Harnish Continues Georgia Mid-D Legacy, Alabama Claims Historic Sprint Wins | SwimSwam

By Karl Ortegon on SwimSwam

SEC – WOMEN SWIMMING & DIVING + MEN’S DIVING

• Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20, 2021
• W Swimming: Gabrielsen Natatorium – Athens, GA (Eastern Time Zone)
• W&M Diving: Mizzou Aquatics Center – Columbia, MO (Central Time Zone)
• Defending Champion: Tennessee (1x) (2020 results)
• Live results
• Live Video – SEC Network
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets (UPDATED)

With day two of the SEC Championships wrapped, Courtney Harnish has continued the legacy of great Georgia mid-distance freestylers.

With names like Allison Schmitt, Shannon Vreeland, Morgan Scroggy, Melanie Margalis, Hali Flickinger and many more, Georgia has been nothing short of a powerhouse for the 200 and 500 free events especially. Harnish, tonight, won her third-consecutive SEC title in the 500 free.

Harnish has been steady for the Bulldogs during her collegiate career. Since 2006, Harnish is the only Georgia swimmer to win more than one 500 free in consecutive years, though, and the UGA women have taken the 500 free title 12 of the last 16 years.

Despite DQ’ing their 200 medley relay, Georgia has climbed back into second place in the team standings, just behind Florida.

Meanwhile, we saw a ‘would’ve won’ scenario, where Missouri senior Sarah Thompson posted the quickest time of the night out of the 50 free B-final. Her 21.57, nearly a best, would’ve taken the 50 by over a tenth; she slipped off the wall on her turn during prelims.

Alabama went 1-2 in the A-final, with junior Kalia Antoniou (21.69) climbing from t-13th last year to the win ahead of teammate and Indiana transfer Cora Dupre (21.82) as both went bests.

For Alabama, Antoniou was the first member of the Crimson Tide to win the 50 free since 1983. In the 200 free relay, she helped ‘Bama to another SEC title, which is their first also since 1983. Interim head coach Ozzie Quevedo has the Crimson Tide looking strong at third in the team standings so far.

Alabama and Mizzou were the only teams with more than two women breaking 22, slower than last year, which saw Auburn put together an SEC record relay (1:25.41) that would’ve won tonight’s final by over 1.5 seconds. Auburn had three 21’s and a 20.9 split on that relay.

This year, the Auburn relay touched second-to-last, gaining six seconds with a 1:31.80. While the 2020 Auburn team averaged 21.3s, the 2021 relay averaged 22.9s.

Check out all splits for the 200 free relay below, with lead-off legs demarcated:

200 FREE RELAY SPLITS

Alabama	Cora Dupre	21.43
Alabama	Morgan Scott	21.56
Missouri	Sarah Thompson	21.65 *lead-off*
Georgia	Maxine Parker	21.65
Tennessee	Bailey Grinter	21.68
Florida	Talia Bates	21.68
Kentucky	Riley Gaines	21.75
Arkansas	Kobie Melton	21.76
Missouri	Megan Keil	21.77
Alabama	Kalia Antoniou	21.82 *lead-off*
Missouri	Amy Feddersen	21.85
South Carolina	Janie Smith	21.88
Georgia	Zoie Hartman	21.9
Tennessee	Megan Sichterman	22.02
Florida	Katie Mack	22.04 *lead-off*
Tennessee	Mona McSharry	22.07 *lead-off*
Missouri	Alex Moderski	22.09
Florida	Gabrielle Hillis	22.10
Georgia	Gabi Fa’Amausili	22.13 *lead-off*
Alabama	Flora Molnar	22.21
Tennessee	Natalie Ungaretti	22.23
Kentucky	Kaitlynn Wheeler	22.43
South Carolina	Mari Kraus	22.46
LSU	Olivia Taylor	22.48
Kentucky	Sophie Sorenson	22.48
Arkansas	Bella Cothern	22.50
LSU	Katarina Milutinovich	22.51 *lead-off*
Arkansas	Emily Barclay	22.59 *lead-off*
LSU	Natalie Kucsan	22.59
Texas A&M	Emma Stephenson	22.63
Auburn	Emma Steckiel	22.68 *lead-off*
Florida	Kathleen Golding	22.68
Auburn	Val Tarazi	22.71
Arkansas	Molly Moore	22.74
South Carolina	Emma Walker	22.81
Auburn	Abigail Gibbons	22.84
Texas A&M	Bobbi Kennett	22.89 *lead-off*
Texas A&M	Olivia Theall	22.91
Georgia	Danielle Dellatorre	22.93
Kentucky	Izzy Gati	23.03 *lead-off*
Texas A&M	Jing Quah	23.04
South Carolina	Aubrey Chandler	23.05 *lead-off*
LSU	Summer Stanfield	23.07
Vanderbilt	Chantal Jordan	23.19
Vanderbilt	Gabriela Pierobon Mays	23.22
Vanderbilt	Tonner Debeer	23.38
Vanderbilt	Eleanor Beers	23.46 *lead-off*
Auburn	Elyssa Pardus	23.57

TEAM SCORES

Through day two finals

1. Florida 393
2. Georgia 362
3. Alabama 345
4. Tennessee 326
5. Kentucky 318
6. Texas A&M 253
7. Arkansas 249
8. Mizzou 236
9. LSU 167
10. Auburn 159
11. South Carolina 134
12. Vanderbilt 94

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