thielmann finished a distant second in 15:53.93 with A&M's Maureen McLaine right behind her (15:55.81). Nicole Menzel of Arkansas (16:09.56) earns the fastest afternoon mile time in the women's event, finishing ahead of Florida's Molly Dubrasky (16:22.96). Alabama's Jenna Gallo swam her way to a solid consideration time of 16:13.56 in heat three to grab the win over LSU freshman Jessie James (16:49.82). Alabama sophomore Emily Facchine (17:04.55) earned the heat two win over South Carolina freshman Ashleigh Ferguson (17:22.15). Taylor Roy of Florida threw down a solid time of 16:33.13 to win heat one over Rachel Stoehr of Arkansas (16:52.15).
Men's 100-Yard Freestyle
Marcelo (he's earned one name reference at this point) successfully completes the SEC sprint double with a win in 41.60 after going out sub-20. Texas A&M's John Dalton broke the Aggie school record for the second time today in tying Tennessee's Sam Rairden for second (42.74). Alabama's B.J. Hornikel was the fourth and final swimmer to go under 43 seconds (42.87). The Florida avalanche continued with a one-two finish by Gators Bradley deBorde (43.35) and Pawel Werner (43.45) in the consol final. James Disney-May of Auburn was third in 43.69. Auburn's T.J. Leon (44.00) jumps out to an early lead and holds on to take the bonus title over a closing Jacob Thulin of Tennessee (44.19).
Women's 100-Yard Freestyle
Georgia slammed the door shut on the team competition with a 1-2-6-7 finish in the championship final. Senior Megan Romano (47.40) outlasted a firm challenge from Florida freshman Natalie Hinds (48.03) who eventually finished third. U.S. Olympian Allison Schmitt grabbed the silver for the Dawgs in 47.95. Texas A&M's Liliana Ibanez Lopez rolled to the win in the consolation final in a career-best 48.48 while Tennessee's Caroline Simmons took second (48.84). Arkansas took the top two spots in the bonus finals in lane one (Susanna White; 49.04) and lane eight (Nine Drolc; 49.28).
Men's 200-Yard Backstroke
Auburn and Kyle Owens both go two-for-two as Owens routs the field in 1:39.69. Florida freshman Corey Main (1:41.69) out-touched Tennessee freshman Sean Lehane (1:41.84) for the silver medal. LSU's Nick Kunkel (1:44.26) and Alabama's Reese Shirey (1:44.48) caught A&M's Alexandros Theochardis (1:44.94) on the final 25 to take the top two spots in the 'B' final. Auburn freshman Jacob Siar (1:44.66) wins a close race over Texas A&M's Simon Frank (1:45.34) to grab the win in the bonus final.
Women's 200-Yard Backstroke
U.S. Olympian Elizabeth Beisel of Florida (1:50.40) took the lead out strong early and held off teammate Sinead Russell (1:50.84) to win her second championship of the meet. Missouri's Dominique Bouchard (1:51.69) was well behind in taking the bronze medal. In the consolation final, Auburn's Aubrey Peacock (1:54.18) held off a charging Claire Brandt of Texas A&M (1:54.93) for the win. Georgia's Jordan Mattern (1:54.89) holds on to beat LSU's Danielle Stirrat (1:55.21) in the bonus final.
Men's 200-Yard Breaststroke
It just keeps coming up Florida. Gator sophomore Matthew Elliott (1:54.13) took control on the back half of the race to take down top seed and 100 breast champ Nic Fink of Georgia (1:54.48) for the title. Yet another Gator, Eduardo Solaeche Gomez, brought home the bronze (1:54.74). Florida's Richard Munch (1:56.85) turned it on in the last 50 to overtake Auburn's Tristan Slater (1:57.35) for the consol victory. Georgia's Spencer Rowe (1:57.88) took off at the 100-yard mark and never looked back, finishing well ahead of Auburn's Jordan Jones (1:59.87) in the bonus final.
Women's 200-Yard Breaststroke
Another race, another SEC record for Breeja Breaststroke. Larson held off an impressive late charge from Georgia freshman Annie Zhu (2:05.99) to sweep both the SEC breaststrokes and the SEC breaststroke records. Aggie freshman Ashley McGregor (2:07.55) had the race of her young collegiate career in taking third ahead of Georgia veteran Melanie Margalis (2:09.15), 100 breast silver medalist Molly Hannis of Tennessee (2:09.40), and U.S. Olympian Micah Lawrence of Auburn (2:09.84). Auburn's Lauren Norberg (2:09.66) wins the consol final by holding off a pack of swimmers led by Alabama's Kaylin Burchell (2:10.36). Texas A&M freshman Romy Landeck (2:11.84) earned the bonus win with an exceptional back half, taking the lead with 25 yards to go over Georgia's Olivia Boggs (2:12.30).
Platform Diving
It's drama from the get-go in the men's tower as preliminary leader Greg Ferrucci of Kentucky balked twice in the first round to receive a score of zero, all but eliminating him from having a chance at the title. Auburn's John Santeiu picked up the baton in round two, taking a 146.30 to 138.70 lead over double SEC springboard champ David Bonuchi of Missouri. A&M's Ford McLiney (119.80) sits third heading into round three. The 'sparks' continued to fly in round three but Santeiu (210.65) continued to hold his lead with A&M's McLiney moving into second (190.75). Bonuchi went way over on dive number three but still managed to score enough points to stay in medal contention at third (186.55). McLiney (260.95) cut Santieu's (270.05) lead in half going into the final round with Bonuchi (247.60) still hanging onto third. Auburn's John Santeiu (344.45) stretched his lead back out over A&M's McLiney (326.20) while Bonuchi (305.20) keeps hanging on for third heading into the final round. Santeiu (426.05) hit his final dive out of the park for 10's to clearly win the men's tower competition over McLiney and Bonuchi who tied for second (382.60).
Men's 400-Yard Freestyle Relay
Auburn (2:50.12) put on a show in their final race of the meet grabbing the lead early, eventually topping Florida (2:50.83) for the win as the two teams combined for the two fastest times in the country. Marcelo led the Tigers off in 41.92. Host Texas A&M also finished strong, taking the bronze medal in 2:53.07). Alabama (2:55.02) eases in for a win in heat one over South Carolina (2:56.71).
Women's 400-Yard Freestyle Relay
The top five teams all finished with NCAA 'A' cuts as Georgia's ladies closed out the meet in style, notching a new SEC meet record of 3:11.23. Florida (3:13.21) gave the Bulldogs a run until Megan Romano slammed the door shut on Georgia's anchor leg. Tennessee (3:14.48) held off host Texas A&M (3:15.24) while Auburn grabbed fifth (3:15.90). Alabama (3:21.51) held off a late charge from Kentucky's (3:22.35) anchor leg to grab the win in the first of two heats.
Men's Race
The Streak is over. Florida unseated 16-time defending champ Auburn and did so in a big, big way, outpointing the Tigers 1,408 to 1,196. Georgia was a clear third with 1,024 points while Tennessee just edged past Missouri for fourth, 787.5 to 779.5. LSU (753.5) took sixth followed by Texas A&M (709.5), South Carolina (540.5), Kentucky (452.5) and Alabama (451).
Women's Race
Thanks to a big showing on day three and general dominance in the sprint freestyles , Georgia won their fourth straight SEC title over host and conference newcomer Texas A&M, 1,420 to 1,296. Florida (1,190.5) finished more than 100 points behind the Aggies while Tennessee was a comfortable fourth with 1,018. Auburn (860) was all by themselves in fifth followed by Arkansas (594), LSU (494), Missouri (487), Kentucky(368.5), Alabama (353), South Carolina (248) and Vanderbilt (183).
Post-Meet Awards
Female Freshman Diver of the Meet - Cassie Weil, LSU
Male Freshman Diver of the Meet - Clark Thomas, Missouri
Female Diver of the Meet - Tori Lamp, Tennessee
Male Diver of the Meet - David Bonuchi, Missouri
Female Diving Coach of the Meet - Dave Parrington, Tennessee
Male Diving Coach of the Meet - Jamie Sweeney, Missouri
Female Freshman Swimmer of the Meet - Natalie Hinds, Florida
Male Freshman Swimmer of the Meet - Chase Kalisz, Georgia
Female Swimmer of the Meet - Breeja Larson, Texas A&M
Male Swimmer of the Meet - Marcelo Chierighini, Auburn
Female Swimming Coach of the Meet - Jack Bauerle, Georgia
Male Swimming Coach of the Meet - Gregg Troy, Florida
