SEC Championships, Night 2: Florida Starts with Two More Relay Titles
The University of Florida went 4-for-4 in relays on the opening night of the SEC Championships Tuesday. Make it 6-for-6 Wednesday.
Both of the Gators’ 200 free relays claimed titles on the second night at Auburn University, helping both teams in their bids to repeat as champions.
Despite the wins, Florida’s women’s team ends the second full day of the meet trailing Tennessee by 35 points, in a battle of the last two champions. The Florida men are in a strong position, with a pitched battle for second between four teams.
All the action, with full results linked below:
- Night 1 FULL RESULTS
- Night 2 FULL RESULTS
- Night 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap
- SEC Championships Schedule and Livestream
- SEC Championships Home
- Day 3 Heat Sheets
Women’s Scores (Through Event 17)
- Tennessee 475
- Florida 440
- Georgia 363
- Auburn 312.5
- Texas A&M 256.5
- Alabama 250.5
- LSU 230
- South Carolina 173
- Kentucky 173
- Missouri 168.5
- Arkansas 132
- Vanderbilt 94
Men’s Scores (Through Event 17)
- Florida 622
- Texas A&M 468
- Tennessee 392
- Georgia 381
- Auburn 373
- LSU 266
- Kentucky 191
- Alabama 187
- South Carolina 183
- Missouri 176
Women’s 200 freestyle relay
The common thread in all three relays for Florida is Micayla Cronk, and she delivered on the anchor with a split of 21.21 seconds to surge the Gators to the win. Their time of 1:26.51 just edged a front-loaded Tennessee squad that went 1:26.87.
Joining Cronk was Bella Sims (21.88), Isabel Ivey (21.03) and Olivia Peoples (22.39). The Gators finished a disappointing third in this event last year.
Tennessee was second with Mona McSharry, Camille Spink, Amber Myers and Jasmine Rumley. Rumley went 21.98 in being swept up by Cronk.
A cuts went to those two, plus Auburn (third in 1:27.46), Alabama (fourth in 1:27.85) and Georgia (fifth in 1:28.31).
Men’s 200 freestyle relay
Tennessee went out fast and dared Florida to chase it down. The Gators did, winning in 1:14.36. The quartet was Josh Liendo (18.55), Adam Chaney (18.52), Julian Smith (18.66) and Eduoard Fullum-Huot (18.63).
The Vols were second in 1:14.81. They went out fast, Jordan Crooks leading off in 18.06. Gui Caribe followed in 18.35, but Micah Chambers and Flynn Crisci were in the 19s and couldn’t keep the lead.
Auburn was third, the top three the same as last year. The Tigers went 1:15.91. Georgia added an A cut in 1:16.81, as did fifth-place Texas A&M in 1:16.59. LSU was .01 off the auto standard in sixth in 1:16.81, Jere Hribar splitting 18.42.
Women’s 500 freestyle
After a pair of 4:32s in the regular season, it took just 4:34 to win the 500 free, delivered by Florida’s Emma Weyant. She went 4:34.25 to control the A final and win by nearly two seconds. Rachel Stege, last year’s champ, was the runner-up in 4:36.15. Abby McCulloh followed in 4:37.18, the third and final A cut. (Missing was Bella Sims, the top seed coming in, who opted for the 200 IM.)
Julia Mrozinski finished fourth for Tennessee in 4:38.18, with teammate Kate McCarville sixth. Hayden Miller of Texas A&M was fifth in 4:39.16. Jillian Barczyk of Georgia finished seventh for the second straight year.
Men’s 500 freestyle
Jake Magahey was on the wrong side of a battle with Florida’s Jake Mitchell last year. The Georgia senior rectified that this time around, winning in 4:09.38 to get gold. Mitchell was second in 4:11.28.
Charlie Hawke of Alabama brought the outside smoke to finish third in 4:11.62. He bumped up from seventh last year. Only Magahey’s time is an NCAA A cut.
Mason Mathias of Auburn finished fourth. Giovanni Linscheer added valuable points for Florida in fifth, a spot lower than last year. Michael Bonson of Auburn was sixth for a second straight season.
Women’s 200 individual medley
Bella Sims gambled with a change in events to the IM. It paid off with a fast night swim, going 1:51.86 to grab gold. It lowers her best time by nearly a second (1:52.72). She led a 1-2 with Isabel Ivey, who went 1:52.50.
Both of those times are A cuts, as are the times from third-place Josephine Fuller of Tennessee in 1:52.58 and Zoie Hartman of Georgia in 1:53.65. Hartman won the title last year ahead of Fuller.
Zoe Dixon, fourth last year, was fifth for Florida, a spot ahead of Tennessee’s Brooklyn Douthwright.
Men’s 200 individual medley
Baylor Nelson is the repeat champion, and once again it’s a Texas A&M 1-2. Last year, Nelson won ahead of Kaloyan Bratanov. This year, it’s Alex Sanchez in second. But Nelson was still on top in 1:41.72.
Sanchez’s 1:42.55 edged out Joaquin Gonzalez Pinero of Florida by .02, and Gonzalez was .04 up on teammate Julian Smith. Zach Hils of Georgia was fifth. Gonzalez finished fourth last year, Hils sixth and Smith eighth. Mason Laur and Sean Sullivan of Florida were seventh and eighth, respectively.
Women’s 50 freestyle
Camille Spink is the 50 free champion, pulling away to edge Micalya Cronk by .08 seconds. The Tennessee swimmer went 21.77, with Cronk and her relay golds second in 21.85.
Third was Mona McSharry, last year’s runner-up, in 22.01. Bella Cothern of Arkansas dropped a great swim to go 22.04.
Men’s 50 freestyle
There he goes again: Jordan Crooks, back under 18 seconds. Crooks roared away from the field in 17.99, the second man to go sub-18 in the NCAAs visiting those depths again. He finished well ahead Gui Caribe in a 1-2 result, the Brazilian going 18.70.
It’s the same top four as last year, though in different order. Josh Liendo was second last season. This year’s, he’s third in 18.83. Adam Chaney bumped down a spot to fourth, in 18.91. Caribe jumped two spots. Macguire McDuff slid from fifth last year to sixth in 18.89, with Auburn’s Logan Tirheimer leaping from a tie for seventh to fifth in 18.95. The guy he was tied with, Georgia’s Dillon Downing, is eighth.
Connor Foote of Texas A&M broke 19 seconds in the B final in 18.97.
Men’s 3-meter diving
Freshman Conor Gesing is an SEC champion, his score of 425.75 giving him a wire-to-wire win on 3-meter. He was tops in prelims, with only 1-meter champ Victor Povzner also crossing 400 points. Povzner faltered a touch in finals to finish fourth with a score of 412.20.
The Aggies kept up their diving strength, with Allen Botego taking bronze. He fell .15 points behind the 421.20 used by Carson Paul of LSU to take silver. Paul had qualified for the final in sixth. A&M’s Takuto Endo made another A final, in eighth.
Bryden Hattie of Tennessee finished fifth.
