South Carolina’s Akaram Mahmoud won his second straight SEC championship in the men’s 1650 free Saturday night, finishing in a time of 14:38.91. On the women’s side, Auburn’s Ashley Neidigh dominated the field en route to a final time of 15:56.95 and a victory.
Afterwards, both took a few minutes to talk with Swimming World about their races and look ahead to the NCAA championships. Mahmoud explained how he feels about the time as he seeks to improve on his second-place finish at last year’s NCAA championships and revealed how much he thinks about that heartbreaking finish, when he lost a lead of more than two seconds on the last 50.
Mahmoud also discussed what it meant to have teammate Cody Bekemeyer join him on the SEC podium as the third-place finisher.
Neidigh discussed how she felt during the race as she pulled away from the field and explained her excited reaction upon touching the wall. She also looked ahead to the one 1650 race remaining in her career, next month at the NCAA championships.
