Southeastern Conference Championships: Day One

GAINESVILLE, Florida, February 16. FOLLOWING day one of the 2011 Southeastern Conference swimming and diving championships, the Auburn men and women each lead the respective team races Wednesday in the event contested at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Natatorium.

Auburn heads the men's race with 201 total team points (diving included), while Tennessee is second with 199.5 points and Florida is third with 129 points. Auburn also leads the women's race with 166 total team points, while Florida is second with 153 points and South Carolina is third with 108 points.

Florida opened the day by winning the men's 200-medley relay in a time of 1:24.94, which currently goes down as the fastest time in the country, breaking the O'Connell Center pool record and tying the school record. It is an NCAA automatic-qualifying time. The quartet consisted of Marco Loughran, Conor Dwyer, Marcin Cieslak and Brett Fraser.

"It's a great start to the meet," Loughran said. "We came out with the intention of starting off strong because we're known for finishing strong, so it's great to start with this performance. This gives us confidence for the rest of the meet."

Auburn captured the women's 200-medley relay, clocking a time of 1:36.11, which goes down as a new SEC record and an Auburn school record. The quartet consisted of Emily Bos, Lauren Norberg, Olivia Scott and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace.

"Coming into this meet, we just wanted to do the best we could, so to win that (race) was a great boost for the whole meet," Vanderpool-Wallace said. "It was a great way to start for the women's team."

Florida's men capped the event sweep on Wednesday, closing the day with a victory in the 800-yard freestyle relay in a time of 6:13.74. That went down as the fastest time in the country this season and set a new SEC meet record. The Gators' foursome consisted of Dwyer, Fraser, Balazs Gerczak and Sebastien Russeau. Dwyer's 200 split time was one one-hundredth of a second behind the American record and was the second-fastest time in school history (1:31.73).

"(Earning) the record was nice," Dwyer said. "I was happy with the swim, I did some things wrong, but it was really good for our team and it's great having a new team out here."

In the final event of the day, the Georgia women claimed the 800-yard freestyle relay, clocking a time of 6:53.58, eclipsing the American record as well as the conference meet record, previously held by Auburn at 6:54.02. The Lady Bulldogs' quartet consisted of Morgan Scroggy, Chelsea Nauta, Melanie Margalis and Allison Schmitt.

"I'm really proud of our whole team, especially our freshman Melanie (Margalis)," Nauta said. "Just being on that relay is a lot of pressure and I think we did really well."

"Love those American records," Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle said. "That's four special ladies. American records are not a dime a dozen, so we hold those close to our hearts. The big thing is they all swam well and they swam together, so that gives our team some juice. That is our best relay. We knew that coming in – and we knew they could go pretty fast."

The second day of the SEC Swimming Championships begins at 10 a.m. ET (prelims) on Thursday with finals at 6 p.m. ET. For all of the latest information, log on to www.secsports.com.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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