JANELLE ATKINSON TAKES SILVER IN SEC SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP 1650 YARD FREESTYLE

After being beaten in the 500, Florida's Sara McLarty had the last laugh today as she finished just ahead of her team mate Janelle Atkinson (16:14.25) to win the SEC Swimming Championship 1650 year Freestyle swimming 16:12.20. Florida's Meredith Green's third place finish (16:14.77), repeated the schools medals sweep which they had enjoyed on the 500 yard event.

Despite the top three swimmers finishing over 15 seconds ahead of the field, it was a tough battle for the leaders from the start. McLarty went out fast and turned at the 400 yard mark just ahead of Green with Atkinson only a second behind. McLarty slowly opened the lead and enjoyed a 4 second advantage with 250 yards. But Atkinson dug deep after making the 1400 yard turn and picked up the pace, passing Green and was closing fast on McLarty who held on to touch just 2 seconds ahead of Atkinson.

SEC Swimming Championships 1650 yard freestyle

    1)   McLARTY, SARA        SO  FLORIDA          16:12.20                
            :55.74   :58.86   :59.03   :59.20   :58.83   :59.02
            :58.85   :59.04   :59.02   :59.18   :59.17   :59.21
            :59.37   :59.50   :59.67   :59.46   :29.05        
    2)   ATKINSON, JANELLE    SO  FLORIDA          16:14.25                
            :55.94   :58.98   :59.33   :59.34   :59.30   :59.24
            :59.24   :59.48   :59.14   :59.46   :59.24   :59.71
            :59.77  1:00.03   :59.22   :58.40   :28.43        
    3)   GREEN, MEREDITH      FR  FLORIDA          16:14.77                
            :56.16   :59.11   :59.12   :58.92   :59.06   :59.27
            :59.20   :59.48   :59.82   :59.68   :59.27   :59.64
            :59.41   :59.31   :59.57   :59.38   :28.37