2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships Day Two Finals: Casas Hits 1:39 200 IM; Chaney Moves to 16th All-Time in 50 Free

Shaine Casas. Photo Courtesy: Craig Bisacre / Texas A&M Athletics

2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships

Day Two Finals, Columbia, Missouri

The 2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships continued Wednesday night from Columbia, Missouri as the pool was on American record watch in the second night of finals. Florida’s Kieran Smith tied his own American record in the 500 free while Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas added a little on his best in the 200 IM.

Florida’s Adam Chaney took the win in the 50 free as the rookies showed out well on Wednesday – Jake Magahey put up the second fastest time ever in the 500 and Alabama’s Matt King was second in the 50 free. Chaney also led off the Gators’ winning 200 free relay as Smith, Will Davis and Eric Friese will all return next season for the Gators.

Team Scores (through 200 free relay)

Florida 509
Georgia 402.5
Texas A&M 318
Kentucky 293
Missouri 274
Alabama 274
Auburn 254
Tennessee 244
LSU 193.5
South Carolina 149

500 Free

Talks circled all day over how fast Kieran Smith of Florida would go in the 500 freestyle final on Wednesday night at the 2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships. Was a 4:05 possible? 4:04? After going 1:29.48 last night in the 200 free, his 4:06 American record looked to be in jeopardy.

Smith went out fast…a 1:35.70 was over a second quicker than his 1:37 split from last season, and it looked like he would destroy his own record. But by the 300, Georgia freshman Jake Magahey was coming, as he split under 25 on his last 3x50s, closing the gap with each stroke. Magahey is one of the rising stars in the sport, a junior national champ out of Swim Atlanta, and the national public school record holder in the 500 freestyle in high school, and had the fastest time in the nation entering today.

Smith finished in 4:06.32 to tie his own American record, just holding off Georgia freshman Magahey (4:06.71) who is now second all-time in the event. Smith looked to be in trouble at the 450 turn, but used a strong underwater kickout to sprint away from Magahey on the final 25 in what was one of the fastest 500 free fields ever assembled.

Florida sophomore Trey Freeman, returning this season from a redshirt, finished in third at 4:12.76 as the Gators put five total swimmers in the A-final. Alfonso Mestre dropped another second on his best with a 4:12.77 to finish fourth as 1650 American record holder Bobby Finke was fifth at 4:13.48.

Texas A&M’s Mark Theall (4:15.57), Florida’s Tyler Watson (4:16.57) and Georgia’s Andrew Abruzzo (4:18.40) also swam in the championship final.

 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 Mahmou, S. Carolina
                 4:11.82  A
                 4:23.34  B
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals              
==================================================================
                        === A - Final ===                         
 
  1 Smith, Kieran S  JR Florida-FL        4:14.69    4:06.32NA      
    r:+0.69  22.04        46.31 (24.27)
        1:10.81 (24.50)     1:35.70 (24.89)
        2:00.86 (25.16)     2:26.23 (25.37)
        2:51.53 (25.30)     3:16.90 (25.37)
        3:42.06 (25.16)     4:06.32 (24.26)
  2 Magahey, Jake M  FR Georgia-GA        4:12.39    4:06.71PA      
    r:+0.77  22.50        47.33 (24.83)
        1:12.23 (24.90)     1:37.57 (25.34)
        2:02.82 (25.25)     2:27.98 (25.16)
        2:53.09 (25.11)     3:17.93 (24.84)
        3:42.40 (24.47)     4:06.71 (24.31)
  3 Freeman, Trey P  SO Florida-FL        4:14.84    4:12.76PB      
    r:+0.72  22.91        47.77 (24.86)
        1:12.74 (24.97)     1:38.25 (25.51)
        2:03.92 (25.67)     2:29.93 (26.01)
        2:56.03 (26.10)     3:22.14 (26.11)
        3:47.85 (25.71)     4:12.76 (24.91)
  4 Mestre, Alfonso  SO Florida-FL        4:13.53    4:12.77PB      
    r:+0.74  22.77        47.70 (24.93)
        1:13.09 (25.39)     1:38.61 (25.52)
        2:04.36 (25.75)     2:30.11 (25.75)
        2:56.14 (26.03)     3:22.36 (26.22)
        3:48.27 (25.91)     4:12.77 (24.50)
  5 Finke, Bobby C   JR Florida-FL        4:15.22    4:13.48 B      
    r:+0.74  22.51        47.06 (24.55)
        1:12.27 (25.21)     1:37.74 (25.47)
        2:03.45 (25.71)     2:29.37 (25.92)
        2:55.40 (26.03)     3:21.69 (26.29)
        3:47.87 (26.18)     4:13.48 (25.61)
  6 Theall, Mark J   SR Texas A&M-GU      4:16.52    4:15.57 B      
    r:+0.68  22.67        47.18 (24.51)
        1:12.10 (24.92)     1:37.50 (25.40)
        2:03.43 (25.93)     2:29.63 (26.20)
        2:56.34 (26.71)     3:23.27 (26.93)
        3:49.92 (26.65)     4:15.57 (25.65)
  7 Watson, Tyler J  SO Florida-FL        4:15.93    4:16.57 B      
    r:+0.72  23.30        48.22 (24.92)
        1:13.83 (25.61)     1:39.40 (25.57)
        2:05.45 (26.05)     2:31.86 (26.41)
        2:58.32 (26.46)     3:24.71 (26.39)
        3:50.79 (26.08)     4:16.57 (25.78)
  8 Abruzzo, Andrew  JR Georgia-GA        4:15.98    4:18.40 B      
    r:+0.78  23.34        48.62 (25.28)
        1:14.39 (25.77)     1:40.42 (26.03)
        2:06.46 (26.04)     2:32.79 (26.33)
        2:59.29 (26.50)     3:25.83 (26.54)
        3:52.47 (26.64)     4:18.40 (25.93)

200 IM

After watching Florida’s Kieran Smith tie the American record in the 500 freestyle in the previous event, the small crowd on hand at the University of Missouri for the 2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships shifted their attention to the 200 IM final where Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas was expected to take a run at Caeleb Dressel’s NCAA record from three years ago.

But it was not today for Casas who finished at 1:39.26 as he was already a 1:38 earlier this season. Casas was out in 45.44 on the first 100, utilizing his strengths on the front end to push the pace, dragging Missouri’s Danny Kovac with him, who finished in second at 1:41.35. Casas faded a little on the last 50 as he was only two tenths over Dressel’s pace at the 150.

Georgia scored big points in the final with Javier Acevedo (1:42.17) in third and Luca Urlando (1:42.81) in fourth and Zach Hils (1:43.18) in fifth, moving up from eighth this morning.

Kentucky’s Mason Wilby (1:43.72), Texas A&M’s Coco Bratanov (1:44.29) and Florida’s Dillon Hillis (1:45.21) also swam in the championship final.

 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            Prelims     Finals              
==================================================================
                        === A - Final ===                         
 
  1 Casas, Shaine M  JR Texas A&M-GU      1:41.55    1:39.26PA      
    r:+0.62  20.90        45.44 (24.54)
        1:14.61 (29.17)     1:39.26 (24.65)
  2 Kovac, Danny D   JR Missouri-MV       1:41.75    1:41.35PB      
    r:+0.58  21.18        46.18 (25.00)
        1:15.68 (29.50)     1:41.35 (25.67)
  3 Acevedo, Javi C  SR Georgia-GA        1:42.82    1:42.17PB      
    r:+0.63  22.18        47.80 (25.62)
        1:17.20 (29.40)     1:42.17 (24.97)
  4 Urlando, Luca R  FR Georgia-GA        1:43.85    1:42.81 B      
    r:+0.66  22.22        47.40 (25.18)
        1:17.36 (29.96)     1:42.81 (25.45)
  5 Hils, Zach C     SO Georgia-GA        1:44.46    1:43.18 B      
    r:+0.67  22.29        48.22 (25.93)
        1:18.09 (29.87)     1:43.18 (25.09)
  6 Wilby, Mason J   JR Kentucky-KY       1:43.86    1:43.72 B      
    r:+0.63  22.14        48.08 (25.94)
        1:19.03 (30.95)     1:43.72 (24.69)
  7 Bratanov, Kaloy  JR Texas A&M-GU      1:44.26    1:44.29 B      
    r:+0.69  22.84        49.42 (26.58)
        1:19.45 (30.03)     1:44.29 (24.84)
  8 Hillis, Dillon   JR Florida-FL        1:43.11    1:45.21 B      
    r:+0.65  22.25        48.96 (26.71)
        1:18.90 (29.94)     1:45.21 (26.31)

50 Free

It was a freshmen affair in the finals of the 50 freestyle as Florida’s Adam Chaney backed up his swim this morning with an 18.77 to take the 50 free final ahead of Alabama’s Matt King (18.96) as those two rookies were the only swimmers under 19 seconds in the final. Chaney’s win is the first one for a Florida Gator since Dressel’s 2017 win as a junior as he has been on fire thus far this meet at the SEC Men’s Swimming Championships.

Chaney comes from the same club team that produced the Foster brothers in the Mason Manta Rays, as Chaney is showing glimpses of his future with his swim tonight. LSU’s Brooks Curry finished in a tie for third place with Georgia’s Dillon Downing (19.16) as the top five swimmers in the heat were all under-classmen with only two juniors and/or seniors in the field.

Florida’s Eric Friese (19.31), Alabama’s Sam DiSette (19.35), Florida’s Will Davis (19.44) and Auburn’s Nik Eberly (19.76) also swam in 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            Prelims     Finals              
==================================================================
                        === A - Final ===                         
 
  1 Chaney, Adam C   FR Florida-FL          18.88      18.77 A      
     r:+0.61  9.04         18.77 (9.73)
  2 King, Matt K     FR Alabama-SE          19.34      18.96 A      
     r:+0.61  9.12         18.96 (9.84)
  3 Downing, Dillon  SO Georgia-GA          18.90      19.16 B      
     r:+0.66  9.22         19.16 (9.94)
  3 Curry, Brooks V  SO L S U-LA            18.97      19.16 B      
     r:+0.58  9.16        19.16 (10.00)
  5 Friese, Eric E   SO Florida-FL          19.47      19.31 B      
     r:+0.64  9.15        19.31 (10.16)
  6 DiSette, Sam H   SR Alabama-SE          19.39      19.35 B      
     r:+0.60  9.22        19.35 (10.13)
  7 Davis, Will      JR Florida-FL          19.37      19.44 B      
     r:+0.63  9.32        19.44 (10.12)
  8 Eberly, Nik E    SO Auburn-SE           19.38      19.76 B      
         r:+0.49

1m Diving

Diving was completed last week.

 Event 6  Men 1 mtr Diving
==================================================================
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals        
==================================================================
                        === A - Final ===                         
 
  1 Celaya Hernandez, Juan SR LSU-LA             361.75     440.45  
  2 Mathews, Kurtis J      SR Texas A&M-GU       368.50     411.10  
  3 Lopez, Carlo           SO Missouri-MV        322.65     363.50  
  4 Zhang, Mingli          JR Kentucky-KY        345.60     358.40  
  5 Lane, Chase G          SR Kentucky-KY        349.30     353.50  
  6 Allen, Zach T          SR Georgia-GA         331.85     342.55  
  7 Garcia, Leonardo       FR FLOR-FL            335.40     341.90  
  8 Li, Kevin              JR Alabama-SE         325.10     331.70

200 Free Relay

The Florida Gators closed out the night at the SEC Men’s Swimming Championships with a 1:15.21 in the 200 free relay, which is the fastest time in the nation this season with 28 days until NCAA championships. 50 champ Adam Chaney led off in an 18.76, quicker than his 18.77 as he gave the Gators the lead and never relinquished it.

Florida’s team of Chaney, Will Davis (18.62), Kieran Smith (18.81) and Eric Friese (19.02) beat the best from Georgia and Alabama as the Bulldogs were second at 1:16.20 and the Crimson Tide were third at 1:16.32. The scary part for the rest of the SEC is that Florida returns everybody to the lineup in 2022.

Chaney is now in a tie for 16th all-time with Simonas Bilis and Joseph Schooling with his swim.

Georgia had the fastest time in the nation coming into the meet as the team of Dillon Downing (19.14), Javier Acevedo (18.80), Camden Murphy (18.96) and Luca Urlando (19.30) finished in second and were chasing their first relay title at SECs since 1962. Alabama was third with Matt King (18.98), Sam DiSette (19.13), Jonathan Berneburg (19.00) and Colton Stogner (19.21).

The quickest splits outside the top three came from Texas A&M’s Coco Bratanov (18.94), Tennessee’s Scott Scanlon (18.99), South Carolina’s Mark Shperkin (19.00) and Texas A&M’s Tanner Olson (19.09).

 Event 7  Men 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
====================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:14.08  3/26/2009 Auburn
                          J. Andkjaer, G. Louw, K. Norys, M.Targett
     SEC Meet: S 1:15.43  2/20/2019 Alabama
                          Z. Waddell, S. DiSette, J. Blake, R. Howard
         Pool: P 1:16.46  2/18/2016 Florida
                          C. Main, M. Szaranek, C. Dressel, J. Blyzinsky
                 1:17.17  A
                 1:17.86  B
    School                           Seed     Finals              
====================================================================
  1 Florida-FL  'A'               1:17.01    1:15.21SA      
     1) Chaney, Adam C FR             2) r:0.17 Davis, Will JR        
     3) r:0.30 Smith, Kieran JR       4) r:0.24 Friese, Eric SO       
    r:+0.62  18.76        37.38 (18.62)
          56.19 (18.81)     1:15.21 (19.02)
  2 Georgia-GA  'A'               1:16.35    1:16.20PA      
     1) Downing, Dillon A SO          2) r:0.06 Acevedo, Javi SR      
     3) r:0.06 Murphy, Camden SR      4) r:0.07 Urlando, Luca FR      
    r:+0.65  19.14        37.94 (18.80)
          56.90 (18.96)     1:16.20 (19.30)
  3 Alabama-SE  'A'               1:17.53    1:16.32PA      
     1) King, Matt K FR               2) r:0.23 DiSette, Sam SR       
     3) r:0.01 Berneburg, Jonathan JR 4) r:0.12 Stogner, Colton JR    
    r:+0.65  18.98        38.11 (19.13)
          57.11 (19.00)     1:16.32 (19.21)
  4 Texas A&M-GU  'A'             1:16.48    1:16.37PA      
     1) Casas, Shaine M JR            2) r:0.25 Olson, Tanner SR      
     3) r:0.27 Bratanov, Kaloyan JR   4) r:0.25 Theall, Mark SR       
    r:+0.60  19.09        38.18 (19.09)
          57.12 (18.94)     1:16.37 (19.25)
  5 Missouri-MV  'A'              1:17.58    1:17.19 B      
     1) Kovac, Danny D JR             2) r:0.19 Hammer, Kevin SO      
     3) r:0.16 Leach, Kyle JR         4) r:0.09 Dahlgren, Jack JR     
    r:+0.57  19.55        38.78 (19.23)
          58.00 (19.22)     1:17.19 (19.19)
  6 South Carolina-SC  'A'        1:21.02    1:17.48 B      
     1) Ross, AJ J SR                 2) r:0.13 Gropper, Guy FR       
     3) r:0.23 Costin, Phil SO        4) r:0.10 Shperkin, Mark SO     
    r:+0.60  19.84        39.20 (19.36)
          58.48 (19.28)     1:17.48 (19.00)
  7 Tennessee-SE  'A'             1:18.53    1:17.52 B      
     1) Chambers, Micah T FR          2) r:0.21 Scanlon, Scott SO     
     3) r:0.14 Bailey, Seth JR        4) r:0.22 Briggs, Nolan JR      
    r:+0.60  19.66        38.65 (18.99)
          57.98 (19.33)     1:17.52 (19.54)
  8 Auburn-SE  'A'                1:20.56    1:18.55        
     1) Eberly, Nik E SO              2) r:0.27 Yish, Matthew JR      
     3) r:0.30 Tirheimer, Logan FR    4) r:0.31 Stoffle, Aidan SO     
    r:+0.54  19.68        39.25 (19.57)
          58.75 (19.50)     1:18.55 (19.80)
  9 L S U-LA  'A'                 1:20.70    1:18.98        
     1) Curry, Brooks V SO            2) r:0.16 Jannasch, Jack JR     
     3) r:0.06 Adrian, Spencer        4) r:0.10 Petro, Michael JR     
    r:+0.59  19.33        39.08 (19.75)
          59.23 (20.15)     1:18.98 (19.75)
 10 Kentucky-KY  'A'              1:21.10    1:19.59        
     1) Berg, Max FR                  2) r:0.29 Hawton, Max SO        
     3) r:0.38 Barker, Louis JR       4) r:0.16 Barker, Kyle JR       
    r:+0.60  19.90        39.89 (19.99)
          59.53 (19.64)     1:19.59 (20.06)

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ButlerBuck

3 years ago

Congrats to Mason Manta Ray Adam Chaney for winning the SEC 50 free championship and the 200 free relay.