The Georgia Bulldogs women’s team won its fifth consecutive SEC Swimming and Diving championship, becoming only the second program in history to repeat five times.
It is Georgia’s 11th SEC title. Texas A&M was second on Saturday at the conclusion of the five-day meet at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens.
Georgia is the only program to own multiple five-time win streaks. The last time the Lady Bulldogs won five titles consecutively was 1997-2001. Florida won 11 in a row from 1986-1996.
UGA scored 1,589, almost 400 ahead of the Aggies.
“We could not be happier for our young ladies,” said Harvey Humphries, Georgia’s Senior Associate coach. “This is a team that has so much pride. They set their goals at the beginning of the season, and everything they’ve done so far has helped them reach this point. We still have a lot of things we want to do as a team, but we’re going to let ourselves enjoy this one. This is something these swimmers and divers should be proud of because winning a title in this league isn’t easy.”
In the men’s competition, Florida claimed the title with 1,440 points. Auburn was second and UGA was third.
Georgia swimmers and divers broke 18 school records, 13 pool records and eight SEC records.
In Saturday’s key women’s finals performances:
- Brittany MacLean had a record-setting swim in the 1,650 freestyle. Her time of 15:40.77 was the fastest in the nation this year and set an SEC and Gabrielsen Natatorium record.
- Olivia Smoliga had comeback victory in the 100 freestyle, swimming the fifth fastest time in the nation this year (47.51). Shannon Vreeland was a close second at 47.64, a personal best.
- UGA's 400 freestyle relay team set a Gabrielsen Natatorium record of 3:11.29 to secure the women's title.
WOMEN'S TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Georgia 1,589; 2. Texas A&M 1,204; 3. Florida 1,130; 4. Auburn 804; 5. Tennessee 780; 6. Arkansas 572; 7. LSU 548; 8. Alabama 526; 9. Missouri 475.5; 10. Kentucky 426; 11. South Carolina 260; 12. Vanderbilt 186.5
MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS: 1 Florida 1,440; 2. Auburn 1,280.5; 3. Georgia 1,095; 4. Alabama 798; 5. Missouri 742.5; 6. Tennessee 713; 7. Texas A&M 609; 8. Kentucky 532; 9. LSU 531; 10 South Carolina 491.
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