Bobby Finke Spotted in Walking Boot on Eve of SEC Championships (PSYCH SHEETS)

2021 SEC MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 23 – Friday, February 26, 2021
• Columbia, MO – University of Missouri
• Prelims/Finals: 10 AM/5 PM Tues, 10 AM/6 PM Weds-Fri (Central Standard Time)
• Defending Champion: Florida (8x) (results)
• Live results
• Live Video – SEC Network
• Championship Central
• Updated psych sheet

University of Florida swimmer Bobby Finke is wearing a walking boot this week in Auburn as his team arrives to race at the University of Missouri but remains on the psych sheet for this week’s meet.

The junior Finke set the American, U.S. Open, and NCAA Records in the 1650 freestyle at this meet last season.

A spokesperson for the University of Florida declined to comment on Finke’s injury.

A walking boot is not necessarily a meet-damning accessory. Recall that another SEC superstar Shaine Casas of Texas A&M was in a walking boot at the team’s mid-season invite before swimming a 1:36.62 in the 200 yard back in finals. That swim was just .08 seconds short of his lifetime best.

Finke has dealt with an injury at a big meet before – he missed the 2019 World University Games with a wrist injury.

The Florida men enter the meet as the 8-time defending SEC Champions, though they’re facing a huge challenge this year from teams like Georgia, Texas A&M, and Alabama.

• See the 2021 SEC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships fan guide.

Aside from that, there are no earth-shattering scratches in the final edition of the men’s championship psych sheet – nothing akin to the surprise scratch of Florida’s Leah Braswell on the eve of the women’s meet last week.

This latest version of the psych sheets still did not require teams to reduce the number of entries per athlete. Teams have up until the scratch deadline the day before meets to do that. Rather, this version simply required teams to cut to the maximum roster limits – 22 total athletes, including divers who competed last week.

Kentucky leads after the diving portion of the event.

2021 SEC Men’s Diving Scoring

There were only three swimmers seeded in the top 20 of any event who were pulled out of the meet on the final version of psych sheets:

• Florida freshman Caleb Kravitz, who was the 14th seed in the mile but seeded no higher than 42nd in any of his other races.
• Tennessee freshman Thomas Horne, who was the 17th seed in the 200 fly but seeded no higher than 37th in any of his other races
• Florida freshman Advait Page, who was the 18th seed in the mile but seeded no higher than 40th in any of his other races

The top 24 finishers in each event score at the SEC Championships.