SEC Weekly Recap: Florida, Auburn Split; Big Wins for Kentucky, Vols

Natasha Lloyd in the 100 yard Breaststroke preliminaries. SEC Championship Swimming and Diving at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center in Auburn, Ala. on Friday, Feb. 20, 2015. Zach Bland/Auburn Athletics

The No. 7 Auburn women’s swimming and diving team won 13 of 16 events in route to a 187-113 win over No. 8 Florida on Saturday for the program’s first top-10 dual meet win since the start of the 2015-16 season.

Meanwhile, the No. 6 Florida men defeated No. 25 Auburn 182-118.

Swimming the final dual meet of their careers, seniors Erin Falconer, Bailey Nero and Aly Tetzloff joined with freshman Emily Hetzer and junior Claire Fisch to win nine individual swimming events.

“The seniors did what they have done all year,” Auburn coach Gary Taylor said. “They have really embraced the staff and the image of The New Plains. They came out and fought really hard for the staff, their teammates and most importantly Auburn swimming and diving. They have really been the glue that bonded this team together.”

Falconer continued her torrid senior season, winning the 200 free (1:46.79) and 200 back (1:55.50) to give her 11 individual wins on the season. The same was true of Tetzloff, who won the 100 back (52.94) and 100 fly (53.05) to give her 13 individual wins this year, five of them coming in the 100 fly.

“Erin and Aly go out and get some big wins for us and created a lot of momentum and energy early,” Taylor said. “I can’t say enough about them. They are skilled and talented, however they swim with a lot of heart and a lot of pride.”

For Nero, a win in the 200 fly (1:58.49) gave her eight individual wins this season.

Hetzer, the outstanding newcomer, continued her dominance of the distance frees, winning the 500 in 4:48.96 and the 1000 in 9:48.32.

The No. 8 Gators were the highest-ranked team to fall to Auburn in a dual meet since the Tigers knocked off No. 5 Indiana at the start of the 2015-16 season.

In the men’s meet, Maxime Rooney, Khader Baqlah and Trey Freeman paced Florida with two individual wins apiece.

Baqlah won the 100 free and the 200 free. Rooney won the 100 and 200 fly.

Check out complete SEC coverage here.

Kentucky sweeps Louisville

Nineteen Kentucky seniors celebrated in victorious fashion after the men and women took down the nationally ranked Louisville program.

Spectators burst into a roar when the Kentucky men took a 10-point lead ahead of the final event. It was their first lead of the meet, sparked by the 3M dive and the 200 IM, which gave the Wildcats the advantage in the final stretch. Four Wildcats sealed the deal in the final event, posting a 2:57.27 in the 400 Free Relay to cap the dual. It was the first time in at least eight years the UK men have tabbed a victory over UofL.

The No. 10 Kentucky women set the pace early in the meet, forcing the 16th-ranked Cardinals to take a backseat for majority of the dual. It was the women’s second-straight victory over the Cardinals, after taking care of business at Louisville last season for the first time since 2009.

“It is the first time in a long time that the men have earned a victory over Louisville, so that feels really good,” said head coach Lars Jorgensen. “Obviously, Glen Brown and Peter Wetzlar were the stars of the show, but everyone really stepped up for all of our swims across the board. I’m so happy for our seniors. For the women, we knew Louisville was a very good team. They came out and they were very competitive. So, it was fun. It was pretty heated, but it is good intensity to have in the building. It was a great atmosphere and it really made it fun.”

The Kentucky divers played a huge role Saturday, claiming the top spot in each discipline. Meanwhile, freshman Kyndal Knight robbed each of her dives, topping the results on both the 1M (286.35) and the 3M (318.60) boards.

Senior Seb Masterton continued his streak of winning at least once in each meet since he returned from injury in November. The only male senior diver for Kentucky, Masterton locked in gold on the 1M with a 322.95. It is his fourth-straight win on the springboards.

In his first home performance of his career, freshman Danny Zhang came up huge on the 3M with a remarkable 409.20. It was only Zhang’s second appearance on the Kentucky roster in the dual season and already the Wildcat will earn ink to the record book. His 3M score is the third-highest score in program history, right behind Masterton who is in second with a 428.15, logged in 2017.

While a handful of Wildcats contributed valuable points to the men, junior Wetzlar took charge in the pool. He led the Kentucky club with two individual victories, both in freestyle events. The Zimbabwean first stole gold in the 50 Free with a 19.82, which led to a 15-minute break. Right out of it, the junior struck again in the 100 Free, posting a 44.10 swim. He made his most prized impact in the final event, swimming the lead leg in the 400 Free Relay with a split 44.06, which gave Kentucky the deciding hand.

The Kentucky women sustained their lead over ranked Louisville for majority of the dual. Sophomore Bailey Bonnett had veteran-like swims, collecting two victorious finishes – 100 Breast (1:01.61) and 200 Breast (2:12.78). Junior Asia Seidt claimed just one more win than Bonnett, going undefeated in her individual events – 100 Fly (53.63), 200 IM (1:59.55) and 100 Back (53.09).

Senior Geena Freriks splurged on senior day, attacking her freestyle events. The seven-time NCAA All-American secured the top spot in the 1000 Free (9:54.41) and 500 Free (9:54.41). Freriks is the Southeastern Conference titleholder in the 500 Free, and clinched the event twice in her last meet at Florida and Ohio State Jan. 4-5.

In the closing event, the UK women finished with a win in the 400 Free Relay (3:20.01), while Freriks swam the anchor leg with the fastest split of the event (49.54).

Tennessee sweeps Georgia on senior day

The Tennessee swimming and diving team recorded 19 wins out of 32 events Saturday to win the men’s and women’s competitions on senior day against Georgia at Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

The 13th-ranked Lady Vols finished out the afternoon with 170 points, as No. 12 Georgia fell with 130 points. No. 9 ranked Tennessee rounded out the meet with 156 points, with the 12th-ranked Bulldogs trailing with 144 points.

The duo of junior Erika Brown and senior Kyle DeCoursey came up big for the Vols, as they combined for five individual wins on the day. Brown tallied wins in the 50 freestyle (21.87), 100 free (50.04) and the 100 butterfly (52.22) for the Lady Vols. DeCoursey powered the Tennessee men with wins in the 200 free (1:37.68) and a pivotal 1-2-3 finish in the 50 free (19.91).

Georgia had 13 first-place individual finishes, accumulated by four women and five men.

Courtney Harnish was a triple winner for the Lady Bulldogs as she claimed the 200, 500, and 1,000 freestyle races. In the 1,000, Harnish notched a new career-best time of 9:41.46 to move into ninth on Georgia’s top-10 list. She also touched the wall first in the 200 (1:46.99) and the 500 (4:47.84).

Danielle Della Torre claimed victory in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.69. Dakota Luther took first in the 200 butterfly, stopping the clock in 1:56.38. McKensi Austin won the 3-meter springboard with 313.13 points.

Camden Murphy and Andrew Abruzzo each won two events to pace the Bulldogs.

Murphy won the 200 fly in 1:47.09. Abruzzo won the 500 freestyle in 4:22.96.

Texas A&M sweeps on senior day

The No. 9 Texas A&M women’s swimming and diving team celebrated Senior Day with a double-dual sweep of Vanderbilt and the University of Houston Saturday afternoon at the Texas A&M Student Recreation Natatorium.

In the their final tune-up before the Southeastern Championships, the Aggies grabbed victories in 13 of the 14 races, while also sweeping both diving events for the first time this year. Texas A&M defeated Vanderbilt 162-91 and Houston 175-116 to improve to 8-1 in dual meet action.

The Senior Class of 2019 was honored prior to the competition — Alexandra Buscher (Houston, Texas), McKenna DeBever (Denver, Colo.), Tiffany Futscher (Irving, Texas), Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (Mexico City, Mexico), Alaïs Kalonji (Rennes, France), Sydney Pickrem (Dunedin, Fla.), and Claire Rasmus (New Orleans, La.).

“Obviously this senior class has won three SEC Championships so far, and having a chance for a fourth is something truly special to see in a sense of what these women have accomplished in a short span.” Texas A&M head coach Steve Bultman said. “Having this double dual against Vanderbilt and Houston, it was good to get some fast swims in before SECs, which is coming up here in the coming weeks. There are some things that we would still like to clean up before we head to Georgia.”

Leading the way individually for Texas A&M were DeBever, Emma Carlton, and Rasmus, who all netted a pair of race victories. DeBever was victorious in the 200-yard backstroke (1:59.82), and the 200-yard IM (2:02.79), while Carlton was victorious in the 50-yard freestyle (23.39) and the 100-yard butterfly (54.46), while Rasmus touched the wall first in the 500-yard freestyle (4:53.31), and the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.37). Junior diver Haley Allen placed first in both the three-meter (339.83) and one meter dives (312.83).

Logging solo victories for the Aggies were senior Tiffany Futscher in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:52.92), senior Sydney Pickrem in the 100-yard freestyle (50.66), Roubique in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.29), sophomore Jing Quah in the 200-yard butterfly (1:59.84) and junior Anna Belousova grabbing the only B-Cut of the day in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.69).

South Carolina sweeps home invite

South Carolina went a perfect 3-0 on the women’s side while the men finished 2-1 in the S.C. College Invite, the Gamecocks’ annual home quad-meet. Carolina picked up wins over Queens (185-160), Wingate (283-61) and UNC Wilmington (279-73) on the women’s side while the men finished ahead of Wingate (272-75) and UNC Wilmington (250-103).

Rafael Davila (9:14.75) led a strong showing in the 1000 free for Carolina as Fynn Minuth finished runner-up less than a second behind at 9:15.38. Lionel Khoo was the lone swimmer to break the 2-minute mark in the 200 breast, touching up for the win at 1:59.87.

Marissa Delgado fell just .26 seconds shy of a win in the 400 IM, finishing runner-up with a 4:18.76. Emma Barksdale swam the 50 free for the first time in her career, finishing just .04 off the lead at 23.84 for a second-place showing.

Carolina dominated the diving events for a second-consecutive day as Anton Down-Jenkins fell just short of a season high with a 431.78 to win the men’s 3-meter board.

Yu Qian Goh separated herself from the talented crop of female divers, tallying up a 305.25 to win the 1-meter springboard.

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