Feb. 16, 2009

Courtesy of Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia swimming and diving programs and the rest of the Southeastern Conference swim teams will convene in Auburn, Ala., for the 2009 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships, which will run Wednesday through Saturday at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center.

Wednesday’s preliminaries will begin at noon and Thursday through Saturday’s preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. Evening finals will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, and 4 p.m. Saturday with heats of the 1,650 freestyle.

“The Southeastern Conference championship meet is one of the most competitive and difficult conference meets in the nation,” head coach Jack Bauerle said. “It’s been that way since I started coaching 30 years ago and it will be just that way this year. It will be a challenging meet for both our men and women.”

Last season, the Lady Bulldogs finished third at the SEC Championships and had no individual event champion. This year, the No. 1 Lady Bulldogs hold eight individual top times and the top times in all five relays in the conference this season.

Anne-Marie Botek holds the top time in the 50 free, Morgan Scroggy holds the top 200 free and 200 individual medley times, Wendy Trott owns the top 500 and 1,650 freestyle times, Aleksandra Putra has the top 200 backstroke time and Mhyria Miller has the conference’s top times in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.

Putra is the lone current Lady Bulldog to have won an individual event at the SEC Championships, having twice one the 200 backstroke – once in 2006 and again in 2007.

“We are going to need our big guns to step up for us,” Bauerle said. “We’ll rely on Wendy Trott, Aleksandra Putra and Allison Schmitt for points and we’ll also need some of our young kids to step up. Kristen Shickora and Michelle McKeehan will have some big roles to fill as freshman, but we are looking forward to it. I would say we will know after Thursday what the SEC Championships are going to bring.”

The No. 12 Georgia Bulldogs finished fourth at last season’s SEC Championships and return one winner, Mark Dylla in the 200 butterfly, from last year. Heading into the championship meet, Georgia holds seven individual top times in the conference.

Troyden Prinsloo holds the conference’s top times in the 500 and 1,650 free, the same two events he finished as the runner-up at last season’s SEC meet. Neil Versfeld is the conference leader in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, and Dylla holds the top times in the 100 and 200 butterfly and the 200 individual medley.

“The guys have been a fun team, and I told them, ‘Let’s stay a fun team,’” Bauerle said. “We are in sort of a rebuilding time after losing three Olympians from last season, but we have some firepower in Neil, Troy and Mark. We are hoping to be as good as we were a year ago and our goal is to qualify people for the NCAA Championships. Some of our young guys, like Peter Benner, Bill Cregar and Craig Jennings, are all beginning to develop for us and will be significant contributors.”

Tickets for the event are still available for the annual event. Single session tickets are available for adults at $20 for finals and $10 for prelims and for students at $10 for finals and $5 for prelims.

Results following each day of the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships will be available at georgiadogs.com.