By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
2025 SEC Championships
- Dates: Tuesday, February 18–Saturday, February 22
- Prelims: 9:30 am EST/ Finals 5:30 pm EST (Tuesday-5:00 EST)
- Location: Gabrielsen Natatorium — Athens, GA
- Defending Champions: Florida women (2x); Florida men (12x)
- Live Results
- Live Video: SEC Network+
- Championship Central
- Fan Guide (Men)
- Fan Guide (Women)
- Psych Sheets
- Teams: Alabama, Arkansas (women), Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas*, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt (women)
- Live Recaps
Women’s 200 Butterfly — Final
- NCAA Record: 1:49.16 — Alex Walsh, Virginia (2024)
SEC Record: 1:49.54 — Emma Sticklen, Texas (2024)SEC Championship Record: 1:50.01 — Emma Sticklen, Texas (2025)- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:52.47
Final:
- Emma Sticklen (TEX), 1:49.17 SEC Record
- Campbell Stoll (TEX), 1:51.64
- Olivia Bray (TEX), 1:52.61
- Greta Pelzek (SCAR), 1:52.80
- Sara Stotler (TENN), 1:53.26
- Emily Brown (TENN), 1:53.31
- Sofia Sartori (LSU), 1:54.05
- Ella Jansen (TENN), 1:54.44
Emma Sticklen continued to shine at the 2025 SEC Championships in her signature event, the 200 butterfly. This morning, Sticklen swam an SEC Championship record, clocking 1:50.01 as she backed off during the final 50 yards. There was no backing off this evening, as hse led the race from start to finish and set an SEC record of 1:49.17, just a hundredth off Alex Walsh’s NCAA record.
Sticklen was out in 23.79 and hit the 100-yard mark at 51.11, well ahead of the rest of the field. She split 58.06 (28.70/29.36) on the back half of the race, continuing to extend her lead. This is Sticklen’s third individual event win at these championships, as she won the 200 IM and 100 butterfly earlier in the meet.
She’s now the third-fastest performer in history and the second-fastest NCAA swimmer all-time.
The Longhorns showed out in the 100 butterfly and they had an event stronger performance in the 200 fly, which they’ve developed a reputation for over the last four years. Texas swept the podium in this race as Campbell Stoll won silver (1:51.64) and Olivia Bray earned bronze (1:52.61). Stoll’s swim is her second lifetime best of the day, improving on the 1:52.97 she swam in prelims. Coming into the meet, her best was 1:53.94.
Bray’s 1:52.61 marks a season-best for her by .54 seconds. She held off a late charge from South Carolina’s Greta Pelzek to secure the last spot on the podium. After setting a program record of 1:52.66 in prelims, Sara Stotler took fifth in 1:53.26.
Men’s 200 Butterfly — Final
- NCAA Record: 1:37.17 — Luca Urlando, Georgia (2025)
- SEC Record: 1:37.17 — Luca Urlando, Georgia (2025)
SEC Championship Record: 1:38.86 — Luca Urlando, Georgia (2025)- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:40.05
Final:
- Luca Urlando (UGA), 1:37.18 CR
- Martin Espernberger (TENN), 1:39.69
- Jake Magahey (UGA), 1:39.91
- Bjoern Kammann (TENN), 1:40.18
- Ryan Merani (KY), 1:40.82
- Danny Schmidt (AUB), 1:41.27
- Ryan Branon Jr (TEX), 1:41.64
- Drew Hitchcock (UGA), 1:42.17
Through two events of day five finals, the common thread is one hundredth. One event after Sticklen came a hundredth from the NCAA record in the women’s 200 butterfly, Luca Urlando did the same in the men’s 200 butterfly.
Urlando was flirting with his record line for the entire race. He opened the race ahead of his pace, turning in 21.96, but fell off the pace slightly at the halfway points (46.36). He was back ahead of the line with 50 yards to go with a 24.60 split on the third 50, but the final 50 of his January pace (26.06) just got the better of him on the final touch.
Still, the swim is a championship record for Urlando, improving on the 1:38.86 he swam this morning. He also now owns the two fastest swims in event history.
Martin Espernberger, last year’s runner-up, got back onto the podium this year, earning the silver medal. He swam 1:39.69, pulling ahead of Georgia’s Jake Magahey, who was a hundredth ahead of him with 50 yards remaining. Espernberger’s time is a season-best and just a few tenths from his lifetime best of 1:39.34.
Magahey won bronze for the second-straight year. He broke 1:40 for the first time in his career to earn his trip to the podium at these championships, swimming 1:39.91. His previous lifetime best stood at 1:40.07 from earlier this season. This was a strong event for the hosts, as Georgia held their seeds from prelims and took 1st-3rd-8th. Freshman Drew Hitchcock swam 1:42.17 after swimming a lifetime best 1:41.09 in prelims. Meanwhile, Tennessee went 2-4 with Espernberger Bjoern Kammann (1:40.18).
Women’s 100 Backstroke — Final
- NCAA Record: 48.10 — Gretchen Walsh, Virginia (2024)
SEC Record: 49.93 — Bella Sims, Florida (2024)SEC Championship Record: 50.02 — Rhyan White, Alabama (2020)- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 50.66
Final:
- Bella Sims (FLOR), 49.20 SEC Record
- Josephine Fuller (TENN), 50.05
- Emily Jones (BAMA), 50.92
- Berit Berglund (TEX), 51.02
- Lora Komoroczy (AUB), 51.21
- Eboni McCarty (UGA), 51.34
- Catie Choate (FLOR), 51.58
- Zoe Carlos-Bloc (LSU), 51.60
Bella Sims first took over the SEC record in the women’s 100 backstroke at mid-season, breaking 50 seconds for the first time in her career with a 49.93. She torched that swim in tonight’s championship final, winning her first SEC title of the meet in 49.20.
The swim is a .73 second drop for Sims and catapults her from 11th up to fifth-fastest performer in history in this event. Sims joked after the race that she’s hoping this swim will get her into the Florida sprint group.
Josephine Fuller had the lead at the first 25 and though Sims used her strong underwaters to push ahead of her and win by almost a second, Fuller repeated as the SEC runner-up with a lifetime best of 50.05. She continues to approach the 50-second barrier herself as she sliced .15 seconds off her best with this swim.
Alabama’s Emily Jones dropped .76 seconds from her prelims swim to win bronze in 50.92, rounding out the swimmers who broke 51 seconds in this final. Her lifetime best stands at 50.75 from the UGA Fall Invitational in November.
Men’s 100 Backstroke — Final
- NCAA Record: 43.35 — Luca Urlando, Georgia (2022)
- SEC Record: 43.35 — Luca Urlando, Georgia (2022)
SEC Championship Record: 44.10 — Zane Waddell, Alabama (2020)- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 44.48
Final:
- Jonny Marshall (FLOR), 43.73 CR
- Hubert Kos (TEX), 44.03
- Will Modglin (TEX), 44.22
- Harrison Lierz (TENN), 44.87
- Nate Stoffle (AUB), 45.07
- Ruard van Renen (UGA), 45.13
- Scotty Buff (FLOR), 45.37
- Kyle Peck (TEX), 45.49
Title defended. Sophomore Jonny Marshall backed up his upset win as a freshman by winning against a stacked field that included Will Modglin and Hubert Kos. He got in on the record-breaking party that’s been going on this session as well by breaking 44 seconds for the first time in his career with a 43.73.
Marshall held the lead at the 50-yard mark, splitting 20.81 to the feet. He came home in 22.92 to become the seventh-fastest performer in event history, per the USA Swimming database.
Kos and Modglin, two of the three Longhorns in the ‘A’ final, finished second and third. Kos had a huge underwater off the final turn and out-split Marshall on the back half of the race with a 22.77. But, he ran out of room to chase down the Gator, and earned silver in a season-best 44.03.
Before this event, Modglin was the only swimmer in the NCAA that had broken 44 seconds this season. A sophomore himself, he swam a lifetime best 43.91 at the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational. In this final, Modglin improved on his time from prelims with a 44.22.
The top three swimmers pulled away from the rest of the field, as Harrison Lierz maintained his fourth place from prelims with a 44.87. The time is a lifetime best for Lierz, breaking the 44.98 he swam leading off the 400 medley relay at last year’s SECs.
Women’s 100 Breaststroke — Final
- NCAA Record: 55.73 — Lilly King, Indiana (2019)
- SEC Record: 56.64 — Mona McSharry, Tennessee (2024)
- SEC Championship Record: 57.06 — Mona McSharry, Tennessee (2024)
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 58.01
Final:
- Mona McSharry (TENN), 57.26
- McKenzie Siroky (TENN), 57.27
- Anita Bottazzo (FLOR), 57.65
- Piper Enge (TEX), 57.86
- Abby Arens (TEX), 58.49
- Avery Wiseman (BAMA), 58.51