Friday Morning Recap

Men’s 200 Butterfly

Tonight we will have two Aggies swimming in the “B” final. Senior Maxwell Lewis posted an NCAA “B” time and a life time best of 1:47.12 to qualify in 14th. This is his last swim of his college career, so it is awesome that he not only set a best time but also earned himself another swim tonight in the SEC “B” final. Junior Omar Enriquez went out after it in the first half of the race, and was right with the top swimmers at the 100-yard mark, but fell off in the second hundred. He qualified tied for 12th in 1:47.10, just ahead of his teammate Lewis.

Women’s 200 Butterfly

This race gave me goose-bumps. And not just because we are seeded 1st and 2nd heading into the final, but because Senior Jordan King has overcome a disappointing and injury-riddled college career to post a personal best time of 1:57.68 and qualify for the “A” final at the SEC Championship meet. She has really stepped up her training over the last year and it has definitely paid off in the pool, and I couldn’t be more proud of her! She is happy and confident and you can see it when she is behind the blocks. This is a proud moment for me as a former student. Our amazing Olympian Cammile Adams posted the fastest time in the nation—1:53.71—for the top seed in the “A” final. Caroline McElhany had a great swim as well—1:54.73—and will be the second seed in the “A” final tonight. The Aggie women are showing off their dominance right away this morning! Both girls have extremely strong back halves, especially Cammile, so expect them to completely destroy girls on the second half tonight. Fourth seed from Tennessee, Kelsey Floyd, was hurting on the last 50 meters of the race this morning, and that will be even more obvious when our back-half queens destroy the field!

Men’s 100 Backstroke

In the prelims, Kyle Owens from Auburn posted the fastest time in the nation and the only sub-46 second swim (45.92). The only Aggie in the race tonight will be freshman Alexandros Theocharidis who qualified 11th in 47.81.

Women’s 100 Backstroke

This event was cool for me because half of the Canadian Olympic Trials final is represented here at the SEC (and that doesn’t include me): freshman Sinead Russell from Florida, Dominique Bouchard from Missouri, and of course, Tess Simpson and Paige Miller from Texas A&M. And neither my Canucks nor my Aggies let me down! The top qualifier in the “A” final is Aggie school record holder Paige Miller in 51.55, followed by Florida’s Sinead Russell in 51.95. Russell swam the 100 and 200 backstroke in the Olympics in London (and made the final in the 200) last summer, and is the Canadian record holder in both events, so she will be good tonight. Dominique Bouchard from Missouri tied for 3rd with Georgia’s Megan Romano in 52.02. Senior Tess Simpson was 7th in 52.65 and will join her Aggie teammate Miller in the A final tonight. Romano is the NCAA record holder in the 200 freestyle but showed off her versatility with a great 100 backstroke this morning. It is going to be a close race tonight, but Miller looked good. She wins this and we could sweep the women’s events tonight.

Men’s 100 Breaststroke

The Aggies had no men swimming this event! It looks like we need to recruit some breaststrokers. The top seed went to Nic Fink of Georgia in 52.52.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

In the first circle-seeded heat, Tennessee’s Molly Hannis broke the SEC record and posted the second-fastest time in the nation this year of 58.22. Two heats later, Olympian and American record holder Breeja Larson of Texas A&M responded by tying Hannis’ new SEC record! That should be a great battle tonight and records will definitely fall. Larson isn’t afraid of anyone and will do whatever it takes to win this tonight. It took a blazing 1:00.1 to make the “A” final, and we have two Aggies in the “B” tonight: freshman Ashley McGregor was 10th in 1:00.45 and Senior Erica Dittmer was 13th in 1:00.94.

Tonight could be our best night so far on the women’s side: we are seeded first in everything right now. We could sweep all the events! The 200 fly is pretty much a done deal with Adams and McElhany. Miller looked great this morning in the 100 backstroke, and, with another great swim tonight, has a great chance at taking that SEC title. Larson will not let herself be beaten. Then consider this: with the best backstroker, breaststroker, 3rd place (almost 1st) in the 100 butterfly, our medley relay will be unstoppable.

Four for four tonight. Let’s do this Aggies!

Terrific morning for the girls. Cammille looks in complete control in her 200 fly. I think her stroke count was 8 on the last 25, one less than on previous 25s. Pretty amazing at the end of a 200 fly. Breeja didn't look like she was working hard at all. And Paige - she didn't die at end! She is super-aggressive in all of her races.

If only our diving was stronger....

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If only our diving was stronger....

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Ya, definitely going to miss Jaele and Janie come NCs.

Great morning and tonight will be even better.

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Both girls have extremely strong back halves

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Yes I know, juvenile, but funny!

Here is the Finals recap up to the diving break!

Men’s 200 Butterfly

This was a very tight race, with Marcin Cieslak (1:42.17) stealing the title from his teammate Sebastian Rousseau (1:42.18) in the final stroke, 3rd place went to Cameron Martin, also of Florida. In the “B” final, Omar Enriquez had a great swim, and out-touched Tripp Crosthwaite from Kentucky for 10th place. In the final race of his career, Senior Maxwell Lewis posted another personal best of 1:46.95 and finished in 13th place, scoring 14 points for the Aggies.

Women’s 200 Butterfly

Well, just as I predicted, Cammile Adams had this event locked up from the moment she entered the meet: she won in an SEC record time of 1:52.48. She is definitely the favorite to win NCAA’s in that event this year: the only reason she didn’t last year is because she had to race one of the best 200 butterflyers ever (a then-Senior Katinka Hosszu from USC). But Adams is better than ever and Hosszu has graduated, so folks, I am normally too superstitious to say something like this, but Cammile is just this good: she’s going to win NCAA’s this year. Right behind her was teammate Caroline McElhany, who finally broke her 3rd place streak at this meet, and swam a best time of 1:53.24. Jordan King was 6th in 1:57.53, another tenth faster tonight!

Men’s 100 Backstroke

Senior Kyle Owens from Auburn posted the fastest time in the nation this year to win the 100 backstroke in 45.60: the only swimmer under 46 seconds. Our lone Aggie was Freshman Alexandros Theocharidis who was 11th in 47.85.

Women’s 100 Backstroke

Well, this was a great race for me on so many levels. First off, half of the girls were not only Canadian, but from my home province of Ontario. Clearly we are doing one thing right up there! But the best part was that Junior Paige Miller won in 51.62, two tenths ahead of Meagan Romano from Georgia. Miller was slightly behind Florida’s Sinead Russell at the 75-yard mark, but an impressive final turn and underwater kick-out propelled her past the field. With Miller’s win tonight, the Aggies have officially won the 100 backstroke at Conference for EIGHT years straight, starting with me from 2006-2008, Lindsey King in 2009 when I redshirted, me in 2010, and Paige has now been undefeated for three years straight. And in Aggieland, we are all about tradition, right? So hopefully we keep THIS tradition going as long as possible! (Is my pride oozing out of your computer screen yet?) But Miller wasn’t the lone Aggie in the final: Senior Tess Simpson was 5th in 52.36. In the “B” final, Kelli Benjamin was 10th in 52.97 and Claire Brandt was 14th in 53.97.

Men’s 100 Breaststroke

We had no Aggies represented in this event, but the win went to Nic Fink of Georgia in 52.43, the only NCAA A cut of the entire race.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

Well, it was finally time for the Breeja Larson show, and what a show it was. Tennessee’s Molly Hannis was out very fast, under American record pace, but that was just what Breeja needed. Breeja came pummeling back on the second 50 and absolutely destroyed the field, breaking her own American, NCAA, and School record in the process. And now, she has an SEC record all her own at 57.43. And she isn’t even rested! I can’t wait to see what she’ll do at NCAA’s in just over a month. In the “B” final, Freshman Ashley McGregor was 11th in 1:00.36, followed by Junior Erica Dittmer in 1:00.66.

So far we are three for three on the women’s side… Seems like all my predictions are coming true so far. I’ll update you on the relay after it happens!

Hey Julia!

Love your write ups! Today was a great night of following those awesome Aggie women kicking butt and checking out my Stratford HS swimmers at the State 4A Prelims, all while listening to the Aggie Baseball game. Miss sitting at games with you watching Shane & Barret!

Our platform diver Jess Macaulay (Sophomore) had an awesome night! I don’t know much about diving but on her second last dive she had 9’s, 9.5s and even a 10! She almost took down the reigning SEC Champion but ended up 2nd, which was huge points for us.

Men’s 400 Medley Relay:

The title went to Auburn in 3:05.92, and the Tigers pretty much ran away with it from the very beginning. The Texas A&M Aggies were 8th in 3:14.08: John Wagner swam the breaststroke leg for us, and tried his best to hold his own even though he is not primarily a breaststroker. He definitely did his best, but we really need to recruit a breaststroker!

Women’s 400 Medley Relay:

Well y’all, we did it! Four for four, a new Texas A&M school record and an SEC record to boot! The girls won handily in 3:28.93 over Georgia’s 3:31.34. The splits were impressive across the board:
Miller: 52.21
Larson: 57.26
McElhany: 51.61
Ibanez: 47.85

None of these girls are rested for SEC’s: the NCAA record is 3:28.10. I have a feeling they will take this down at NCAA’s. The American record of 3:28.31 is also within reach, but the girls couldn’t break it since Miller is Canadian. There is only one day left of competition but still many great things to come so stay tuned!

Here are the team standings after tonight:

Men:
1. Florida 1038
2. Auburn 823.5
3. Georgia 679
4. Tennessee 570
5. Missouri 531
6. LSU 530.5
7. Texas A&M 517.5
8. South Carolina 444.5
9. Kentucky 367.5
10. Alabama 302

Women:
1. Georgia 1058
2. Texas A&M 985
3. Florida 852.5
4. Tennessee 810
5. Auburn 657
6. LSU 432
7. Arkansas 406
8. Missouri 391
9. Kentucky 326.5
10. Alabama 264
11. South Carolina 192
12. Vanderbilt 140