Saturday Prelims
Men’s 100 Freestyle
After missing the final in the 200 freestyle earlier in the meet, Senior John Dalton has more than compensated qualifying for the “A” final in 42.82: a new Texas A&M school record! Now Dalton owns both the 50 and 100 freestyle school records, solidifying his place as one of the best male sprinters in Texas A&M history. The morning started with a great swim from Senior John Wagner as well: a best time of 43.32. This was the fastest preliminary time up until the circle seeded heats, and with only one heat to go he was still in great position to qualify for the “A” final. But, the last heat was incredibly strong and Wagner ended up 11th. Still a great race for him, and he will have a chance to go even faster tonight in the “B” final. His Aggie teammates Henrik Lindau (43.78) and Kyle Troskot (44.05) will join him in 12th and 15th place respectively.
Women’s 100 Freestyle
As expected, Georgia was dominant in the women’s 100 freestyle. The Bulldogs qualified four swimmers for the “A” final, led by Megan Romano who was very fast in 47.66. Our best hope in this event was Lili Ibanez, and unfortunately she was 9th in 48.83, and will be swimming in the “B” final tonight along with Sammie Bosma (49.14) and Erica Dittmer (49.44). Kelli Benjamin tied for 17th in 49.45 and Meredith Oliver was 22nd in 49.51 to qualify for the “C” final. We can still pick up some good points in this tonight, but Georgia is really going to hurt us out of the gate with four swimmers in the “A” final.
Men’s 200 Backstroke
100-backstroke champion from last evening’s finals—Kyle Owens of Auburn—posted the fastest time in 1:40.71. It took a 1:43.62 to qualify for the “A” final, which is one tenth of a second faster than our school record. The top Aggie swimmer was freshman Alexandros Theocharidis: 11th in 1:44.72. Paul-Marc Schweitzer was 13th in 1:45.14 and Simon Frank was 17th, just missing the “B” final, in 1:45.78. Frank will swim in the “C” final this evening.
Women’s 200 Backstroke
This is definitely one of the fastest events here at the SEC Championships, along with the 200 and 500 freestyles. It was insane this morning, and there was a tie (1:51.28) for the top seed in the “A” final between Big XII record holder Dominique Bouchard of Missouri and Olympic finalist Sinead Russell of Florida. In 3rd is Olympic medalist in this event Elizabeth Beisel, also from Florida. We did very well to get two women in the “A” final tonight: Senior Tess Simpson was 7th in 1:54.45 and Junior Melanie McClure was 8th in 1:55.21. If our ladies stay in the race and are able to finish well we could possibly see a new school record tonight: it is one of the oldest (2008) on the women’s side, 1:53.37 held by Kristen Heiss. Both Beisel and Russell will obviously be good, but I think that Bouchard wants this the most. She missed the Canadian Olympic team last year and will have that motivating her, along with the fact that the Missouri women have yet to win a title here at the SEC Championships. Considering Florida has already collected several titles this week, the motivation to win simply won’t be the same for the Gators. It’s going to be a great race to watch tonight! We also qualified a swimmer in the “B” final: Claire Brandt was 13th in 1:56.26, and Jordan King continued her best-time streak by qualifying for the “C” final in 1:57.38.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Nic Fink of Georgia qualified first in 1:54.43, looking to bring home double gold in the breaststrokes this week. We only had one Aggie in this event: Hayden Duplechain was 29th in 2:03.93 and failed to qualify for the “C” final.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
No surprise that Breeja Larson broke the SEC record this morning for the top seed in the “A” final tonight (2:06.99) and she really shut it down on the last 50 yards. She will be even better tonight, and considering her great swim yesterday, get ready for a new American and NCAA record this evening. Freshman Ashley McGregor qualified 3rd in 2:08.75 and will join Larson tonight in the “A” final. Another swimmer to watch is Auburn’s Micah Lawrence, another US Olympian who swam this event in London last summer.
What about the mile?
The 1650 freestyle begins at 2:00pm today, and they do not swim twice: it is a timed final. The fastest seeded heat on the men’s and women’s side will swim in finals. We have the 1st and 4th place seed in the women’s mile: SEC Champion in the 500 and school record holder in this event, Sarah Henry, is seeded first for the Aggies. Senior and former school record holder Maureen McLaine is seeded 4th. Most likely, Henry will be battling with Jessica Thielmann of Florida for the win. Thielman is a freshman, and Henry has a lot more experience, so that is great for us. Plus McLaine is a great miler and trains with Henry every day, the two could potentially go 1-2, which would be huge points that we need, especially since we failed to qualify a swimmer in the 100 freestyle “A” final.
Liz Nelson is in the second fastest heat, but since this is a timed final, it is different than the A, B, or C final setup. The girls did not have a chance to qualify for the fastest heat, so you can win from ANY heat. Although it is unlikely that that would happen, it can. Senior Liz Nelson could score us big points with a heat win in the 1650 this morning which could put her in the top 8 overall.
Men’s 100 Freestyle
After missing the final in the 200 freestyle earlier in the meet, Senior John Dalton has more than compensated qualifying for the “A” final in 42.82: a new Texas A&M school record! Now Dalton owns both the 50 and 100 freestyle school records, solidifying his place as one of the best male sprinters in Texas A&M history. The morning started with a great swim from Senior John Wagner as well: a best time of 43.32. This was the fastest preliminary time up until the circle seeded heats, and with only one heat to go he was still in great position to qualify for the “A” final. But, the last heat was incredibly strong and Wagner ended up 11th. Still a great race for him, and he will have a chance to go even faster tonight in the “B” final. His Aggie teammates Henrik Lindau (43.78) and Kyle Troskot (44.05) will join him in 12th and 15th place respectively.
Women’s 100 Freestyle
As expected, Georgia was dominant in the women’s 100 freestyle. The Bulldogs qualified four swimmers for the “A” final, led by Megan Romano who was very fast in 47.66. Our best hope in this event was Lili Ibanez, and unfortunately she was 9th in 48.83, and will be swimming in the “B” final tonight along with Sammie Bosma (49.14) and Erica Dittmer (49.44). Kelli Benjamin tied for 17th in 49.45 and Meredith Oliver was 22nd in 49.51 to qualify for the “C” final. We can still pick up some good points in this tonight, but Georgia is really going to hurt us out of the gate with four swimmers in the “A” final.
Men’s 200 Backstroke
100-backstroke champion from last evening’s finals—Kyle Owens of Auburn—posted the fastest time in 1:40.71. It took a 1:43.62 to qualify for the “A” final, which is one tenth of a second faster than our school record. The top Aggie swimmer was freshman Alexandros Theocharidis: 11th in 1:44.72. Paul-Marc Schweitzer was 13th in 1:45.14 and Simon Frank was 17th, just missing the “B” final, in 1:45.78. Frank will swim in the “C” final this evening.
Women’s 200 Backstroke
This is definitely one of the fastest events here at the SEC Championships, along with the 200 and 500 freestyles. It was insane this morning, and there was a tie (1:51.28) for the top seed in the “A” final between Big XII record holder Dominique Bouchard of Missouri and Olympic finalist Sinead Russell of Florida. In 3rd is Olympic medalist in this event Elizabeth Beisel, also from Florida. We did very well to get two women in the “A” final tonight: Senior Tess Simpson was 7th in 1:54.45 and Junior Melanie McClure was 8th in 1:55.21. If our ladies stay in the race and are able to finish well we could possibly see a new school record tonight: it is one of the oldest (2008) on the women’s side, 1:53.37 held by Kristen Heiss. Both Beisel and Russell will obviously be good, but I think that Bouchard wants this the most. She missed the Canadian Olympic team last year and will have that motivating her, along with the fact that the Missouri women have yet to win a title here at the SEC Championships. Considering Florida has already collected several titles this week, the motivation to win simply won’t be the same for the Gators. It’s going to be a great race to watch tonight! We also qualified a swimmer in the “B” final: Claire Brandt was 13th in 1:56.26, and Jordan King continued her best-time streak by qualifying for the “C” final in 1:57.38.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Nic Fink of Georgia qualified first in 1:54.43, looking to bring home double gold in the breaststrokes this week. We only had one Aggie in this event: Hayden Duplechain was 29th in 2:03.93 and failed to qualify for the “C” final.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
No surprise that Breeja Larson broke the SEC record this morning for the top seed in the “A” final tonight (2:06.99) and she really shut it down on the last 50 yards. She will be even better tonight, and considering her great swim yesterday, get ready for a new American and NCAA record this evening. Freshman Ashley McGregor qualified 3rd in 2:08.75 and will join Larson tonight in the “A” final. Another swimmer to watch is Auburn’s Micah Lawrence, another US Olympian who swam this event in London last summer.
What about the mile?
The 1650 freestyle begins at 2:00pm today, and they do not swim twice: it is a timed final. The fastest seeded heat on the men’s and women’s side will swim in finals. We have the 1st and 4th place seed in the women’s mile: SEC Champion in the 500 and school record holder in this event, Sarah Henry, is seeded first for the Aggies. Senior and former school record holder Maureen McLaine is seeded 4th. Most likely, Henry will be battling with Jessica Thielmann of Florida for the win. Thielman is a freshman, and Henry has a lot more experience, so that is great for us. Plus McLaine is a great miler and trains with Henry every day, the two could potentially go 1-2, which would be huge points that we need, especially since we failed to qualify a swimmer in the 100 freestyle “A” final.
Liz Nelson is in the second fastest heat, but since this is a timed final, it is different than the A, B, or C final setup. The girls did not have a chance to qualify for the fastest heat, so you can win from ANY heat. Although it is unlikely that that would happen, it can. Senior Liz Nelson could score us big points with a heat win in the 1650 this morning which could put her in the top 8 overall.
