By Spencer Penland on SwimSwam
2025 SEC Championships
Dates: Tuesday, February 18–Saturday, February 22 Prelims: 9:30 am EST/ Finals 5:30 pm EST (Tuesday-5:00 EST) Location: Gabrielsen Natatorium — Athens, GA Defending Champions: Florida women (2x); Florida men (12x) Live Results Live Video: SEC Network+ Championship Central Fan Guide (Men) Fan Guide (Women) Psych Sheets Teams: Alabama, Arkansas (women), Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas*, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt (women) Live Recaps Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 Prelims: Day 3The first swimming prelims session of the SEC Championships kicked off with a bang this morning in Athens. The SEC gave us the fastest prelims of both the men’s and women’s 500 free that we’ve ever seen at a conference meet.
Starting with the women’s 500, the SEC saw a whopping 12 women go under 4:40 this morning. Here are those results:
Jillian Cox (TEX), 4:35.18 Dune Coetzee (UGA), 4:35.53 Emma Weyant (FLOR), 4:35.58 Abby McCulloh (UGA), 4:36.29 Julie Brousseau (FLOR), 4:36.78 Rachel Stege (UGA), 4:37.58 Erin Gemmell (TEX), 4:38.21 Kate McCarville (TENN), 4:39.02 Breckin Gormley (SCAR) – 4:39.03 Ella Jansen (TENN) – 4:39.12 Kate Hurst (TEX) – 4:39.21 Lillie Nesty (TEX) – 4:39.62Not only is this a shocking amount of speed and depth for a conference meet, it’s particularly noteworthy given that the women’s 500 free went through a few down years recently. At the 2023 Women’s NCAA Championships, it took a 4:39.51 to finish 8th and qualify for the ‘A’ final of the 500 free. That same time, which coincidentally was swum by Emma Weyant, would have been 12th this morning at SECs.
If we compare it to the other major conference that swam the 500 free this morning, the ACC, it’s no contest. The ACC had 4 women go under 4:40 this morning.
We could easily see even more women go under 4:40 at SEC finals tonight, as Mabel Zavaros, Shea Furse, and Sloane Reinstein all went 4:40 this morning. In fact, if we expand it all the way out, it took a 4:44.88 just to make it back for finals at all at SECs today, which is very impressive by itself. That compares to the 4:46.77 it took to make it back for finals at ACCs. 4:41.31 took 16th at SECs this morning, a time that likely would end up being in the ‘A’ final at any other conference meet this year.
If we compare the SEC this morning to last year, the event got wildly faster in just one year. Last year, the SEC had 4 women under 4:40 in prelims. Additionally, it took a 4:41.97 to qualify for the ‘A’ final last year, which wouldn’t even have made the ‘B’ final this year.
The men’s 500 free was equally impressive this morning at SECs. Though we didn’t see down years in the men’s 500 recently, the results were just as shocking. The SEC had 11 men go under 4:12 this morning. That included 2023 NCAA champion in the 500 free, Luke Hobson, who swam a 4:11.68 this morning. That’s a time that you would typically expect to earn a middle lane for the final at a conference meet. Not at this year’s SECs. Hobson finished 10th, so he did earn a middle lane, just not in the ‘A’ final.
Here are the 11 men who went under 4:12 this morning:
Tomas Koski (UGA), 4:09.92 Jake Magahey (UGA), 4:10.01 David Johnston (TEX), 4:10.44 Charlie Hawke (BAMA), 4:10.95 Giovanni Linscheer (FLOR), 4:11.03 Mason Mathias (AUB), 4:11.03 Rex Maurer (TEX), 4:11.27 Jake Mitchell (FLOR), 4:11.49 Coby Carrozza (TEX) – 4:11.65 Luke Hobson (TEX) – 4:11.68 Carson Hick (UKY) – 4:11.85This is unquestionably the fastest prelims of the men’s 500 free we’ve ever seen at a conference meet as well. It honestly looks more like prelims at NCAAs has the last few years. It’s incredible how much faster the event was this year than at last year’s SECs. Last year, the top time in prelims was 4:12.26, swum by Auburn’s Mason Mathias. That’s the exact time LSU’s Jovan Lekic swam to finish 12th this morning.
We’ll see if these prelims lead to even faster finals tonight but, either way, the SEC has been extremely impressive this morning.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Historically Fast 500 FR Prelims at SEC Champs Sees 12 Women Under 4:40 and 11 Men Under 4:12
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Historically Fast 500 FR Prelims at SEC Champs Sees 12 Women Under 4:40 and 11 Men Under 4:12 )
Also on site :
- Shedeur Sanders makes feelings known on Donald Trump calling out NFL teams for passing on Coach Prime's son in draft
- I struggled to slim down on WeightWatchers despite eating healthily – now I’ve lost 3 stone on fat jabs & it was so easy
- ESPN reporters gang up on Warriors’ Draymond Green, call him ‘crazy person’