Florida Men, Georgia Women Dominate SEC Championships

Chase Kalisz swims in the prelims of the 200 breaststroke.

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By James Sica, Swimming World Intern

The SEC Championships concluded last weekend and there was no shortage of fast swimming at the event. On the men’s side, the Florida Gators won their third straight SEC championship title, which is also their 36^th championship in program history. The Lady Bulldogs from Georgia won their 6^th straight championship to bring their total number of team championships to 12. The six-year streak of conference championships broke the previous record for most successive wins.

While there was plenty of fast swimming to go around, we want to return to the “5 Races to Watch”.

MEN’S 50 FREE

01-23-15 MWSD vs. Cincinnati Luke Kaliszak Kristian Gkolomeev Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay Photo by Kelly Price

Photo Courtesy: Kelly Price

This event lived up to the hype, with young guns Kristian Gkolomeev from Alabama and Caeleb Dressel from Florida setting the tone with NCAA leading times of 18.88 and 18.89 respectively in prelims. At night, it was Gkolomeev who got his hand on the wall first, touching in a fantastic 18.64 over Dressel’s 18.93. To show you what a great sprint tradition there is in the SEC, despite being the fastest time in the country by almost 3-tenths he still missed the SEC meet record of 18.52 set by Auburn’s Matt Targett in 2009. Dressel’s time from prelims was the second fastest in Florida’s history and just clipped his lifetime best of 18.94 while also setting a new 17-18 NAG record in the process (Dressel ages up in August). After this weekend we will see where both sit once Big 12’s and Pac 12’s are completed, but expect Gkolomeev to be the favorite heading into NCAA’s in a month with Dressel still just behind him.

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S 200 FREE

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Georgia junior Matias Koski came away from a tight 200 freestyle final with a win with a 1:33.23, less than 2-tenths ahead of a fast charging Mitch D’Arrigo, a sophomore from Florida who led after prelims. Notably, the top seed from Missouri, sophomore Michael Chadwick, ended up in the B final after swimming about a second over his seed in the morning. Despite Georgia’s win, Florida earned some major points in this event with three men finishing in the top 8 (junior Corey Main, sophomore Mitch D’Arrigo, and junior Pavel Werner) and junior Nicholas Alexiou winning the B final in 1:35.09.

On the women’s side, Georgia’s history of dominance in this event was upset with Florida freshman Amelia Maughan taking the win with a 1:44.68. This was a really impressive swim for the freshman from Florida; Maughan was tied for fourth after prelims with a 1:45.94, which was about a second faster than her seed of 1:46.82. Georgia senior Jordan Mattern, who came into the meet as the top seed with a 1:44.85, was second in 1:45.07. Georgia was the only team to have two swimmers in the A final of the event, with junior Brittany MacLean grabbing the fifth spot in 1:46.30.

MEN’S 400 IM

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

All eyes were on Chase Kalisz going into this 400 IM, and for good reason. Kalisz came away with the win in a 3:38.39, which was just off his meet record of 3:36.89 set in 2014. As usual it was Kalisz’s back half that separated him from the rest of the field. The top 4 finishers were all 1:46 at the 200, but Kalisz pulled away with an excellent breaststroke leg, splitting a 1:00.01 (29.88; 30.23) before coming home in a 51.14 (26.20; 25.34).

Runner-up freshman Mark Szaranek from Florida was fairly even on all of Kalisz’s splits except the breaststroke, where he was 1:02.05 (30.72; 31.33). Georgia did get two more swimmers in the A final along with Kalisz, but Florida out-scored them with 4 in the top 8 as they continued their march to their team title.

WOMEN’S 500 FREE

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

You should never underestimate a senior swim at the conference or NCAA meet, and that proved true in this 500 free when Georgia senior Amber McDermott took away the win in 4:35.19. McDermott was out a second ahead of the field at the 100 and was steady through the rest of the race, riding that front-end speed to 27-highs before closing in a 27.44.

This event was a huge way for Georgia to start the meet, with three swimmers in the top 8, five in the top 16, and six in the top 24. Florida did well to improve on their seeds, getting two swimmers in the A final and having junior Jessica Thielmann grab second behind McDermott.

WOMEN’S 100 BREAST

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

This final was one to watch with the graduation of Breeja Larson from Texas A&M after her American record performance at this meet last season. The final was a tight one, with three seniors occupying the top 3 spots in the event. Alabama’s Kaylin Burchell came away with the win in 58.87 after leading prelims with a 58.48.

Tennessee senior Molly Hannis was second in 59.01, and Arkansas senior Nikki Daniels was third in 59.52. Missouri sophomore Katharine Ross was the last finisher under a minute with a 59.64, just off her top seeded time of 59.43. Hannis was coming off an excellent performance at the Orlando Pro Series, so she may have a little bit more to give by the time NCAAs roll around in March. With the graduation of the top 3 finishers this year, this event will be wide open next year.

Other highlights of the meet included:

Texas A&M freshman Beryl Gastaldello touching first in the 100 fly with a 50.87, Caeleb Dressel winning the 100 fly in 45.28, Kristian Gkolomeev going head-to-head against Dressel again in the 100 free, 41.68 to 41.90, Georgia senior Nic Fink sweeping the breastrokes with a 51.51 in the 100 and a 1:51.79 (1:51.58 in prelims) in the 200, Florida junior Natalie Hinds taking the 100 freestyle in 47.26, and the University of Alabama beating sprint powerhouse Auburn in the 200 freestyle relay by .04.

Men’s Team Scores Women’s Team Scores

Florida – 1,314.5 Georgia – 1,450

Georgia – 1,134.5 Texas A&M – 1,166

Auburn – 1,084 Florida – 963.5

Tennessee – 918 Tennessee – 745.5

Alabama – 911.5 LSU – 727

Missouri – 768 Auburn – 722

South Carolina – 567 Kentucky – 614

Texas A&M – 555 Missouri – 594

LSU – 538.5 Alabama – 535

Kentucky – 407 Arkansas – 465

South Carolina – 357

Vanderbilt University – 173

After this weekend we will see how everyone sits heading into NCAAs, where the Georgia women will look to defend their NCAA team title from last year. Women’s NCAAs are March 19-21 in Greensboro, North Carolina, while the men’s meet will be held a week later, March 25-28 in Iowa City, Iowa.

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