Florida Men Steal 200 Medley Relay From Heat Two to Open SEC Men’s Swimming Championships

Florida during a meet against Georgia at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga., on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. (Photo by Tony Walsh)
Florida's Dillon Hillis swam breast on the winning medley relay. Photo Courtesy: Tony Walsh / Georgia Athletics

2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships

Day One Finals, Columbia, Missouri

In what was anticipated to be a wild finish, the Florida Gators won the 200 medley relay to open the 2021 SEC Men’s Swimming Championships from Columbia, Missouri from heat 2 of 3 with a 1:23.17. In the fastest seeded heat, Texas A&M and Alabama tied for the win with a 1:23.28, but settled for second place overall as the Gators opened up their pursuit of a ninth straight SEC team title.

The team of Adam Chaney (20.72), Dillon Hillis (23.26), Eric Friese (20.54) and Will Davis (18.65) won for the Gators to put themselves at the top of the national rankings with 29 days to go until NCAAs in Greensboro. This is also Florida’s first time winning the 200 medley relay at SECs since 2018.

Texas A&M and Alabama tied for second from the final heat in what was a shocking finish, due to neither team claiming they won the SEC title. Shaine Casas got things started for the Aggies at 20.61, handing to Tanner Olson (23.26), Jace Brown (20.50) and Mark Theall (18.91). Theall was run down by Alabama’s anchor Matt King, who came home in an 18.61. The team of Matthew Menke (21.03), Derek Maas (23.35), Colton Stogner (20.29) and King officially tied for second overall and sit in that same spot nationally.

Georgia, who came in as the top seed, finished fourth at 1:23.62, adding 0.02 on their season best with Tennessee in fifth at 1:24.39.

The fastest splits outside the top three came from Georgia’s Javier Acevedo (21.09), Tennessee’s Michael Houlie (22.77), Georgia’s Camden Murphy (19.97), and Georgia’s Dillon Downing (18.59).

For reference, the fastest breaststroke split ever is Carsten Vissering’s 22.58 from 2018.

 Event 1  Men 200 Yard Medley Relay
====================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:21.54  3/24/2017 Texas
                          J. Shebat, W. Licon, J.Schooling, B. Ringgold
     SEC Meet: S 1:22.19  2/19/2019 Alabama
                          Z. Waddell, L. Bams, K. Auerbach, R. Howard
         Pool: P 1:23.69  2/17/2016 Florida
                          J. Blyzinsky, C. Dressel, J. Switkowski, C. Main
                 1:24.30  A
                 1:24.97  B
    School                           Seed     Finals              
====================================================================
  1 Florida-FL  'A'               1:25.31    1:23.17PA      
     1) Chaney, Adam C FR             2) r:0.27 Hillis, Dillon JR     
     3) r:0.33 Friese, Eric SO        4) r:0.21 Davis, Will JR        
    r:+0.67  20.72        43.98 (23.26)
        1:04.52 (20.54)     1:23.17 (18.65)
  2 Alabama-SE  'A'               1:24.65    1:23.28PA      
     1) Menke, Matthew T SO           2) r:0.01 Maas, Derek SO        
     3) r:0.06 Stogner, Colton JR     4) r:0.21 King, Matt FR         
    r:+0.70  21.03        44.38 (23.35)
        1:04.67 (20.29)     1:23.28 (18.61)
  2 Texas A&M-GU  'A'             1:24.21    1:23.28PA      
     1) Casas, Shaine M JR            2) r:0.10 Olson, Tanner SR      
     3) r:0.13 Brown, Jace SO         4) r:0.08 Theall, Mark SR       
    r:+0.70  20.61        43.87 (23.26)
        1:04.37 (20.50)     1:23.28 (18.91)
  4 Georgia-GA  'A'               1:23.60    1:23.62PA      
     1) Acevedo, Javier SR            2) r:0.33 Dalmolin, Jack SR     
     3) r:0.21 Murphy, Camden SR      4) r:0.18 Downing, Dillon SO    
    r:+0.61  21.09        45.06 (23.97)
        1:05.03 (19.97)     1:23.62 (18.59)
  5 Tennessee-SE  'A'             1:25.21    1:24.39 B      
     1) Lierz, Harrison M FR          2) r:0.10 Houlie, Michael JR    
     3) r:0.35 Mota, Kayky JR         4) r:0.21 Scanlon, Scott SO     
    r:+0.61  21.87        44.64 (22.77)
        1:05.29 (20.65)     1:24.39 (19.10)
  6 Missouri-MV  'A'              1:24.47    1:24.42 B      
     1) Dahlgren, Jack A JR           2) r:0.15 Patton, Ben SO        
     3) r:0.18 Kovac, Danny JR        4) r:0.13 Leach, Kyle JR        
    r:+0.70  21.82        45.01 (23.19)
        1:05.05 (20.04)     1:24.42 (19.37)
  7 Auburn-SE  'A'                1:26.03    1:24.73 B      
     1) Ginieczki, Christian B SR     2) r:0.24 Mikuta, Reid FR       
     3) r:0.03 Eberly, Nik SO         4) r:0.22 Yish, Matthew JR      
    r:+0.57  21.51        45.08 (23.57)
        1:05.33 (20.25)     1:24.73 (19.40)
  8 LSU-LA  'A'                   1:28.03    1:25.61        
     1) Velasquez, Mig A JR           2) r:0.85 Mason, Mitchell FR    
     3) r:0.23 Petro, Michael JR      4) r:0.03 Curry, Brooks SO      
    r:+0.65  21.87        45.88 (24.01)
        1:06.78 (20.90)     1:25.61 (18.83)
  9 South Carolina-SC  'A'        1:29.71    1:26.10        
     1) Gropper, Guy FR               2) r:0.15 Massey, Luke JR       
     3) r:0.07 Yip, Jordan SO         4) r:0.13 Ross, AJ SR           
    r:+0.69  21.82        45.58 (23.76)
        1:06.96 (21.38)     1:26.10 (19.14)
 10 Kentucky-KY  'A'              1:28.48    1:27.84        
     1) Barker, Kyle W JR             2) r:0.30 Layne, Cj FR          
     3) r:0.36 Wilby, Mason JR        4) r:0.34 Barker, Louis JR      
    r:+0.52  21.93        47.13 (25.20)
        1:08.01 (20.88)     1:27.84 (19.83)
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