Men's 100-Yard Freestyle
Texas A&M's John Wagner (43.62) holds off Auburn's Arthur Mendes (43.84) to win heat one. Kentucky freshman Scott Crosthwaite (45.47) holds off teammate Cameron Hyde (45.64). Aggie Henrik Lindau crushes heat three in 43.78. South Carolian's Alex Fitton (44.09) earns the win on the last 25 over Tennessee's Gustav Aberg Ledjstrom (44.39). Tennessee's Sam Rairden (42.64) passes teammate Ed Walsh (43.16) on the back half to win heat five. Florida rolls in heat six as Pawel Werner (43.42) out-touched teammate Bradley deBorde (43.16) with Auburn's James Disney-May third (43.81). Auburn's Marcelo Chierighini (42.09) continue to prove why he's the best sprinter at the meet while A&M's John Dalton (42.82) held off Alabama's B.J. Hornikel (42.92) for second in the final heat. It took a 43.36 to make the big boy final.
Women's 100-Yard Freestyle
Missouri's Anna Patterson (49.25) crushes heat one. Tide rolls in heat two as Anna Rae Gwarjanski (51.69) beats out teammate Chandler Ryberg (5.26). LSU's Rainey White (51.19) passes Tennessee's Cherelle Thompson (51.49) on the final 25 to grab the win in heat three. Vanderbilt's Caroline Thomas (50.93) goes wire-to-wire in a tight heat four. Tennessee's Caroline Simmons (49.15) took a big lead early in heat five and held on for the win over Kentucky's Megan Eppler (49.45). Tennessee's Harper Bruens (49.00) leads wire-to-wire with A&M's Erica Dittmer (49.44) second in heat six. Georgia's Shannon Vreeland (48.59) ups the ante with a comfortable win over Hannah Riordan (49.06) of Auburn. Four women dropped below 49 in heat eight with 200 free champ Lindsay Gendron of Tennessee (48.15) outdoing Georgia's Allison Schmitt (48.50) and Tennessee's Faith Johnson (48.57). Georgia's Megan Romano (47.86) grabs the top qualifying spot with a win over Florida's Natalie Hinds (48.06) and Ellese Zalewski (48.17) in the final heat. The Bulldogs take care of business, putting four swimmers in the big girl final.
Men's 200-Yard Backstroke
Kentucky's Michael Christian (1:47.46) grabs an easy win in heat one over Tennessee freshman Tim Wylie (1:49.07). Alabama's Reese Shirey (1:44.04) leads wire-to-wire to take heat two over LSU sophomore Dillon Love (1:45.91). Georgia sophomore Jared Markham (1:43.47) win a tight battle with Missouri sophomore Austin Fish (1:43.62) and LSU senior Nick Kunkel (1:43.81). Tennessee freshman Sean Lehane swims the fastest time in the country this year (1:41.26) in winning heat four over Georgia freshman Ty Stewart (1:43.00). Auburn senior Kyle Owens (1:40.71) one-upped Lehane, taking the lead out early and pushing all the way through, cruising to an easy win over Florida freshman Corey Main (1:43.07). Though Owens gets the top qualifier, he is the only Aubrn Tiger in the big boy final fighting Florida's three.
Women's 200-Yard Backstroke
Tennessee sophomore Arden Pitman (1:59.52) cruises to the win in heat one. Tennessee's Erin Gaeckle (2:00.34) takes heat two with a strong back half in lane eight. Texas A&M's Jordan King (1:57.38) takes the lead on the final 50 to win heat three over LSU"s Kaitlin Sepp (1:59.50). Tennessee rolls in heat four as Amanda Carner (1:56.20) and Anna DeMonte (1:56.43) go one-two. Florida's Sinead Russell (1:51.28)torches the fifth heat with Georgia's Kelsey Gaid (1:53.31) taking second. MIssouri's Dominique Bouchard matches Russell's time to win heat six while A&M Tess Simpson is second (1:54.45). U.S. Olympian Elizabeth Beisel (1:52.37) of Florida's takes the final heat over teammate Ashlee Linn (1:53.82). Florida qualifies three swimmers for the finals, including two of the top three, while Texas A&M sneaks a pair in as well.
Men's 200-Yard Breaststroke
Alabama's Zack Wepasnick (2:00.50) holds off Alabama's Cameron Conners (2:01.09)to win heat one. Florida's Matthew Elliott (1:55.22) outdistances Missouri sophomore Igo Kozlovskij (1:55.98) to grab heat two. Georgia's 100 breast champ Nic Fink (1:54.43) outlasts Florida's sophomore Eduardo Solaeche Gomes (1:55.32) to take heat three. Double IM champ Chase Kalisz of Georgia (1:55.86) took the win over Missouri senior Jowan Qupty (1:56.02) in the fourth and final heat. Both Georgia and Missouri earn three spots in the big boy final while Florida takes the other two.
Women's 200-Yard Breaststroke
Alabama's Morgan Presley (2:18.18) gets past Kentucky sophomore Katrina Keirns (2:20.67) for top honors in heat one. The Tide rolls again with Kaylin Burchell (2:11.89) and Stephanie Klotz (2:15.12) taking the top two spots in heat two. U.S. Olympian Micah Lawrence steadily pushed her lead throughout, winning the first of three circle-seeded heats in 2:09.26 over South Carolina's Amanda Rutqvist (2:10.06) and Florida's Hilda Luthersdottir (2:10.81). Georgia's Annie Zhu (2:07.69) outlasted Texas A&M's Ashley McGregor (2:08.75) and Tennessee's Molly Hannis (2:08.78) in the penultimate heat of the morning. A&M's Breeja Larson (2:06.99) added another record to her ever-expanding list of them, taking first in an SEC record with Georgia's Melanie Margalis second (2:09.63). The Aggies take two of the top three qualifying spots in the event while Georgia also gets two ladies in the big girl final.
Men's Platform Diving
Kentucky's Greg Ferrucci (435.50) earned the top qualifying spot over double SEC springboard champion David Bonuchi of Missouri (424.90). LSU junior Daniel Helm (360.45) scraped past Auburn sophomores Michael Beran (359.05) and Fraser McKean (357.75. Texas A&M's Ford McLiney (352.20), Missouri's Clark Thomas (346.85), and Auburn's John Santeiu (346.05) complete the field for tonight championship final.
The table looks to be set for Georgia to take their fourth straight women's SEC title while the torch has been all but passed from Auburn to Florida on the men's side. There are plenty of highly-anticipated races upcoming tonight however with many titles to be decided, records to be broken and NCAA automatic qualifying times to be achieved. Stay tuned!
