2024 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships
“Touching the wall after finishing the last 50 seconds feels like a reward, until you have to use those same shoulders and lats to crawl out of the pool. You feel relieved and warm when the race is over. It floats like a noodle on the down pool.
Or so they say.
The 200 fly is a tough race. It takes everything away from you. Swimming twice a day is bad enough, but three?
Today at the SEC Championships, five swimmers are competing for just that opportunity.
In the women's heat, three athletes tied for 23rd place.her sophomore year in tennessee Kate McCarvillesophomore at the University of Arkansas. maddie hartleyAuburn 5th grader Avery Prebble They all ran 1:58.97 in the preliminaries, but they all had to swim to compete for the remaining two spots in the C final. All three had set their best times in qualifying. Hartley fell by a second. McCarville, 8/10. and Preble, 4/10.
McCarville led by a tenth of a point in the 50, but Prebble took over the lead in the 100 by 0.28 of a point. She increased her lead to 0.54 points at the 150m mark and won in an incredible time of 1:57.94. McCarville took second place with a time of 1:59.07. Hartley finished in 2:00.66. She will be the first alternate tonight.
For boys, 5th graders from South Carolina Lateb Hussein and LSU Jr. Gavin Rogers Both finished 24th in 1:45.84. For Hussain, he was 1.2 times better than when he was seeded. Rodgers dropped 2.4 seconds.
I met Hussein on deck and we laughed at the absurdity of going back on board and doing it all over again. He stayed hydrated, energized and had a great time. His attitude was contagious.
Then they were on the block.
Hussein led in the 50s, 23.02 to 23.47. Rogers was faster in the second 50, but Hussein led in the 100, 49.92 to 50.12. Hussein kicked the ball further in the third 50 seconds and took a 0.3 point lead on the turn. But Rodgers turned on his turbocharger with 25 yards left and reached home in 27.9 seconds, winning 1:45.27 to 1:45.60. They were both faster than they were this morning, so only Rogers will swim again tonight.
