Visit Swimming World's Event Landing Page for complete coverage and photo gallery of the meet.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, March 20. STANFORD claimed its 10th 200 fly title of all time when Elaine Breeden defended her crown in the event, and winning for the third time in four years.
Breeden clocked a 1:52.39, crushing the pool record of 1:54.19 owned by Mary DeScenza since 2005. The performance is tied for the ninth fastest ever, matching Oregon State's Saori Haruguchi's surprising triumph in the 2008 meet. Breeden owns the NCAA, U.S. Open and American records with a 1:49.92 from last year's Pacific 10 Championships, and also won the 2009 NCAA title with a 1:50.98.
"It's awesome," Breeden said. "I felt a lot of pressure going into that race, since it's such a tight race. I knew I had all of my teammates supporting me, and I had such a great swim tonight so I just wanted to finish up with a good one."
Stanford's previous winners in the event read like a laundry list of epic swimmers. Janel Jorgensen (1990, 1993), Summer Sanders (1991-92), Misty Hyman (1998, 2001) and Shelly Ripple (2002) are former members of the Cardinal to win the event. Breeden also became the only three-time winner of the event behind Mary DeScenza and Mary T. Meagher's four-time triumphs.
Southern California picked up big points with a 2-3 finish from Katinka Hosszu (1:52.52) and Lyndsay DePaul (1:53.19), also under the pool record. Hosszu moved up to seventh all time in the event after beating her previous lifetime best of 1:52.71, while DePaul became the 12th fastest ever.
Stanford held the lead after the event with 339.5 points, while Arizona stood second with 335.5 points. California (329), Florida (323) and Georgia (312.5) comprised the top five.
Swimming World's NCAA DI Women's Championships Notes Package Sponsored by Nike