By Anne Lepesant on SwimSwam
2024 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships
- February 19 – February 24, 2024
- James E. Martin Aquatic Center — Auburn, AL
- Defending Champions:
- Women: Florida (1x)
- Men: Florida (11x)
- Start Times (ET): 9:30 am prelims/5:30 pm finals
- Day 1 (diving only): 11 am prelims/4:20 pm finals
- Day 2: 11 am prelims (diving only)/ 5 pm (relays only)
- Championship Central
- 2023 SEC Championships Box Score
- Major Conference Roster Limits and Scoring Rules
- Psych Sheets
- Women’s Fan Guide
- Men’s Fan Guide
- Live Results
- Live Video (SEC+ Network)
- Day 1 Diving Recap
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap| Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap
“Touching the wall after the final 50 feels like a reward until you have to use those same shoulder and lat muscles to climb out of the pool. After the race, you just feel relieved, and you float across the warm down pool like a noodle.”
Or so I’m told.
The 200 fly is a brutal race. It takes everything out of you. It’s bad enough to swim it twice in a day, but three times?
Five swimmers are vying for the opportunity to do just that at SEC Championships today.
In the women’s heats, three swimmers tied for 23rd place. Tennessee sophomore Kate McCarville, Arkansas sophomore Maddy Hartley, and Auburn fifth-year Averee Preble all went 1:58.97 in prelims and had to swim off for the last 2 spots in the C final. All three had gone best times in prelims: Hartley had dropped 1 second; McCarville, eight-tenths; and Preble, four-tenths.
McCarville led by a tenth at the 50, but Preble took over the lead at the 100 and led by .28. She increased her lead to .54 at the 150, and won with an impressive 1:57.94. McCarville took second place with 1:59.07. Hartley ended up with 2:00.66. She’ll be first alternate tonight.
In the men’s race, South Carolina fifth-year Rateb Hussein and LSU junior Gavin Rogers both finished in 24th place with 1:45.84. For Hussein, it was an improvement of 1.2 over his seed time. Rogers had dropped 2.4 seconds.
I ran into Hussein on deck, laughing about the absurdity of getting back in and doing it all again. He was hydrating, fueling, and having a great time. The attitude was infectious.
Then they were on the blocks.
Hussein led at the 50, 23.02 to 23.47. Rogers had the faster second 50, but Hussein still led at the 100, 49.92 to 50.12. Hussein kicked it up a notch on the 3rd 50 and pulled to a .3 lead at the turn. But Rogers turned on the turbocharger on the last 25 yards and powered home in 27.9 to win, 1:45.27 to 1:45.60. Both were faster than they’d been this morning, and only Rogers will swim it again tonight.
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