UT Women Finish 4th, Men Take 6th at SEC Championships

February 18, 2017 | Swimming & Diving

Feb. 18, 2017

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee sophomore Kyle DeCoursey ended the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships on a high note Saturday night, breaking a school record and taking third in the men's 100-yard freestyle.

SEC Swimming & Diving Championships

Women's Final Team Standings

1. Texas A&M - 1,304
2. Georgia - 1,113
3. Kentucky - 938
4. TENNESSEE - 855
5. Auburn - 849
6. Missouri - 786
7. Florida - 624
8. LSU - 550
9. South Carolina - 505
10. Alabama - 464
11. Arkansas - 284
12. Vanderbilt - 104

Men's Final Team Standings

1. Florida - 1,271.5
2. Georgia - 985
3. Auburn - 925.5
4. Alabama - 897
5. Missouri - 771
6. TENNESSEE - 770.5
7. Texas A&M - 759
8. South Carolina - 696
9. LSU - 641
10. Kentucky - 481.5

Individual Honors

Women's Diver of the Meet: Lauren Reedy, Missouri
Women's Swimmer of the Meet: Sarah Gibson, Texas A&M
Commissioner's Trophy (W): Sarah Gibson, Texas A&M
Men's Diver of Meet: Juan Hernandez, LSU
Men's Swimmer of the Meet: Caeleb Dressel, Florida
Commissioner's Trophy (M): Caeleb Dressel, Florida

DeCoursey knocked on the door of the school record in the morning preliminaries and broke through in the final. He earned bronze with a time of 42.07, eclipsing Luke Percy's 2014 mark.

It was the Vol sophomore's first career SEC medal. He had finished sixth in the 50 freestyle and 11th in the 200 freestyle earlier this week.

The Tennessee women placed fourth overall with 855 points. Texas A&M took home the SEC team title with 1,304 points and Georgia (1,113) and Kentucky (938) rounded out the top three.

The UT men finished in sixth place with 770.5 points. Florida won the men's team title with 1,271.5 points while Georgia (985) and Auburn (925.5) finished second and third, respectively.

The Tennessee women finished with eight medals during the week, including gold medals for sophomore Madeline Banic in the 50 freestyle, freshman Meghan Small in the 200 individual medley. Banic made the championship final in all three events and collected bronze in the 100 butterfly. Small broke the school record in all three of her events, adding a bronze in the 400 IM and taking third in the 200 backstroke.

Junior diver Liam Stone made to trips to the podium for the Tennessee men, breaking the SEC record to win the 1-meter springboard (468.30) and finishing third on 3-meter.

Five men's records and one women's record were set on the final day of the SEC Championships.

South Carolina's Akaram Mahmoud set a new pool record in the men's 1,650 free, winning gold in 14:38.91. That time broke the previous record of 14:39.02 set by Michigan's Connor Jaeger in 2013.

Florida's Caeleb Dressel set a new pool record in the men's 100 free, winning SEC gold in 41.24. The previous top mark of 41.39 was set by California's Nathan Adrian in 2013.

In the 200 breaststroke, Alabama's Anton McKee won with a new pool record of 1:52.22, beating the previous best time of 1:52.99 set by Tennessee's Brad Craig in 2013.

LSU's Juan Hernandez won the men's platform dive with an SEC-record 495.55 points, which was over eight points higher than the previous record of 487.09 set by Auburn's Dan Mazzaferro in 2009.

The Florida men's 400 free relay quartet of Maxime Rooney, Mark Szaranek, Caeleb Dressel and Jan Switkowski took gold with a pool record of 2:47.09.

In the women's 400 free relay, Georgia's squad of Oliva Smoliga, Veronica Burchill, Meaghan Raab and Chantal Van Landeghem set a new pool record with a winning time of 3:12.19, besting the previous mark of 3:12.85 set by Auburn in 2012.

WOMEN'S 1650 FREE: Senior Morgan Dickson was Tennessee's top finisher, taking 11th overall in 16:22.33. Freshman Spence Atkins was not far behind in 14th (16:23.60), and senior Madeline Tegner was 18th (16:31.41).

MEN'S 1650 FREE: Senior David Heron had one of his top showings at the SEC meet with a sixth-place finish in the 1650 freestyle, finishing sixth overall in 14:54.35. He was third in the championship heat. Freshman Taylor Abbott took seventh overall -- fourth in the championship -- in 14:55.41. Swimming in an early heat, Marc Hinawi logged a ninth-place finish in 14:56.84.

WOMEN'S 200 BACKSTROKE: Freshman Meghan Small lowered her school record time yet again, finishing fourth in 1:51.91. She was more than a second faster than her preliminary record setter. She ended the week with three school records in the 400 IM, 200 IM and 200 backstroke. Swimming her first championship final, Micah Bohon was eighth in 1:54.51.

MEN'S 200 BACKSTROKE: Sophomore Joey Reilman was just off his pace in the morning and finished the 200 backstroke in 1:42.39 to take seventh overall, his second championship heat appearance of the meet. Freshman Nathan Murray cut more time off his personal best to take 12th overall (1:42.89), and fellow freshman Matthew Garcia was 22nd (1:45.31).

WOMEN'S 100 FREESTYLE: Sophomore Madeline Banic made three championship finals in three events this week, placing eighth in the 100 freestyle after winning the 50 freestyle and taking bronze in the 100 butterfly. Erika Brown led a 2-3-4 UT charge in the C final, finishing in 49.53, followed by Kira Toussaint and Alex Cleveland.

MEN'S 100 FREESTYLE: Sophomore Kyle DeCoursey earned a trip to the awards podium in an individual event for the first time, taking third in a school-record time of 42.07. He had threatened the record in the morning, finishing a hundredth away from Luke Percy's 2014 mark. Alec Connolly took 21st overall in 44.18.

WOMEN'S 200 BREASTSTROKE: Senior Colleen Callahan led the way with a 15th-place finish in a season-best 2:11.81.

MEN'S 200 BREASTSTROKE: Senior Ross Dibblin was 15th overall in 1:57.48.

MEN'S PLATFORM: Junior Liam Stone was three points away from qualifying for his first platform final, finishing 10th with a career-best 339.00. It was his career-best platform score by almost 30 points. Senior Michael Howell was 13th with 321.55, and sophomore Nick Rusek was 14th in 413.25.

WOMEN'S 400 FREESTYLE RELAY: Tennessee's team of Erika Brown, Kira Toussaint, Micah Bohon and Madeline Banic finished seventh in the final heat -- and seventh overall -- in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:12.19.

MEN's 400 FREESTYLE RELAY: Tennessee's team of Ryan Coetzee, Alec Connolly, Joey Reilman and Kyle DeCoursey finished first in the first heat and sixth overall with a time of 2:52.94.