2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships
Day Two Heats, Columbia, Missouri
The first heats session of the 2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships from the University of Missouri kicked off this morning with the heats of the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 freestyle.
The facility will be on American record watch tonight in both the 500 free and 200 IM as Florida’s Kieran Smith and Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas will be ones to watch in their respective events. Those two schools will also vie for the team title as the Gators have won every team title since the streak started in 2013. However, Smith is not the top seed in the 500 as that distinction belongs to Georgia freshman Jake Magahey.
Florida qualified nine to A-Finals tonight as Georgia was next with six. Freshman Adam Chaney is top seed for the Gators in the 50 free and will play a big role in the 200 free relay in tonight’s finals.
Ups-Mids-Downs (including 1m diving)
- Florida – 10, 4, 4
- Georgia – 7, 3, 4
- Texas A&M – 4, 1, 7
- Alabama, 3, 3, 1
- Missouri, 2, 3, 4
- Kentucky, 3, 6, 2
- Auburn, 1, 5, 3
- LSU, 2, 1, 2
- Tennessee, 0, 5, 3
- South Carolina, 0, 1, 2
500 Free
The Florida Gators threw down five performances worthy of the A-Final on Wednesday morning as Alfonso Mestre (4:13.53), Kieran Smith (4:14.69), Trey Freeman (4:14.84), Bobby Finke (4:15.22) and Tyler Watson (4:15.93) will flank Georgia freshman Jake Magahey (4:12.39) in tonight’s 500 final.
Even though Magahey, who is the national public school record holder in this event, is the top seed, all eyes will be on Smith after his 1:29.48 last night in leading off the 800 free relay for Florida. Smith broke the American record in this event last year at this meet with a 4:06.32 as that record could be in jeopardy tonight, and he may drag one or two other guys under 4:10 with him, most notably Magahey, Finke and Texas A&M’s Mark Theall (4:16.52) who have all been a 4:10 in their careers but never faster.
Event 3 Men 500 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
NCAA: N 4:06.32 2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
SEC Meet: S 4:06.32 2/19/2020 Kieran Smith, Florida
Pool: P 4:12.78 2/18/2016 Akaram Mahmoud, South Carolina
4:11.82 A
4:23.34 B
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Magahey, Jake M FR Georgia-GA 4:10.48 4:12.39PqB
r:+0.72 23.07 48.65 (25.58)
1:14.54 (25.89) 1:40.42 (25.88)
2:06.15 (25.73) 2:31.79 (25.64)
2:57.34 (25.55) 3:22.80 (25.46)
3:48.04 (25.24) 4:12.39 (24.35)
2 Mestre, Alfonso SO Florida-FL 4:18.14 4:13.53 qB
r:+0.68 22.63 47.81 (25.18)
1:13.34 (25.53) 1:39.08 (25.74)
2:04.88 (25.80) 2:30.11 (25.23)
2:55.76 (25.65) 3:21.58 (25.82)
3:47.74 (26.16) 4:13.53 (25.79)
3 Smith, Kieran S JR Florida-FL 4:11.08 4:14.69 qB
r:+0.70 23.16 48.55 (25.39)
1:14.26 (25.71) 1:40.16 (25.90)
2:06.00 (25.84) 2:32.06 (26.06)
2:57.98 (25.92) 3:23.91 (25.93)
3:49.88 (25.97) 4:14.69 (24.81)
4 Freeman, Trey P SO Florida-FL 4:15.04 4:14.84 qB
r:+0.73 23.14 48.22 (25.08)
1:13.94 (25.72) 1:40.08 (26.14)
2:06.20 (26.12) 2:32.01 (25.81)
2:57.79 (25.78) 3:23.81 (26.02)
3:49.47 (25.66) 4:14.84 (25.37)
5 Finke, Bobby C JR Florida-FL 4:15.06 4:15.22 qB
r:+0.73 23.07 48.40 (25.33)
1:13.94 (25.54) 1:39.81 (25.87)
2:05.79 (25.98) 2:31.90 (26.11)
2:57.98 (26.08) 3:23.99 (26.01)
3:49.87 (25.88) 4:15.22 (25.35)
6 Watson, Tyler J SO Florida-FL 4:24.95 4:15.93 qB
r:+0.71 23.16 48.21 (25.05)
1:13.79 (25.58) 1:39.87 (26.08)
2:05.78 (25.91) 2:31.64 (25.86)
2:57.75 (26.11) 3:24.04 (26.29)
3:50.37 (26.33) 4:15.93 (25.56)
7 Abruzzo, Andrew JR Georgia-GA 4:13.54 4:15.98 qB
r:+0.77 23.65 49.10 (25.45)
1:15.08 (25.98) 1:41.14 (26.06)
2:07.02 (25.88) 2:33.07 (26.05)
2:59.45 (26.38) 3:25.14 (25.69)
3:50.71 (25.57) 4:15.98 (25.27)
8 Theall, Mark J SR Texas A&M-GU 4:10.67 4:16.52 qB
r:+0.65 23.38 48.66 (25.28)
1:14.11 (25.45) 1:39.93 (25.82)
2:06.09 (26.16) 2:32.25 (26.16)
2:58.78 (26.53) 3:25.13 (26.35)
3:51.38 (26.25) 4:16.52 (25.14)
200 IM
Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas absolutely cruised in the heats of the 200 IM with a 1:41.55 to snag lane four in tonight’s final, going for his second straight title in the event as well as a crack at the American record of 1:38.13 by Florida’s Caeleb Dressel. Casas is ahead of Missouri’s Danny Kovac (1:41.75), who is swimming in his home pool and swam a lifetime best this morning. Kovac is an underrated rising star in NCAA swimming circles as he was a national junior team member in high school and one of the top flyers in the country.
Georgia scored three up in the 200 IM, putting them second to Florida thus far with A-finalists as Javier Acevedo (1:42.82), Luca Urlando (1:43.85) and Zach Hils (1:44.46) advanced to the championship final. Acevedo looks like he has a lot left as he cruised in his heat and should be pushing a 1:40 in finals tonight. Georgia is shooting for its first SEC men’s title under coach Jack Bauerle, having last won the meet in 1955.
Florida’s Dillon Hillis (1:43.11) had a big swim from a non-seeded heat to grab fourth seed as the Gators have been on fire through two sessions in the pool. Kentucky’s Mason Wilby, having just witnessed the women win their first conference title last weekend, is seeded sixth at 1:43.86 ahead of Texas A&M’s Coco Bratanov (1:44.26).
Event 4 Men 200 Yard IM
==================================================================
NCAA: N 1:38.13 2/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
SEC Meet: S 1:38.13 2/15/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
Pool: P 1:42.21 2/18/2016 Joe Patching, Auburn
1:41.34 A
1:46.77 B
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Casas, Shaine M JR Texas A&M-GU 1:38.95 1:41.55PqB
r:+0.62 20.92 46.13 (25.21)
1:16.08 (29.95) 1:41.55 (25.47)
2 Kovac, Danny D JR Missouri-MV 1:42.66 1:41.75PqB
r:+0.59 21.28 46.71 (25.43)
1:16.41 (29.70) 1:41.75 (25.34)
3 Acevedo, Javi C SR Georgia-GA 1:41.75 1:42.82 qB
r:+0.62 22.16 47.53 (25.37)
1:17.03 (29.50) 1:42.82 (25.79)
4 Hillis, Dillon JR Florida-FL 1:47.87 1:43.11 qB
r:+0.64 22.16 48.23 (26.07)
1:17.48 (29.25) 1:43.11 (25.63)
5 Urlando, Luca R FR Georgia-GA 1:42.84 1:43.85 qB
r:+0.68 21.95 47.15 (25.20)
1:17.60 (30.45) 1:43.85 (26.25)
6 Wilby, Mason J JR Kentucky-KY 1:46.57 1:43.86 qB
r:+0.62 22.05 47.90 (25.85)
1:18.85 (30.95) 1:43.86 (25.01)
7 Bratanov, Kaloy JR Texas A&M-GU 1:44.17 1:44.26 qB
r:+0.64 23.07 49.43 (26.36)
1:19.51 (30.08) 1:44.26 (24.75)
8 Hils, Zach C SO Georgia-GA 1:45.24 1:44.46 qB
r:+0.67 22.46 48.62 (26.16)
1:18.78 (30.16) 1:44.46 (25.68)
50 Free
Florida freshman Adam Chaney popped off in the prelims of the 50 free with an 18.88 to grab lane four in the final as this was his first time under 19 seconds in the event. He is ahead of two sophomores in Georgia’s Dillon Downing (18.90) and LSU’s Brooks Curry (18.97) as they were other two to break 19. Curry was the champ in the 100 free at this meet a year ago and had a strong first 25 in his heat swim this morning as he was LSU’s first SEC title winner on the men’s side since 2004 last year.
Only one senior made this year’s A-Final in Alabama’s Sam DiSette (19.39) as this is a very young field on display at the SEC Men’s Swimming Championships at the University of Missouri. Alabama freshman Matt King, who came in to the meet as the top seed, is seeded fourth at 19.34, while Florida junior Will Davis (19.37), Auburn sophomore Nik Eberly (19.38) and Florida sophomore Eric Friese (19.47) also advanced to the championship final.
Event 5 Men 50 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
NCAA: N 17.63 3/22/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
SEC Meet: S 18.23 2/17/2016 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
Pool: P 18.23 2/18/2016 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
18.96 A
19.96 B
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Chaney, Adam C FR Florida-FL 19.51 18.88 qA
r:+0.62 9.05 18.88 (9.83)
2 Downing, Dillon SO Georgia-GA 19.41 18.90 qA
r:+0.61 9.24 18.90 (9.66)
3 Curry, Brooks V SO L S U-LA 19.28 18.97 qB
r:+0.55 9.18 18.97 (9.79)
4 King, Matt K FR Alabama-SE 19.26 19.34 qB
r:+0.66 9.37 19.34 (9.97)
5 Davis, Will JR Florida-FL 19.85 19.37 qB
r:+0.60 9.26 19.37 (10.11)
6 Eberly, Nik E SO Auburn-SE 19.90 19.38 qB
r:+0.56 9.20 19.38 (10.18)
7 DiSette, Sam H SR Alabama-SE 19.91 19.39 qB
r:+0.57 9.34 19.39 (10.05)
8 Friese, Eric E SO Florida-FL 19.37 19.47 qB
r:+0.65 9.28 19.47 (10.19)
1m Diving
The 1m diving already took place last week.
Event 6 Men 1 mtr Diving
==================================================================
Name Year School Seed Prelims
==================================================================
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Mathews, Kurtis J SR Texas A&M-GU 396.75 368.50
2 Celaya Hernandez, Jua SR LSU-LA 405.22 361.75
3 Lane, Chase G SR Kentucky-KY 352.88 349.30
4 Zhang, Mingli JR Kentucky-KY 343.05 345.60
5 Garcia, Leonardo FR FLOR-FL NP 335.40
6 Allen, Zach T SR Georgia-GA NP 331.85
7 Li, Kevin JR Alabama-SE 362.90 325.10
8 Lopez, Carlo SO Missouri-MV 325.10 322.65
9 Wade, Matt T JR Tennessee-SE 342.45 308.30
10 Hattie, Bryden R FR Tennessee-SE 360.20 303.80
11 Duncan, Sam Kentucky-KY 300.53 302.20
12 Lake, Caiden SO Kentucky-KY 294.45 300.35
13 Donald, Skip K SO Auburn-SE 333.68 292.50
14 Romero, Rodrigo Kentucky-KY 299.70 291.50
15 Vargas Garcia, David FR Auburn-SE 325.80 289.90
16 Hurbis, Dakota SR LSU-LA NP 289.30
17 Andrews, Logan T SR Auburn-SE 324.45 286.25
18 Sanchez, Kyle G FR Texas A&M-GU 315.00 283.60
19 Hallam, Will J SR Tennessee-SE 339.65 282.65
20 Kebler, Hunter C FR Auburn-SE 272.55 281.50
21 Claus, Alex M JR South Carolina-S 331.95 281.35
22 Stewart, Tony FR Texas A&M-GU 325.13 278.70
23 Svirskyi, Anton SO FLOR-FL NP 274.25
24 Jaynes, Hunter C JR Alabama-SE 312.68 264.30
Watson with a nine second drop in the 500….Somebody ate their Wheaties this morning!! Looking forward to seeing another few seconds off that time tonight!