Riley Gaines special in and out of the pool

Senior Riley Gaines had another memorable week at the SEC Championships in Knoxville. She was named the SEC Women’s Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She has a 3.876 grade point average in health sciences — she plans to be a dentist and scored in the top two percent nationally on the Dental Admissions Test.

Gaines won the 200-meter freestyle for the second year in a row. This year she was almost a second in front with a school-record time of 1:42.62,  the fourth-fastest time in the nation and an automatic qualifying standard.

“Last year, I won this event and it’s something I’ve been able to visualize this past year. It’s something I’ve thought about, something I’ve worked with,” Gaines said. “I don’t want to say I was expecting it, it’s not like I just immediately knew I was going to win, but it’s something I’ve worked for and fought for, so I knew what it would take.”

She was even better in the 200 butterfly with a winning time of 1:51.51, the fastest time in the country and another NCAA qualifying time. It also broke both the conference and meet record of 1:52.04 set by Georgia’s Dakota Luther in 2021 and broke the UK record of 1:52.08 set by Christina Bechtel in 2015.

Gaines also helped the 800 relay team finish second and meet the NCAA qualifying standard. She was also part of the 200 and 400  medley relay teams that placed third to give her five medals in the meet.

She will next compete in the NCAA Championships March 16-19 in Atlanta.