How Florida Won the Men’s SEC Team Title For a 7th Year in a Row

2019 SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, February 19 – Saturday, February 23
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Texas A&M Women (3x), Florida men (6x)(results)
• Live results
• Live Video – SEC Network
• Championship Central

FINAL TEAM SCORES (MEN)

1. University of Florida            1233   
2. Missouri                         1137
3. Tennessee, University of, Knox    917   
4. Texas A&M University              907
5. The University of Georgia       862.5   
6. University of Alabama           789.5
7. Kentucky, University of           672   
8. Auburn University               661.5
9. South Carolina, University of,    565  
10. Louisiana State University      486.5

The Florida Gators pulled off an impressive 7th-in-a-row SEC title tonight after a hard fought battle with Mizzou. You might be asking yourself “how did Florida still manage to win despite losing an insanely impressive senior class to graduation last year?” Afterall, the Gators lost Caeleb Dressel, the greatest SCY sprinter of all time, as well as individual NCAA champions Jan Switkowski and Mark Szaranek, and sophomore Michael Taylor (a former Junior World Record holder) redshirted this season due to health issues.

The answer, simply put, is a freshman class that showed up and showed out for the Gators. While replacing a class led by Caeleb Dressel was a very tall order to fill, Florida’s freshman went above and beyond to fill the roster out. In fact, freshmen scored 358.5 of Florida’s 904 individual points, the most of any class. Here is the breakdown of points by class for UF:

• Freshman – 358.5
• Sophomore – 63
• Junior – 326
• Senior – 156.5

So let’s dive into that freshman class and see where those points are coming from:

• Will Davis – 45.5 points
• Robert Finke – 84 points
• Trey Freeman – 79 points
• Kieran Smith – 74 points
• Kacper Stokowski – 76 points

Moreover, junior Maxime Rooney was the team’s highest scorer, accumulating 87 points. Robert Finke was next most at 84, and Trey Freeman was 3rd with 79. Additionally, the freshmen were very helpful to Florida in the relays. In total, Florida won 4 individual events and 1 relay.