COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 21. FLORIDA's Gemma Spofforth, who came into the meet as the second-fastest swimmer of all time in the event with a 51.57, did not disappoint when she won the 100 back at the NCAA Division I Women's Championships.
Spofforth dropped a blistering time of 51.78, which stands as the 13th-quickest effort of all time in the event.
The performance returned the 100 back title to Florida for the first time since Kristen Linehan won the event back-to-back in 1989 and 1990 with times of 54.98 and 54.10.
Spofforth defeated Arizona's Hailey Degolia by just .11 seconds as Degolia clocked in at 51.89 for second. That wasn't the closest victory of all time in the event, however, as Catherine Fox of Stanford owns that distinction with a .06 second triumph over Marylyn Chiang of California, 53.23 to 53.29, back in 1997.
Indiana's Ukrainian import Kate Zubkova, who had been second-seeded coming into the meet, settled for third with a time of 52.02.
Arizona continued to pile on as the Wildcats took nearly a three-digit lead over Auburn, 321-222. Texas A&M held third with 193 points, while Stanford (183) and California (171) comprised the rest of the top five.