COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 22. FLORIDA's Gemma Spofforth defended her 200 back title, and swept the backstroke events, at the NCAA Division I Women's Championships.
Spofforth, already the third-fastest swimmer in the event with a 1:50.56, clocked the fifth-quickest time ever with a time of 1:50.70 to win the title. That was a two-second drop from her 1:52.96 to win last year.
Spofforth also became the first back-to-back winner since Kirsty Coventry reigned from 2004-05. She also became the first Gator to defend the title since Kristen Linehan went back-to-back in 1989-90.
Indiana's Kate Zubkova moved up to 11th all time in the event when she clocked a 1:53.17 to place second.
While the 2.47-second triumph is large, the biggest ever in NCAA championship history is a 4.66-second victory by Natalie Coughlin (1:49.52) over Alenka Kejzar of SMU (1:54.18) in 2002 when Coughlin set the American record.
Texas A&M's Kristen Heiss rounded out the top three with a time of 1:53.52, just off her personal best from prelims of a 1:53.37 that moved her to 14th all time.
Arizona remained way out front with 382 points, while Auburn stood second with 284 points. Texas A&M (243), Florida (240) and Stanford (230) continued to battle for the other top five spots.