The first night of the SEC Swimming and Diving Conference is finally upon us! Unlike BIG XII’s, this meet is five days long because there are so many athletes. Last year in the BIG XII, there were 5 women’s teams and only 3 men’s teams. This year we have twelve women’s teams and ten on the men’s side… That’s almost three times the amount of athletes.

The first swimming race will be off the blocks at 6:00pm. Here is what the timeline looks like:

5:30 pm: Men 1 meter diving
6:00 pm: Men 200 Medley Relay
6:10 pm: Women 200 Medley Relay
6:30 pm: Women 4 meter diving
7:00 pm: Men 800 Freestyle Relay
7:20 pm: Women 800 Freestyle Relay

The anticipation in here is contagious. If you are new to swimming, this is a good way to start. I feel fairly confident that we will see some amazing swims this weekend: Texas A&M school Records, Conference Records, NCAA Records, even American Records could go down.

Our men are in the first of two heats of the 200 Medley relay. Winning this heat is exactly what they need to do to inject some confidence into both teams. The women are seeded first, in a lane between Florida and Auburn. Our seed time is over a second faster than Auburn’s, and the women NEED to win this one. Georgia’s freestyle relays are so strong that we need to establish our dominance in the medleys right off the bat—plus that would be a huge mental boost for our women’s 800 freestyle relay.

In the 800-freestyle relay, the men are seeded fifth, in lane two between Tennessee and Auburn. As much as it’s not great that our men are in the slower of the two heats in the 200-medley relay, if I had to choose, I would rather them be in the first heat for that relay than the 800. The 800 free relay is much more strategic, and being in the thick of the faster heat will definitely be a benefit to them.

Our women are seeded third in the 800-freestyle relay behind Georgia and Florida, and since Georgia’s team is full of Olympians (200 freestyle Olympians nonetheless), their seed time is very fast. The Aggies will likely have to break the school record (6:59.50) if they want to beat them, but that is definitely within reason. Anything could happen tonight!

I can’t wait to see who is going to bust out something incredible and unexpected. Stay tuned!

And, the only reason I am not previewing the diving events is because I know so little about diving, not because I want to leave them out!

Men’s 200 Medley Relay:

Auburn won this race, a great start in their quest to continue their 16-year Conference winning streak; Junior butterflyer Marcelo Chierighini posted a blazing split of 20.07, which is essentially what won the race for the Tigers. Texas A&M was eighth, and a back half surge from Henerik Lindau and Kyle Troskot helped push the Aggies ahead of Alabama. Kentucky was disqualified on a false start by their freestyler.

Women’s 200 Medley Relay:

Tennessee won this in a new SEC record time of 1:35.08. The Aggies tied for second with Florida in 1:35.96, less than three tenths over their school record from last year. Senior Tess Simpson had a great first backstroke leg at 24.24, putting the Aggies ahead initially, but an incredibly fast start from Tennessee’s breaststroker just about tied the two teams. In the end, Tennessee out-started and out-split us in the last hundred yards and we were forced to settle for second. But Georgia was seventh, so second won’t hurt as much as it could have. Hopefully this initial loss to Tennessee will launch the Aggies into heightened state of motivation as opposed to discouraging them. The top seven teams posted NCAA A Cuts, which is pretty much unheard of at a Conference meet: the depth of talent in the SEC was demonstrated in the very first event of the meet.

Men’s 800 Free Relay:

This was a great race for the Aggies: fourth place, a few tenths off the school record, and an NCAA “A” cut. Our two final swimmers, Paul-Marc Schweitzer and John Dalton posted great splits of 1:34.82 and 1:34.47, respectively, which helped them push ahead of Georgia and nearly earned them a spot on the podium. Dalton nearly caught Auburn’s final swimmer, but he ran out of room, and they finished only .05 behind the Tigers.

Women’s 800 Free Relay:

As expected, the Georgia women ran away with this one, breaking the NCAA record in the process. The Aggie relay of Lili Ibanez, Maureen McLaine, Meredith Oliver and Sarah Henry was fourth, behind Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. Henry tried to bring it back for the Aggies and catch the Lady Volunteers, and posted a very fast split of 1:44.11. Henry is a redshirt sophomore who is returning from her second ACL surgery with a vengeance: she is going to be a force to reckon with both this week and at NCAA’s, so expect to see good things from her. The girls picked up an NCAA “A” cut as well, and will no doubt swim significantly faster in a few weeks because this relay was made up of at least three girls who were not rested for Conference.

At the end of Day 1, here are the standings:

Men:
1. Auburn 196
2. LSU 156
3. Florida 149
4. Tennessee 147
5. Missouri 146
6. Texas A&M 123
7. South Carolina 107
8. Georgia 103
9. Kentucky 95
10. Alabama 82

Women:
1. Tennessee 185
2. LSU 151
3. Georgia 151
4. Missouri 141
5. Auburn 132
6. Texas A&M 130
7. Florida 126
8. Arkansas 118
9. Alabama 110
10. Kentucky 91
11. South Carolina 65
12. Vanderbilt 62

Thanks for the update Julia! Keep them coming for us tomorrow!

I need to check this out! My daughter stopped club swimming, but 3 of her former teammates are in this meet!

Great write-up!