Official Site of the Southeastern Conference

2009-10 Swimming & Diving Weekly Notebook (week ending 2/7)

SEC Swimming and Diving Championships
Feb. 17-20
Athens, Ga. 

Team Notes

Alabama
Alabama returns to action Feb. 17-20 at the SEC Championships in Athens, Ga.

Arkansas
Arkansas returns to action Feb. 17-20 when they travel to Athens, Ga., for the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by the University of Georgia.

Auburn
The No. 5/8 Auburn swimming and diving team defeated Division III power Emory at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center Saturday to close out the regular season. The men topped the Eagles, 174-100, to finish with a 5-2 overall mark. The women improved to 4-4 on the year with a 172-102 win.  The Tigers took time before the meet to honor their 13 seniors: Maggie Bird, Alana Dillette, Abby MacGregor, Melissa Marik, Ava Ohlgren, Jordan Anderson, Will Dove, Gideon Louw, Kyle Maese, Kelly Marx, Tyler McGill, Michael Silva and Pascal Wollach.

WOMEN
Leading the women were Ohlgren and Marik, who each finished with three wins on the day. Ohlgren picked up victories in the 100 fly (54.67) and the 200 breast (2:17.43), while Marik won the 200 IM (2:05.23) and 100 free (51.16). The pair, along with classmates MacGregor and Bird, closed out their final dual strong as the group of seniors finished first in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:34.94. Individually, Bird came out on top in the 200 back, winning in 2:04.26. MacGregor also picked up a win, taking first in the 100 breast in 1:04.49. Recording her first collegiate victory was freshman Sterling Wine, who captured the 1000 free with a time of 10:21.63. In the 500 free, Wine came from behind in the final laps to also take the win in 5:03.43. Other individual winners for the women were freshman Hanna Riordan and sophomore Stephanie Horner. Riordan recorded her first collegiate win in the 100 back (56.90), while Horner touched first in the 200 free (1:50.27).

Diving
Setting personal-best scores on both springboard events were sophomore divers Anna Aguero, Mary Catherine Cochran and Vennie Dantin. The trio finished 1-2-3 on the 1-meter, seeing Aguero win with a career-best score of 293.02. Cochran came in second (284.47) and Dantin in third (284.32). Dantin won the 3-meter with a career-best score of 351.91, while Aguero was second (329.10) and Cochran third (300.38). All three recorded NCAA Zone scores in both springboard events.

MEN
Senior swimmers Dove, Silva and McGill recorded individual wins during the meet. Dove won the free in 1:39.39, while Silva took the 50 free (20.52) and McGill finished first in the 200 IM (1:49.95). Silva, along with seniors Anderson and Maese and sophomore Christopher Fox, closed out the meet with a win in the 200 free relay in a NCAA "B" cut time of 1:21.23. Fox had another B time on the day, winning the 100 breast in 54.72. Freshmen Tony Cox and Mason Chenier recorded their first collegiate wins, seeing Cox take the 100 back (49.55) and Chenier touching the wall first in the 100 free (46.78). Other individual winners were Chris Kramer in the 1000 free (9:28.53), Robert Looney in the 200 fly (1:50.64), Max Murphy in the 200 back (1:49.26), Kyle Owens in the 500 free (4:38.70) and Adam Klein in the 200 breast (2:02.43).

Diving
Senior diver Kelly Marx put together two amazing performances in his final dual. Marx opened with a record-breaking score on the 1-meter, setting a new school mark with 395.47 points. He followed with a first-place finish on the 3-meter with a season-best score of 444.07.
Freshman Thad Ellis also set personal-best scores and finished second on both springboards. He recorded a NCAA Zone score of 363.29 on the 1-meter and followed with another Zone score of 375.52 on the 3-meter.
 
Florida
Men
UF will not compete until heading to Athens, Ga., for the 2010 SEC Championships, Feb. 17-20, where the Gators have taken second for eight consecutive years.

Women
UF will be idle until SECs, hosted by Georgia, Feb. 17-20. UF is the defending SEC Women's Champion and will be looking for its 18th SEC Title this season.
 
Georgia
Georgia’s teams will be idle until the Southeastern Conference Championships, which will be held Feb. 17-20 at Gabrielsen Natatorium.

Kentucky
The UK swimming and diving teams remain out of competition until the SEC Championships set to begin on Feb. 17th in Athens, Ga.

LSU
The No. 17/24 LSU men’s and women’s teams have begun preparation for the 2010 SEC Championships, which will begin Feb. 17 in Athens, Ga. The Lady Tigers currently have 11 athletes with times or scores ranked in the conference’s top 20, and junior Jane Trepp, sophomore Mary Beck and freshmen Sara Haley and Rebecca St. Germain hold top-eight marks. The Tigers also have 11 athletes with top-20 times or scores, led by junior Hannes Heyl and sophomore Brian Gemberling. Heyl is ranked seventh and eighth in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly, respectively, while Gemberling is fourth in the conference in the three-meter dive. 

South Carolina
Gamecocks return to action at the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, Feb. 17-20 in Athens, Ga. 

Tennessee
UT will now focus its attention on preparing for the SEC Championships, which will be held from Feb. 17-20  in Athens, Ga. 

Vanderbilt
The Vanderbilt swimming team wrapped up its regular season on Saturday, falling to Tulane, 183-89 in dual action at the Reily Student Recreation Center Natatorium. The Commodores (2-8, 0-4 SEC) tallied 18 top-three finishes in the loss, including three, first-place finishes (100 and 200 breaststroke and 1000 freestyle).  Amy Salce continued her hot streak on Saturday by recording a season-high time of 10:25.60 to capture first-place honors in the 1000-yard freestyle.  Jess Eccher’s performance in the 100-yard butterfly was another bright spot for the Commodores on Saturday. The Jacksonville, Fla., native clocked a new team and season-high time of 58.11 to finish runner-up in the 100 fly. Eccher’s marked topped her 58.28 that she swam against Marshall last weekend in Huntington, W. Va.  Vanderbilt returns to action at the SEC Championships, Feb. 17-20 in Athens, Ga.