That's largely due to the Gators' 5 finalists in the 400 IM, led by 2019 medalists Kieran Smith, Grant Sanders, and Bobby Finke. Archive photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography
The 2020 SEC Championships in Auburn, Alabama continued this morning with prelims of the 400 IM, 100 fly, and 200 free. We’ll see those events contested in finals, as well as the women’s 3-meter diving. Read on for the up/mid/down tracking of this morning’s preliminary events, and how it may impact the team standings.
For those unfamiliar with swimming terminology, the concept of “Ups” and “Downs” is a good way to track which teams performed best at prelims. In prelims, swimmers qualify for one of three finals heats: the top 8 finishers make the A final, places 9 through 16 the B final and places 17 through 24 the C final. In finals, swimmers are locked into their respective final, meaning a swimmer in the B heat (spots 9-16) can only place as high as 9th or as low as 16th, even if they put up the fastest or slowest time of any heat in the final.
With that in mind, we’ll be tracking “Ups,” “Mids” and “Downs” after each prelims session. “Up” refers to swimmers in the A final, “Mid” to swimmers in the B final and “Down” to swimmers in the C final.
MEN’S TOTAL UP/MID/DOWNS
There are no relays or men’s diving events tonight, so everything impacting the team standings will come from the individual races. The defending champion Florida Gators should take over the lead tonight from Texas A&M. That’s largely due to the Gators’ 5 finalists in the 400 IM, led by 2019 medalists Kieran Smith, Grant Sanders, and Bobby Finke.
After going from 10th to 5th on day 2, Georgia should continue to rise. They look capable of moving up to 3rd, as they’re currently only 21.5 points behind Alabama and have twice as many total scorers and championship finalists as the Crimson Tide tonight. Florida and Georgia are the only teams with more than 2 championship finalists.
Team
Up
Mid
Down
Total
Texas A&M
1
5
1
7
Florida
9
4
1
14
Alabama
2
1
2
5
Kentucky
0
4
4
8
Georgia
4
3
3
10
Tennessee
2
2
3
7
Auburn
2
1
3
5
Missouri
2
4
3
9
South Carolina
1
0
2
3
LSU
1
0
2
3
MEN’S 400 IM
Team
Up
Mid
Down
Total
Texas A&M
0
2
1
3
Florida
5
0
0
5
Alabama
1
0
1
2
Kentucky
0
2
2
4
Georgia
2
3
0
5
Tennessee
0
0
1
1
Auburn
0
0
0
0
Missouri
0
1
2
3
South Carolina
0
0
0
0
LSU
0
0
1
1
MEN’S 100 FLY
Team
Up
Mid
Down
Total
Texas A&M
0
1
0
1
Florida
2
3
0
5
Alabama
1
0
1
2
Kentucky
0
1
0
1
Georgia
1
0
1
2
Tennessee
1
1
1
3
Auburn
1
1
2
4
Missouri
2
1
1
4
South Carolina
0
0
2
2
LSU
0
0
0
0
MEN’S 200 FREE
Team
Up
Mid
Down
Total
Texas A&M
1
2
0
3
Florida
2
1
1
4
Alabama
0
1
0
1
Kentucky
0
1
2
3
Georgia
1
0
2
3
Tennessee
1
1
1
3
Auburn
1
0
1
2
Missouri
0
2
0
2
South Carolina
1
0
0
1
LSU
1
0
1
2
WOMEN’S TOTAL UP/MID/DOWNS
Note: does not include diving.
Tennessee is poised to extend their lead with the most total scorers and the most championship finalists. They have a chance to win every event tonight with Tess Cieplucha, Erika Brown, and Meghan Small. Florida should be able to hold on to their 2nd place standing, though they could close the gap with Tennessee depending on how diving goes. Kentucky and Texas A&M have a chance to battle to move into the 3rd spot with 9 scorers each, while current 3rd-place Auburn has no championship finalists tonight.
I’ve always wondered why they call them ups, mids, and downs. I’m not complaining, it just seems odd, like it describes someone moving up or moving down, when in reality someone could move up a ton to get into the C final. And it’s not more convenient for writing’s sake – A,B, and C are each one letter. Idk. Might get downvoted for asking questions, but would love an actual answer.
Not 100% sure, but my guess would be, that if you’re looking at prelims results, where a handy little line is drawn between each group of eight, it makes sense to say that a certain team got X number of swimmers “up” (i.e., above the line) or “down” (below the line), especially if you’re just dealing with A and B finals.
You’re thinking of the verb-sense of the word (like which way are you moving). But it’s more a NOUN. it’s an outcome/result. It’s where you landed in prelims. You are an UP or a DOWN (back when we had A/B finals only).
Uh…. maybe but maybe not. Dopey stuff occurs all the time (DQ’s in particular)!!
Looking at psych sheet for events tomorrow. Looks like Smith might take on Casas, Waddell, & Hein in 100 back tomorrow. If it occurs & he wins that, I’ll be “all on board” with the Superman thing!! Would be a sight to see!! Still “all in” on A&M no matter but gotta give due respect to those that are swimming “lights out”!!
I think what happened is everyone got way to excited about Casas (including myself) and a few tier 1-2 swimmers on A&M (Theall, Koster, Walker, etc) but…completely forgot about their lack of depth.
Can’t win SEC’s without strong depth, that’s what Florida is proving to us right now
Dbswims
4 years ago
Florida is doing the job!
Thinking Cap
4 years ago
Remember when people thought Texas A&M had a shot to win…
Not going to happen with only 1 A final on the day
From The Past
4 years ago
That was a great morning of swimming by Tennessee!
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I’ve always wondered why they call them ups, mids, and downs. I’m not complaining, it just seems odd, like it describes someone moving up or moving down, when in reality someone could move up a ton to get into the C final. And it’s not more convenient for writing’s sake – A,B, and C are each one letter. Idk. Might get downvoted for asking questions, but would love an actual answer.
Not 100% sure, but my guess would be, that if you’re looking at prelims results, where a handy little line is drawn between each group of eight, it makes sense to say that a certain team got X number of swimmers “up” (i.e., above the line) or “down” (below the line), especially if you’re just dealing with A and B finals.
You’re thinking of the verb-sense of the word (like which way are you moving). But it’s more a NOUN. it’s an outcome/result. It’s where you landed in prelims. You are an UP or a DOWN (back when we had A/B finals only).
The meet’s not over until it’s over.
It’s over!
Uh…. maybe but maybe not. Dopey stuff occurs all the time (DQ’s in particular)!!
Looking at psych sheet for events tomorrow. Looks like Smith might take on Casas, Waddell, & Hein in 100 back tomorrow. If it occurs & he wins that, I’ll be “all on board” with the Superman thing!! Would be a sight to see!! Still “all in” on A&M no matter but gotta give due respect to those that are swimming “lights out”!!
The fat lady is planning to sing after the 400IM
Bruh 9 A finalist… is A&M even swimming today?
Florida men looking good and Kieren looking like superman
I think what happened is everyone got way to excited about Casas (including myself) and a few tier 1-2 swimmers on A&M (Theall, Koster, Walker, etc) but…completely forgot about their lack of depth.
Can’t win SEC’s without strong depth, that’s what Florida is proving to us right now
Florida is doing the job!
Remember when people thought Texas A&M had a shot to win…
Not going to happen with only 1 A final on the day
That was a great morning of swimming by Tennessee!