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WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, March 18. FOR the second straight event, a swimmer defending their title. This time, Stanford's Julia Smit snagged the 200 IM for the second year in a row.
Smit clocked a time of 1:53.56 to beat the pool record she set during prelims with a 1:54.34. Her winning effort this evening is the seventh fastest ever, giving her four out of the top 10 times, including the three fastest times ever.
Her win also gave Stanford an NCAA-leading tally of seven victories in the event all time. Besides Smit's back-to-back wins, Susie Rapp (1986), Janel Jorgensen (1990), Summer Sanders (1991-92) and Jenny Thompson (1995) have also won for the Cardinal. In fact, Smit became the first Cardinal since Sanders to defend her title in the event. The most recent title defense occurred when Arizona's Whitney Myers won in 2006 and 2007.
"It was awesome to repeat from last year," Smit said. "That's what I was looking to do. This year, we gave a lift to the team and that's what this meet is all about – getting points. So, I'm really pleased with that win."
Texas A&M's Julia Wilkinson grabbed second overall in 1:54.45, while Georgia's Morgan Scroggy took third in 1:54.62. Wilkinson jumped into 10th all time in the event, while Scroggy moved to 12th all time.
Georgia's depth in the event led to a top team total of 93. Stanford (73), California (66), Texas A&M (60) and Arizona (57) comprised the rest of the top five.
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