Historic 3 Swimmers Go Sub-45 in 100 Fly in SEC Men’s Prelims

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 Video – SEC Network
• Championship Central
• Updated psych sheet
• Live Results
• Day 3 Prelims Heat Sheet

A trio of 44-second 100 yard butterfly swims went on the board on Thursday at the SEC Men’s Swimming Championships in Columbia, Missouri.

A pair of simmers from the University of Georgia, senior Camden Murphy (44.77) and freshman Luca Urlando (44.97) sandwiched Texas A&M junior Shaine Casas (44.92) as the top 3 seeds in the early heats.

For the senior Murphy, that swim breaks his own Georgia school record of 44.89, set in November at the UGA Fall Invitational. Prior to this season, no Georgia swimmer had been under 45 seconds, and now two have done it (Murphy held the school record in 45.03).

For the freshman Urlando, that swim makes him the 4th-fastest freshman in the history of the event:

1. Joseph Schooling, Texas – 44.51
2. Tom Shields, Cal – 44.91
3. Ryan Hoffer, Cal – 44.93
4. Luca Urlando, Georgia – 44.97
5. Zheng Quah, Cal – 45.06

The depth of the 100 fly at this year’s SEC Championships is huge – possibly as good as we’ve ever seen at a non-NCAA Championship collegiate meet. There have only been 5 meets in history where, including prelims and finals, there have been more than 3 sub-45.00 100 flys. Those meets were the 2009, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 NCAA Championship meets.

The most sub-45.00 100 yard butterflies in a non-NCAA Championship meet came at the 2015 Big 12 Championships. That was the year where Texas famously had the top 4 finishers at the NCAA Championship meet and 6 of the top 8.

At Big 12s that season, Jack Conger swam 44.78 in finals, Joseph Schooling swam 44.81 in finals, and Schooling added a 44.90 in prelims to the total. That season’s NCAA Championship meet, interestingly, only saw two total swims sub-45 seconds (Schooling and Conger in finals): fewer than the Big 12 Championships.

This year’s SEC meet has already matched that count with 3 such swims in prelims. Those three, plus Missouri’s Danny Kovac (45.16 in prelims) are all within reach of doing so again in finals. If that happens, it would tie the 2017 NCAA Championship meet as the second-most at any single college meet in history, behind only the whopping 10 sub-45.00 swims at the 2018 NCAA Championships.