Georgia Women, Florida Men Pulling Away at SECs, Chase Kalisz Wins 2nd Title

Chase Kalisz swims in the prelims of the 200 breaststroke.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

AUBURN – The Georgia women and the Florida men really pulled away on Friday night heading into the final day of the 2015 SEC Championships. Meanwhile, Georgia’s Chase Kalisz captured his second SEC title of the meet, adding the 200 fly to his 400 IM win.

Men’s Meet

Georgia’s Chase Kalisz claimed his second title of the week as he ripped off a sizzling 1:41.70 in the 200-yard fly to start the night. That’s a personal best for the 400 IM American record holder, as he cleared his previous top time of 1:41.74 and moved to 18th all time in the event.

Tennessee freshman Sam McHugh led five more swimmers under the NCAA A cut out of the A final with a second-place 1:42.01, while Auburn’s Hugo Morris touched third in 1:42.11.

Georgia’s Ty Stewart (1:42.30), Georgia’s Pace Clark (1:42.33) and Florida’s Dan Wallace (1:42.49) also qualifying for NCAAs.

Missouri’s Mack Darragh turned up the heat in the consolation final with an NCAA A cut of his own as he clocked a 1:42.56.

Alabama’s Connor Oslin moved cut a bit off his preliminary time of 45.47 to win the men’s 100-yard backstroke finale in 45.45.

That performance bettered his NCAA A cut from prelims, and came less than half-a-second off Ryan Lochte’s 2005 SEC meet record of 45.19 clocked for Florida.

Florida’s Jack Blyzinskyj took second overall in 46.01 with Georgia’s Taylor Dale placing third in 46.18.

Georgia’s Nic Fink threw down a 51.51 in one of the fastest 100-yard breaststroke finales ever for the win. That’s not far off his personal best of 51.25 that ranks him fourth all time, and gives him a career sweep of the SEC 100-yard breaststroke title.

Missouri’s Sam Tierney touched second overall in 51.64 to jump to seventh by himself in the all time rankings, breaking a tie with Brendan McHugh at 51.68.

Auburn’s Michael Duderstadt checked in third with a 51.93, while Tennessee’s Peter John Stevens (52.07) also beat the NCAA A cut.

Alabama closed out a huge night for the Tide with an SEC meet record in the men’s 400-yard medley relay.

Connor Oslin (45.45), Anton McKee (51.95), Brett Walsh (45.49) and Kristian Gkolomeev (41.33) took home the title in 3:04.22. That swim cleared the SEC meet record of 3:04.58 set by Auburn back in 2009.

That performance also would have placed second at NCAAs last year in this event.

Florida’s Jack Blyzinskyj (46.08), Eduardo Solaeche-Gomez (52.05), Christian-Paul Homer (45.37) and Caeleb Dressel (41.59) took second in 3:05.09.

Auburn’s Joe Patching (46.37), Michael Duderstadt (51.89), Hugo Morris (45.87) and Kyle Darmody (41.88) wound up third overall in 3:06.01.

Georgia (3:06.26), Tennessee (3:06.86), Missouri (3:07.15) and LSU (3:09.23) all posted NCAA A cuts as well.

Team Scores

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Women’s Meet

Kentucky’s Christina Bechtel unleashed a smoking 28.93, 29.11 down the stretch to overhaul Georgia’s Hali Flickinger in the women’s 200-yard fly, 1:52.78 to 1:52.88.

Bechtel was unable to better her preliminary time of 1:52.43 to challenge Cammile Adams’ SEC meet record of 1:52.19, but she did enough for the win.

Florida’s Taylor Katz rounded out the top three and the NCAA A cup recipients with a 1:54.44 for third place.

Georgia’s Olivia Smoliga grabbed an NCAA A cut in the women’s 100-yard back with a time of 51.47. Texas A&M’s Beryl Gastaldello just missed the cut with a second-place 51.73, while Georgia’s Kylie Stewart snared third in 52.12.

Alabama’s Kaylin Burchell couldn’t replicate her morning swim of 58.48, but she didn’t need to as she still won the women’s 100-yard breast with a time of 58.87.

Tennessee’s Molly Hannis finished second in 59.01, securing a spot at NCAAs with an A cut of her own. Arkansas’ Nikki Daniels placed third overall in 59.52. Missouri’s Katharine Ross also cleared 1:00 with a fourth-place 59.64.

LSU’s Cassie Weil held off Florida’s Kahlia Warner in a dogfight for the women’s 10-meter diving crown. Weil closed out the title with 331.70 points, while Warner took second with 326.45 points. LSU’s Alex Bettridge snared third with 307.10 points.

Tennessee swept the medley relays after winning the 200 on night one.

The foursome of Amanda Carner (52.95), Molly Hannis (58.66), Harper Bruens (52.21) and Faith Johnson (47.65) took home the title with a 3:31.47.

Texas A&M’s Laura Norman (53.76), Franko Jonker (59.79), Beryl Gastaldello (51.34) and Sammie Bosma (48.04) hit the wall second in 3:32.93.

Georgia’s Olivia Smoliga (NS), Annie Zhu (NS, Lauren Harrington (52.17) and Chantal van Landeghem (47.51) claimed third overall in 3:34.01 as the top three all cleared the NCAA A cut.

Team Scores

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2015 SEC Swimming Championships, Day Four – Results

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