SEC Women’s Championships: Georgia Well Poised After Strong Day 2 Prelims

During a swimming and diving meet between Georgia and Auburn at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga., on Fri., Nov. 6, 2020. (Photo by Chamberlain Smith)

Zoie Hartman; Photo Courtesy: Chamberlain Smith / Georgia Athletics

A strong showing by Georgia in the preliminary heats of Day 2 of the 2021 SEC Women’s Championships has the Bulldogs poised to score big points and try to rise from 11th place in the team standings after Day 1.

Georgia owns the top two seeds in the 200 individual medley, with Zoie Hartman setting the pace in the morning at 1:54.35, defending her top seed. Danielle Della Torre is second. Georgia also has two swimmers in the B final.

Led by Courtney Harnish in third place, Georgia packed three swimmers into the A final of the 500 freestyle, and Gabi Fa’amausili and Maxine Parker are third and fourth respective in the 50 free. Georgia, whose third-seeded 200 medley relay was disqualified in finals Wednesday night, has ground to make up against its rivals. The Bulldogs lead all teams with 13 finalists Thursday night, while Day 1 leader Texas A&M has just four finalists, none in the A finals.

Ups/Downs/Mids

Texas A&M 0, 1, 3
Florida 4, 5, 2
Kentucky 3, 3, 3
Arkansas 2, 1, 0
Alabama 2, 1, 0
LSU 0, 0, 2
Tennessee 3, 5, 5
Missouri 1, 1, 4
South Carolina 0, 0, 1
Auburn 1, 1, 2
Georgia 7, 4, 2
Vanderbilt 0, 0, 0

The prelims recap:

500 freestyle

Tennessee’s Kristen Stege turned in a stellar swim to nab the top seed in finals, dropping nearly five seconds to 4:39.35 and go from the fringe of the A final to top seed Thursday night. Peyton Palsha of Arkansas is second, while the top seed entering prelims, Harnish, is within striking distance in third. Florida, which enters the day second in the team standings, has Elise Bauer (fourth) and Tylor Mathieu (sixth) to vie for points.

 Event 3  Women 500 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 4:24.06  3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
     SEC Meet: S 4:33.10  2/17/2016 Brittany MacLean, Georgia
         Pool: P 4:30.85  12/4/2015 Leah Smith, Virginia
                 4:35.76  A
                 4:47.20  B
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Stege, Kristen   SO Tennessee-SE      4:44.04    4:39.35 qB     
                 25.51        52.95 (27.44)
        1:21.00 (28.05)     1:49.21 (28.21)
        2:17.53 (28.32)     2:45.97 (28.44)
        3:14.43 (28.46)     3:42.85 (28.42)
        4:11.53 (28.68)     4:39.35 (27.82)
  2 Palsha, Peyton   SR Arkansas-AR       4:40.95    4:39.94 qB     
                 25.51        53.05 (27.54)
        1:20.97 (27.92)     1:49.31 (28.34)
        2:17.82 (28.51)     2:46.22 (28.40)
        3:14.63 (28.41)     3:42.98 (28.35)
        4:11.64 (28.66)     4:39.94 (28.30)
  3 Harnish, Courtn  SR Georgia-GA        4:36.86    4:40.57 qB     
                 25.79        53.43 (27.64)
        1:21.27 (27.84)     1:49.44 (28.17)
        2:17.72 (28.28)     2:46.22 (28.50)
        3:14.65 (28.43)     3:43.20 (28.55)
        4:12.24 (29.04)     4:40.57 (28.33)
  4 Bauer, Elise C   FR FLOR-FL           4:44.76    4:41.26 qB     
                 25.62        53.51 (27.89)
        1:21.75 (28.24)     1:50.27 (28.52)
        2:19.08 (28.81)     2:47.79 (28.71)
        3:16.40 (28.61)     3:45.08 (28.68)
        4:13.87 (28.79)     4:41.26 (27.39)
  5 McMahon, Kensey  JR Alabama-SE        4:39.84    4:42.10 qB     
                 26.20        54.15 (27.95)
        1:22.22 (28.07)     1:50.61 (28.39)
        2:19.00 (28.39)     2:47.62 (28.62)
        3:16.31 (28.69)     3:45.41 (29.10)
        4:14.09 (28.68)     4:42.10 (28.01)
  6 Mathieu, Tylor   SO FLOR-FL           4:43.93    4:43.25 qB     
                 25.88        53.66 (27.78)
        1:22.11 (28.45)     1:50.72 (28.61)
        2:19.47 (28.75)     2:48.34 (28.87)
        3:17.03 (28.69)     3:45.97 (28.94)
        4:15.09 (29.12)     4:43.25 (28.16)
  7 Barczyk, Jillia  SO Georgia-GA        4:44.10    4:43.43 qB     
                 25.97        54.26 (28.29)
        1:22.78 (28.52)     1:51.45 (28.67)
        2:19.97 (28.52)     2:48.65 (28.68)
        3:17.54 (28.89)     3:46.50 (28.96)
        4:15.72 (29.22)     4:43.43 (27.71)
  8 Anderson, Olivi  SR Georgia-GA        4:42.03    4:43.44 qB     
                 25.89        53.87 (27.98)
        1:22.30 (28.43)     1:51.11 (28.81)
        2:19.84 (28.73)     2:48.38 (28.54)
        3:17.05 (28.67)     3:46.03 (28.98)
        4:14.98 (28.95)     4:43.44 (28.46)

200 individual medley

Kentucky stands to bundle points in this A final, with Lauren Poole (fourth), Izzy Gati (sixth) and Bailey Bonnett (seventh) represented. Sophie Sorensen was two tenths from sneaking a fourth swimmer into the A final but settled for ninth. Vanessa Pearl is defending Florida’s interests in the A final. Special mention goes to Cat Wright of Alabama, who dropped more than seven seconds from her seed time to vault into the B final in 12th at 1:57.67. It’s just .02 off the school record she set last year at SECs.

Event 4  Women 200 Yard IM
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:50.67  3/15/2018 Ella Easton, Stanford
     SEC Meet: S 1:51.62  2/20/2019 Meghan Small, Tennessee
         Pool: P 1:51.62  2/20/2019 Meghan Small, Tennessee
                 1:53.66  A
                 1:59.94  B
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Hartman, Zoie E  SO Georgia-GA        1:54.35    1:54.35 qB     
                 25.47        54.03 (28.56)
        1:26.35 (32.32)     1:54.35 (28.00)
  2 Dellatorre, Dan  SR Georgia-GA        1:55.84    1:55.29 qB     
                 25.62        55.59 (29.97)
        1:27.81 (32.22)     1:55.29 (27.48)
  3 Pearl, Vanessa   JR FLOR-FL           1:55.61    1:55.40 qB     
                 25.51        54.59 (29.08)
        1:27.67 (33.08)     1:55.40 (27.73)
  4 Poole, Lauren M  SO Kentucky-KY       1:57.01    1:55.56 qB     
                 25.15        53.12 (27.97)
        1:27.03 (33.91)     1:55.56 (28.53)
  5 Yager, Alexis A  SR Tennessee-SE      1:55.86    1:55.88 qB     
                 25.27        54.67 (29.40)
        1:27.67 (33.00)     1:55.88 (28.21)
  6 Gati, Izzy G     JR Kentucky-KY       1:57.68    1:56.25 qB     
                 24.73        54.38 (29.65)
        1:28.92 (34.54)     1:56.25 (27.33)
  7 Bonnett, Bailey  SR Kentucky-KY       1:59.75    1:56.30 qB     
                 25.52        55.19 (29.67)
        1:28.39 (33.20)     1:56.30 (27.91)
  8 Ownbey, Hannah      Auburn-SE         1:58.60    1:56.73 qB     
                 25.33        54.65 (29.32)
        1:28.47 (33.82)     1:56.73 (28.26)

50 freestyle

Florida’s Katelyn Mack leads the field with a time of 21.82 seconds, drawing the center lane in finals. Second is Kalia Antoniou of Alabama. She and Fa’Amausili are the only swimmers under 22 seconds in finals.

Event 5  Women 50 Yard Freestyle
==================================================================
         NCAA: N 20.90  12/5/2019 Abbey Weitzeil, California
     SEC Meet: S 21.03  2/19/2020 Erika Brown, Tennessee
         Pool: P 21.15  2/20/2019 Erika Brown, Tennessee
                 21.66  A
                 22.76  B
    Name           Year School               Seed    Prelims              
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Mack, Katelyn G  SO FLOR-FL             22.34      21.82 qB     
                 10.47        21.82 (11.35)
  2 Antoniou, Kalia  JR Alabama-SE             NT      21.91 qB     
                 10.64        21.91 (11.27)
  3 Fa'Amausili, Ga  SR Georgia-GA          22.08      21.99 qB     
                 10.71        21.99 (11.28)
  4 Parker, Maxine   FR Georgia-GA          22.24      22.07 qB     
                 10.84        22.07 (11.23)
  5 Keil, Megan K    JR Missouri-MV         21.83      22.09 qB     
                 10.71        22.09 (11.38)
  6 Dupre, Cora A    SO Alabama-SE          22.99      22.12 qB     
                 10.71        22.12 (11.41)
  7 Grinter, Bailey  SR Tennessee-SE        22.11      22.13 qB     
                 10.74        22.13 (11.39)
  8 Melton, Kobie M  JR Arkansas-AR         22.50      22.18 qB     
                 10.67        22.18 (11.51)

Also on the docket Thursday night are the finals of the women’s three-meter diving. Texas A&M can make up ground there with two of the top five seeds and four of the top 14, led by Aimee Wilson. Arkansas’s Brooke Schultz and Maha Amer are second and third. Swimming finals begin at 6 p.m. EST.

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