Sitting on top at the Southeastern Conference Championship after four days of competition, No. 1 Texas men’s swim and dive is hoping to take home the gold in their first year in the SEC.
The six-day championship meet began on Feb. 17 and will run until Feb. 22. After Wednesday, the Longhorns lead with 505 points and 14 events down. Following Texas in the leaderboard are No. 6 Florida with 421.5 points and No. 8 Tennessee with 327.5.
For head coach Bob Bowman, the competition should help the team prepare for the NCAA Championships in March.
“I think it’s going to be a tremendous opportunity to step up with some very good teams,” Bowman said. “I do think this is an ideal preparation to get us ready for the national championships coming up a month later.”
The team was off to a strong start on Tuesday after setting record-breaking times in their relay races. Junior Hubert Kós, senior Chris Guiliano, sophomore Will Modglin and sophomore Nate Germonprez broke the program record in their 200-meter medley relay finishing third with a time of 1:20.75.
Guiliano, senior Luke Hobson, sophomore Rex Maurer and graduate student Coby Carrozza finished second in the 800-meter freestyle relay, breaking the American record with a time of 6:03.24. Texas finished behind the Florida Gators, who now hold the SEC record in the 800 freestyle relay, following the event on Tuesday.
The Longhorns continued strong, picking up a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Modglin also picked up a silver medal in the 200-individual medley race.
The third day of competition for the team brought the first gold medal for Texas, with Maurer finishing first in the 500 freestyle race.
The team and coaching staff are prepared to use this time to build on their training to propel them to the NCAA Championships, with all eyes set on winning the SEC Championships at the conclusion of the meet.
“Let me be clear: We are not fully going for broke,” Bowman said. “I got something in the tank for (the) NCAA’s, we’ll be good at the SEC (Championships).”
